Michael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to bring to the attention of the House the very concerning escalation of antisocial behaviour in the northern suburbs of Launceston, particularly in the suburb of Rocherlea. As the local representative I—and my office—have been experiencing an increase in the number of local residents in those northern suburbs contacting me in frustration about the level of antisocial behaviour, especially hooning. These residents, many of whom have been living in the area for many years, are living in fear and are greatly annoyed because of the reckless behaviour by some drivers of motor vehicles. I understand that there are also apparent cases of repeat offending by some drivers.

I want to put on the record that I strongly believe the local police who patrol Rocherlea and other northern suburbs do an excellent job, and I know them personally. But, frankly, with limited resources it is very hard for them to provide a consistent presence that is strong enough to help stamp out this unacceptable practice in the community. In light of the number of complaints that I have received about the level of antisocial behaviour I believe there is a very strong and justifiable case for the Tasmanian government to increase police resources in this area, at least until the current spate of problems is brought under control.

In the past I have written to the state police minister about antisocial behaviour in the area—not just hooning but other behaviours as well. The time has now come for more police on the beat to deal with offenders by having a stronger local presence and to deter them from their illegal practices. Residents have the right to expect that their families can live safely and peacefully without being disturbed by hooligans.

The Tasmanian government is responsible for properly resourcing Tasmania’s police service so that police officers are able to deal appropriately with problems of crime and antisocial behaviour. It is abundantly clear, however, that the local police service does not have a sufficient number of officers at their disposal to adequately deal with the recent spate of problems in the Rocherlea area. It could be a question of reallocating some resources from elsewhere in the state at least on a temporary basis, but clearly that is not a sustainable response in the longer term. So I think it is now a question of having a modest increase in police numbers to specifically and deliberately cater for hot-spot areas such as the one I have spoken about tonight. Either way, the Tasmanian government has sufficient financial capacity to do this, through its record level of GST funding. It continues to deny this, but in fact it is in the order of more than $1.6 billion every year. So it does have the financial capacity to rectify this problem if it will only make it a priority.

While I accept that more police alone is not the single answer to all of the problems of antisocial behaviour in our community, I am convinced that a stronger and more visible presence of police cars and officers on the beat on a more regular basis would to a very significant extent deter potential offenders in the local area from perpetrating their antisocial activities. Families in the northern suburbs of Launceston and in particular of Rocherlea should not have to bear the brunt of this type of antisocial behaviour in their community simply because there is a deficiency not in police activity but in police numbers and the resources that they have at their disposal.

Apart from calling for more police resources, I would also encourage members of the local community to report to the police any instances of antisocial behaviour, such as hooning or misbehaviour on the streets at night, so that the police can get a better indication for their own purposes of how much of a problem there is in this area and then respond accordingly. One good thing that the Tasmanian government has done, and I hope it is at least a component of the solution, is bring in the anti-hooning legislation. It gives police a reasonable capacity to impound the cars of offending hoons if there is enough evidence of particular breaches of the law or breaches of the peace. I am also very interested to hear more from members of the local community as to whether they feel any particular programs or recreational or sporting facilities in the local area could target young people in order to provide a better channel for their youthful energy, direct it into some more positive outlets and, hopefully, help discourage the small number of offenders from pursuing their antisocial behaviour. I thank the House.