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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2391 ..


MS TUCKER

(continuing):

I placed a question on notice regarding this project but I have not received an answer yet. The government's recent series of reports on addressing disadvantage in the ACT-which is welcome but which I have not yet had time to read carefully-includes a review of current literature on youth crime prevention. I hope that this important work will be taken up and implemented.

MS DUNDAS

(11.07): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, there are some initiatives in the appropriation for Department of Justice and Community Safety that I do support, specifically the sexual offences response program. I also commend the allocation of money to the upgrading of the Belconnen Remand Centre. However, I will be waiting to see whether or not the government recommits to the prison project, bearing in mind that the excuse of a lack of available revenue has been, I think, clearly invalidated even before the new financial year has begun.

We have an ongoing spatial planning process and in discussions several sites for a prison have been identified. So it is a matter of the government allocating the money to build our own facilities so that we can finally have direct management of our prisoners and can maximise their chances of rehabilitation as part of the ACT community. This is an area where investment now could reap rewards in the long term and could go a long way to reducing recidivism.

We need a greater focus on prevention and diversion in justice and community safety. I specifically refer to output class 2.2 of Budget Paper No 4, which indicates that the number of community crime prevention programs has actually dropped. It is noted that this will be reviewed by the department in the forthcoming year. So I wait with bated breath to see where this government will be picking up its commitment to crime prevention and what new programs it will be initiating so that we can see the positive benefits.

We need to have a strong focus on diversion. There also needs to be a strong focus on how we work with young people through our school system and with people of all ages in the community to make sure that they have adequate support, that they do not feel that they need to turn to crime to make a living and that they have adequate entertainment so that they do not commit almost random crimes out of sheer boredom.

These are things that need to be addressed and can be done as part of a whole-of-government approach across departments. But the Department of Justice and Community Safety has a role to lead in this approach. Unfortunately, a drop in the number of community crime prevention programs is not the way to proceed.

I am also disappointed about the lack of funding to support Neighbourhood Watch groups. They are suffering and continue to suffer following the rise in public liability insurance premiums. I have been informed by groups that they may not be able to hold on and may have to close in the near future.

We are seeing greater budget increases for prosecution than for prevention. However, there is funding under the youth services portfolio, and this program can be expected to reduce crime. As I have said, we do need to have that focus across the whole of


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