Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Crime and the fear of crime consistently rate amongst the highest concerns of the Australian public. The Australian Institute of Criminology has estimated that crime costs Australia around $32 billion per year. Locally, residents have simply had enough of hoons, vandals and antisocial behaviour on our streets. People have a right to feel safe in their own homes and on their local streets. As such, I believe it is extremely important that we do everything we can to ensure that our local communities are better protected.

The Howard government shares the community’s concern about crime and violence and their impact on people’s lives. Sixty-four million dollars has been committed to the National Community Crime Prevention Program, which features the national community grants program, and I commend the government on this outstanding initiative. The program provides much-needed funding for grassroots projects designed to enhance community safety and crime prevention by not only preventing or reducing crime and antisocial behaviour but improving community safety and security, and reducing the fear of crime.

I note that 241 successful projects have so far been announced, with over $43 million in funding committed. I recently had the great pleasure of announcing one of these successful projects in Bonner. The Wishart North Neighbourhood Watch Association will receive $4,720 under the government’s National Community Crime Prevention Program to help Brisbane’s Southside community fight to stop crime before it happens. Members of the association have devised an innovative personal property marking and recording project that aims to deter thieves by increasing access to and promoting use of equipment that marks or photographs personal property with a personal identification number. Wishart North Neighbourhood Watch will use the $4,720 grant to purchase engraving equipment, digital cameras and a laptop computer for use by residents of Wishart and the surrounding Southside community.

This project is a fine example of the way in which local residents can proactively work together for the greater good of the community. I congratulate Wishart North Neighbourhood Watch on their commitment to strengthening the fight against crime, and I will be encouraging local residents to take full advantage of the equipment that will soon be available.

Neighbourhood Watch associations and their dedicated members have worked tirelessly for many years to implement programs such as this that safeguard and better our quality of life where it counts most—in our streets and in our homes. They work hard to bring people together so that residents can become neighbours and that neighbours can then become friends. Our communities are richer for the work of Neighbourhood Watch associations, and tonight I particularly want to commend and thank the members of Wishart North Neighbourhood Watch for the lead that they have taken in trying to combat local crime.

It has been a great privilege to be able to work closely with all the neighbourhood watch associations in Bonner. Through campaigns such as the personal property marking and recording project, we have been able to encourage homeowners to deter thieves by taking all the right precautions. As a local resident in Bonner and as its federal member of parliament, I am committed not only to working actively with the community to tackle crime but also to reducing the fear of crime, which is increasingly prevalent in our society. I look forward to supporting many more local projects through the National Community Crime Prevention Program.