Page 933 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2012
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and offenders, improving collaboration between stakeholders to improve justice outcomes and service delivery, facilitating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people taking a leadership role in addressing their community justice concerns and reducing inequalities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the justice system.
Reliable, comprehensive and timely data are required to continue to inform the policies and programs that contribute to improving the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT. This approach will assist the government to monitor trends over time and assess the effectiveness of policies, programs and services. Currently the government is working with the ACT Indigenous Elected Body to strengthen the reporting of the ACT data around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice in the quarterly criminal justice statistical profile.
Although the ACT community enjoys a high standard of living and high levels of education attainment, low levels of unemployment and a well-planned physical environment, this does not protect the community from impacts of property crime. The government is finalising the development of an ACT property crime reduction strategy to make Canberra a safer place to live.
This strategy uses a comprehensive and dynamic evidence base to produce a whole-of-government approach to further lowering and sustaining the rate of burglary offending and motor vehicle theft for the Canberra community. This will be achieved by wrapping services around those affected by property crime, the victims, those who reoffend, the at-risk young people and will make Canberra an even safer place to live.
The development of the strategy has been strongly influenced by the overwhelming success of the previous property crime reduction strategy 2004-07. The new strategy will not only draw on the success of the previous strategy but be further strengthened by the financial and social investment that government and community have already made in a range of areas within the ACT criminal justice system over recent years, including the one-stop shop for victims, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice agreement, developments within ACT Policing, circle sentencing court, the youth alcohol and drug court trial, Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, enhancements in the youth justice system, Alexander Maconochie Centre, changes within ACT Corrective Services, and Housing ACT’s enhanced intensive accommodation and employment support to vulnerable individuals and their families.
As previously advised in this Assembly, the new ACT property crime reduction strategy is driven by three objectives: stopping the cycle of offending, engaging the disengaged and creating a safer and more secure community. The ACT government’s commitment to developing a systematic and rigorous evidence base will continue to inform justice agencies. (Time expired.)
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (4.37): I am pleased to have this opportunity to again place on the record the Greens’ support for an evidence-based approach to crime. As Ms Hunter has said, it allows for us to deliver real results and less rhetoric. Just on that, it was probably too much to expect Mr Hanson to actually address the substance of the matter. Again, I think it was demonstrated here today that he has an obvious lack of understanding of his portfolio areas.
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