Page 539 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 17 February 2016
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Canberra whilst really minimising as much as we can the unwanted tagging and vandalism.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank those who attended that roundtable. With the graffiti coordinator now engaged and with the assistance of urban artists and the broader community, I look forward under the leadership of Minister Fitzharris to seeing progress on the implementation of the graffiti strategy in the coming months.
In my new role as Minister for Education, I would also like to encourage the graffiti coordinator to engage with our school system. I understand that illegal graffiti activity tends to increase during school holidays. I would like to look at the possibility of a school holiday program where respected urban artists could mentor young potential artists and again channel that energy into something that is much better than the things that the community dislikes.
This may have benefits in potentially reducing illegal nuisance graffiti, but it may also be able to offer an alternative outlet for those small numbers of young people who may be at risk of undertaking other acts of vandalism. Urban art could well provide a pathway for this energy that could otherwise not only be a nuisance to society but ultimately be costly and harmful to the individual.
We have already found that having young offenders involved in the ACT restorative justice program has produced a positive outcome over the past year. The ACT restorative justice program gives young offenders the opportunity to meet with community members, accept responsibility for their own actions and consider the impact of their behaviour on the community.
We are committed to better managing graffiti. I welcome the fact that Mrs Jones has brought the motion forward today and has provided the Assembly with an opportunity to discuss this issue that I know is of interest to many members of the community. I will be supporting the amendment moved by Ms Fitzharris, which recognises the work that is underway and which I think gives a good account of the current situation.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.42): I have a few brief comments on graffiti vandalism as it relates to my electorate of Brindabella. I thank Mrs Jones for bringing this motion today. I would like to reiterate some of the comments that we have heard from Ms Fitzharris and Mr Rattenbury that this is not street art that we are talking about here. The Erindale bus shelter is a good example of street art, and the graffiti wall done down at Richardson is another example. Whilst everyone has a different view of what constitutes art and whether they like it or not, I think these are really good examples and should be encouraged. But that is not what the substance of this motion is about.
This motion is about what can be offensive and distressing to other members of the community as they drive or walk or cycle past or even live nearby. One issue from the examples I have had from my constituents in Tuggeranong is that often the home owner does not even know that the graffiti exists on their back or side fence which may back onto a walkway or a road or unleased land out the back. They do not know it is there until someone tells them it is there. The other problem they have is that
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