See, See…TVs
TonyAbbott has decided that filming people committing crimes is preferable
to wasting money on early intervention crime prevention so he has
stripped funding from hundreds of community and charity programs. If
you live in Western Sydney you will get some cameras…eventually….when we
are finished announcing them… again and again and again. Unfortunately
for those of you in leftie South Australia…you get nothing!
23 May 2014
You always know politicians are desperate when they start talking
about CCTV cameras on street corners. It usually happens towards the end
of election campaigns, but on Friday Tony Abbott reached for this most
micro of populist issues at the end of a week that left his macro budget
sales pitch in tatters.
23 May 2014
Making a law-and-order pitch, Abbott visited Campbelltown to
highlight the allocation of $20m over the next 12 months to install new
CCTV cameras and fund other safety projects around Australia.
He said the program – funded by seized proceeds of crime – was “an important element in our budget”.
20 May 2014
Experts and welfare groups have argued, correctly, I fear, that the
changes to the youth welfare system could lead to a spike in the crime
rate. Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are already 28
times more likely to be in youth detention than other Australians. And
when the cuts to Aboriginal Legal Services are added to this mix, the
multiplier effect means this crisis risks becoming a catastrophe.
The
Government has outlined more than $500 million in cuts to Indigenous
programs, including health, but it’s not yet clear exactly where those
cuts will fall.
Government has outlined more than $500 million in cuts to Indigenous
programs, including health, but it’s not yet clear exactly where those
cuts will fall.
Indigenous
legal and health services are concerned that direct budget cuts will
affect frontline services and there’s uncertainty over the future of 28
Indigenous children and family centres across the country.
legal and health services are concerned that direct budget cuts will
affect frontline services and there’s uncertainty over the future of 28
Indigenous children and family centres across the country.
14 May 2014
Giving young unemployed people access to the dole for only six months
of the year could lead to an increase in crime and poorer working
conditions, welfare groups have warned.
4 April 2014
The undeniable data-based fact is that early intervention social
programs deliver better bang-for-buck than just about any other form of
public spending.
We know that well-run NGO programs for at-risk youth drive down rates
of criminal behaviour, incarceration, mental illness, social
dislocation, and future unemployment.
And we know these social ills, if allowed to fester and bloom, end up costing us all billions upon billions of dollars.
The Household Organisational Management Expenses (HOME) Advice
program, which has existed as a pilot since 2002, costs only around
$3,000 on average to prevent a family falling into homelessness. This
compares to an average of $43,000 the taxpayer has to stump up if a
family becomes homeless. By not expanding a successful program from its
eight pilot locations, the Commonwealth Government has actually lost
millions in tax revenue.
For about $100 million per year, the Australian government could
have funded the HOME Advice program to work with 33,000 families.
So if the economic case is so black-and-white, why then are
governments not tripping over themselves to fund programs like
Functional Family Therapy in every prison in Australia?
Mostly because the economic benefit of social policy takes a long
time to be seen. Half of the benefit of Functional Family Therapy, for
example, is seen 10 years after the program is funded. Modern
politicians, locked into an electoral cycle perspective, find it tough
to embrace a program that will slowly start to reveal its results in a
decade’s time.
18 February 2014
Attorney General John Rau has called upon Prime Minister Tony Abbott
to reinstate more than $2million in crime prevention funding for South
Australian local communities.
The cuts also mean that a $490,000 rollout of CCTV, plus better
lighting and signage around the Adelaide Oval and Riverbank Precinct
will not proceed.
22 January 2014
The leader of an early intervention program for vulnerable youths is
seeking legal advice to save the project from closing down, after the
Abbott government backed away from distributing crucial grant money
promised by the former Labor government.
More than 2000 teenagers have come through Operation Newstart since
it was established in 1997 for children aged 14 to 16 who routinely skip
school or who have trouble with the law, drugs and alcohol, and who are
often victims of abuse.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Justice said ”Under this plan,
$50 million will be provided to communities to allow them to deliver
effective local solutions to crime and antisocial behaviour by
installing measures such as CCTV and better lighting.”
13 October 2013
The Abbott government has backed away from distributing millions of
dollars in grants promised to dozens of charities, community groups and
local councils under Labor’s national crime prevention program.
Father Riley hit out at the Coalition’s decision, pointing out that
national crime prevention grants were funded through the proceeds of
crime rather than general revenue and were not election promises.
”I don’t understand this, the proceeds of crime is not taxpayer money,” Father Riley said.
The biggest loser is the Police Citizens Youth Club, which has been
warned the $7 million it was promised is ”on hold and unlikely to be
delivered”, according to an insider.
The money was earmarked to provide youth mentoring programs in
disadvantaged areas, including the ”Making Men” and ”Girl’s Choice”
projects to steer young people away from a life of crime.
One group that was warned not to spend on the assumption that
agreements were valid is the Women in Prison Advocacy Network, which was
promised $297,000 to start a youth mentoring program in inner-city
Sydney and the La Perouse and Maroubra areas
The National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy had secured a total
of $600,000 for programs for indigenous youth in Sydney and Dubbo but
was warned the money was under review.
Mission Australia, which had been promised nearly $500,000, said it ”remains optimistic”.
28 August 2013
CRIME prevention in Parramatta is the focus of both Labor and Coalition sides in the lead-up to the September 7 election.
Liberal candidate Martin Zaiter announced last week that a Coalition
government would give $1 million for Parramatta Council to install CCTV
cameras in the CBD and the suburbs.
The Liberal announcement follows on from Labor MP Julie Owens’ similar commitment last week.
The Labor promise was for a $1 million package comprising CCTV cameras and various youth crime prevention programs.
Ms Owens said that money “would be there” regardless of the election outcome.
Mr Keenan said a Coalition government would work on the basis of its $1 million commitment.
21 August 2013
Coachmans Park at St Marys was the backdrop for the Coalition’s plans for crime prevention equipment.
Opposition spokesman for communications Malcolm Turnbull, Opposition
spokesman for indigenous development Senator Marise Payne, Penrith
Council mayor Mark Davies and Liberal Lindsay candidate Fiona Scott were
involved in the announcement.
A total of $300,000 in funding for CCTV cameras has been promised by
the Coalition if elected, to be installed at Queen St and in High St and
Station St, Penrith.
20 August 2013
Tony Abbott visits the Liverpool CBD to promise $300,000 for CCTV cameras.
3 March 2013
AN ABBOTT government would reinstate a Howard government program that funded CCTV cameras in crime hotspots around the country.
Announcing the $50 million policy at Leumeah train station on
Saturday, the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said the program would
give local governments the tools they need to tackle street crime.
”We will restore the $50 million-plus that’s been cut … that was
going to crime prevention programs. That money will be available for
councils to apply so they can get better lighting and things like CCTV,”
he said.
8 October 2012
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says a Coalition government
will spend $50 million over four years installing CCTV cameras if it
wins office.
Ok we get it. Enough with the cameras already! What this boils down
to is the government have decided that their bottom line should benefit
from the proceeds of crime rather than investing the money in
preventing future crime because let’s face it, the way Tony’s going, it
won’t be his problem. Are we all just collateral damage? How many are
to be sacrificed for “the economy”? Will we have no planning for the
future beyond “let’s fiddle the numbers to make us look like we are
reducing the deficit”?
No comments:
Post a Comment