Dave Tollner (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to speak on an issue dear to my heart, law and order, and on the achievements of a remarkable Territorian in this field. While the Howard government’s National Community Crime Prevention Program has committed $64 million to remote communities’ safety, local crime prevention starts with the community and its citizens. If all levels of government work together, we can make a community safer. We can make a difference.

One Territorian who has made a difference is Bill Somerville, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Offenders Aid and Rehabilitation Services (NT) Inc., better known as OARS NT. In March, I was pleased to announce funding of $490,000 to OARS under the National Community Crime Prevention Program for a project to reduce the number of ex-inmates who reoffend. Current statistics show that the vast majority of prisoners will commit crimes soon after their release. OARS have demonstrated that they can dramatically reduce the number of reoffenders, and the expansion of this service can only benefit our community.

At a state and territory level, this issue is inevitably political. In any given election year it becomes a ritual which gets down to this: who is the toughest on crime, who will put more cops on the streets, who will increase sentences or who will build more jails. But it is also a national issue and it poses the question: can governments reduce crime by taking a new approach to repeat offenders? Bill Somerville’s model proves they can. He has found a relatively cheap and cost-effective way to stop prisoners from reoffending. He claims an 80 per cent success rate. The crucial factor is that OARS can provide support and stability to released prisoners by helping them to find accommodation and work and by developing their living skills. Their post-release programs are designed to integrate prisoners back into the community and to confront the uncertainties of freedom, dealing with remote bureaucracies, wary employers and the temptation of drugs, old mates and easy money.

ABC’s Four Corners recently focused attention on this issue in a program called ‘Road to Return’. To summarise, billions of dollars are fed into a nationwide prison system that has seen the captive population nearly double in a decade, yet in most states only one per cent or even less of corrections budgets is spent on post-release programs for integrating prisoners back into the community.

Projects, like OARS, which adopt a grassroots approach to dealing with crime prevention will make a real difference to local residents. The project provides intensive one-on-one pre- and post-release assistance to offenders and those at risk of becoming offenders. The assistance is provided by qualified counsellors and is focused on the high-risk period of three to six months after release. These are the types of practical on-the-ground projects that the Howard government is funding. They will make a real difference in tackling crime and will make the public feel safer. I take my hat off to Bill Somerville and OARS. (Time expired)