Page 188 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2008
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Nightlink is based on a successful model in Brisbane using larger-capacity vehicles such as passenger vans to take multiple passengers from the rank to certain destinations. A set fee will apply per passenger depending on the destination and the fares will be collected by a marshal prior to the journey commencing. That deals with the concerns taxi drivers have about people jumping the cab and not paying the fare. It is expected that the fares will be reduced compared to those applying to a smaller passenger taxi. It is hoped that this will be a more popular method of transport and will allow our taxi company to carry multiple parties of passengers quickly out of the city. And the fewer people you have sitting at the rank, the less chance you have of problems occurring.
The government is also committed to improving CCTV coverage. In Civic, the existing Civic safety camera system is subject to a review which I commissioned in October last year. The report is due by the end of February and will make recommendations on current coverage and possible expansion to other parts of Civic. Whilst that work has been ongoing, the government has upgraded the capacity of a number of the cameras in the system to provide digital coverage and recording and greater camera manoeuvrability.
Work on the CCTV camera installations at the Jolimont bus interchange has commenced and is expected to be complete by the end of February. Camera installation at the Canberra Stadium is scheduled to commence in two weeks and is expected to be completed by mid-March. Altogether, we have already invested $1.4 million to enhance our current CCTV network.
The government has already announced reforms to improve on-the-spot fine regimes for police when it comes to drinking alcohol in a certain public place, when it comes to defacing premises, when it comes to urinating in public and in relation to noise abatement notices. All these measures are designed to give police the appropriate tools to deal with certain types of minor street offences. I will not elaborate on those issues in detail today; they are subject to a bill in this place and we will have that debate at that time.
I conclude by reflecting on the issues around safety and security in Civic. I have had the opportunity to go out with ACT Policing on some of their night beats; I have had the opportunity to speak with officers on the ground about the issues they are facing and also to look at some of the behaviours that they have to address first hand.
First of all, I would like to say that I am very impressed with the capability, quality and professionalism of our night beat teams: they are very skilled and experienced police officers. They also take a very sensible and commonsense approach to managing the issues that they face. Alcohol consumption causes all sorts of potential problems; in almost all circumstances, our police adopt a moderated and reasonable approach.
The second thing I would say is that issues around community safety in the city will remain an issue of some public debate. For as long as we permit alcohol sales late at night and for as long as people see that as an avenue to let off a bit of steam or to enjoy themselves, we will face the issues that we do around potentially unruly or
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