Page 5720 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011

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arrested for underage drinking, and seven were taken into protective custody. In comparison to Operation Unite in December last year, when 26 people were taken into custody, there were 13 this year, a decrease of 50 per cent. Police detected 31 drink drivers during Operation Unite last year, compared to only four this year.

This is great work by ACT Policing and very positive results in terms of the related crime incidents they have had to deal with this year.

MR SPEAKER: Supplementary, Ms Porter.

MS PORTER: Minister, how did the ACT compare to other states and territories involved in Operation Unite?

MR CORBELL: What is particularly noticeable in comparison to other jurisdictions is the use of our alcohol crime targeting team. The deployment of the alcohol crime targeting team has meant that we were able to give attention to alcohol-related crime and violence throughout the year, not just having to rely on an operation like Operation Unite. Since last year we have seen a decrease of 21 per cent in the number of alcohol-related arrests, a 12 per cent decrease in alcohol-related assaults and a 17 per cent decrease in the number of people taken into protective custody. This is a very pleasing result, and a direct result of this Labor government’s reforms in the operation of liquor legislation.

Bushfires—Victoria

MR SMYTH: Minister, the final report of the royal commission into the Victorian bushfire disaster of February 2009 was released late in 2010. What has the ACT learnt from that report?

MR CORBELL: The government has examined closely the final report of the royal commission into the Victorian bushfire disaster, which was made public on 31 July last year. We have considered every recommendation of the final report in the context of our community and environment and existing bushfire management policies and programs. In August this year, as part of the government’s open government initiative, the government released its progress report on implementation of the recommendations arising out of the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission interim and final reports. I draw Mr Smyth’s attention to this report. It is on the Justice and Community Safety Directorate website.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, a supplementary.

MR SMYTH: Minister, when will the changes that you foreshadow be put in place and how will you assess the effectiveness of such changes?

MR CORBELL: A large range of the measures that have been recognised as needing to be put in place have already been put in place. Overall, it is very pleasing to see that many of the issues raised by the Victorian royal commission were the same issues raised in the context of the McLeod inquiry into the 2003 bushfires and also by the


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