The Liberals have come out hard with an attack on the Rann Government’s policy on Law and Order…no not the TV show, but their pledge that they’re tough on crime and tough on drugs.
David Ridgway, the Shadow Police Minister, has claimed that illicit drug consumption and violent crime has risen under the Rann Government, stating that one of Labor’s key election promises was to get tough on crime and crack down on the causes of these violent crimes.
Despite these promises, it would seem as though certain crimes in this State are firmly on the rise – according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Victims of Crime Report, between 2002 and 2008 Homicide and related offences have risen by 22.6% and Armed Robbery has increased by 10.4%
Further to this, SA seems to have cemented itself as the drug production capital of the country, with the 2007/08 Australian Crime Commission’s National Clandestine Laboratory Database revealing that per capita SA has more illegal drug labs than any other State. For every 23 000 residents in SA there is 1 illegal drug lab, as compared to a national average of 60 000 resident per lab.
Certainly some very revealing statistics, however I’ve not seen anything from either party as to how they plan to combat these rises in violent crime. Certainly the Rann Government appears to have failed in their pledge to reduce these crimes despite their election commitment to do so. However whilst forthright in bringing these failures to the communities’ attention, I haven’t seen any real evidence that the Liberal party has any specific plan as to how they will bring these crime rates down.
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