Start the Change

I believe that the sentence's being handed down by courts in NSW are continually being watered down. Eventually the crime will really be worth the risk. We are already close. It has to be stopped and reversed. If punishment does not fit the crime then society can not progress. Police do their job, but courts must play their roll for the community as the community expects.

The NSW Liberals & Nationals today announced a $40 million Park and Travel Safety Fund to improve commuter safety in and around train stations, NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell and Shadow Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian said today.

“As I move around the community, people constantly say safety concerns are one of the reasons why they don’t use public transport, especially at night,” Mr O’Farrell said.

Sometime past the workers of this state 'looked towards the light on the hill' and in our mining and industrial towns we followed the principle of that light. It has now been extinguished by fiasco after fiasco, particularly in NSW. They have reduced Law and Order leaving it to the thugs in the streets, our women are not safe if out after dark, our hospital system is fractured, our emergency service people are left in the balance by incompetent and care little Ministers.

Small business is throttled by the bureaucrats, and the Government just spins along.

Best Wishes for the future.

NSW is losing the battle against dangerous driving.  

In January 2010 there were 45 road deaths in NSW.[1] Compared to January 2009, this is a 73 per cent increase.[2]

During the twelve months ended January 2010, there were a total of 481 deaths on our roads, compared to 372 deaths during the twelve months until January 2009.

Number of Road Crash Deaths in Each State / Territory[3]

	Feb 2009 – Jan 2010	February 2008 – Jan 2009	% Difference
NSW	481	372	29.3
Vic	284	306	-7.2
Qld	317	327	-3.1
SA	134	100	34.0
WA	195	208	-6.3
Tas	57	46	23.9
NT	33	75	-56.0
ACT	12	13	-7.7
Australia	1,513	1,447	4.6

The NSW Liberals & Nationals believe a new approach is needed to licensing NSW drivers, an approach that rewards good behaviour and punishes bad behaviour.

In government we will introduce our Fair Go for Safe Drivers strategy, which takes a “carrot and stick” approach to road safety.

Under a Fair Go for Safe Drivers, safe drivers who have a driving record free of an offence for at least five years will have their licence renewal fees cut by fifty per cent. This discount will apply whether the licence is renewed for 1, 3 or 5 years.

A similar scheme has been operating successfully in Victoria since 2006.[4]

The NSW Police Force’s Highway Patrol plays a valuable role in ensuring a safe road network. Their presence is the best deterrent to bad behaviour on our roads.

However, NSW Labor is increasingly using Highway Patrol Officers to perform duties other than road safety such as general police work and prisoner escorts. This is jeopardising community safety.

In government the NSW Liberals & Nationals will introduce a new model for the Highway Patrol. We will consolidate the Highway Patrol, traffic police and Accident Investigation Squad into a standalone Highway Patrol State Command, headed by an Assistant Commissioner for Road Safety.

A Highway Patrol State Command will:

• - ensure a single chain of command is primarily responsible for road safety throughout NSW;
• - deliver a clear, intelligence-based outcome for road safety;
• - ensure greater control by supervisors on Highway Patrol Officer duties, ensuring they focus on road safety duties rather than being regularly called upon to fill deficiencies in frontline policing in other areas; and
• - ensure Highway Patrol and other traffic-related officers will be consistently trained, with a defined career path involving further educational and practical professional development.

The Highway Patrol State Command will  utilise the specialist skills and expertise of non-sworn public officials from other NSW Government departments to work on a continuous basis with NSW Police. For example, officials from the Roads and Traffic Authority who are experts in identifying motor vehicle modifications and heavy vehicle inspections.

The Highway Patrol State Command will also be charged with improving the relationship with NSW high schools and Police and Community Youth Clubs (PCYCs) that play a pivotal role in delivering a safe driving message to young people.

Graffiti imposes a real cost on businesses, individuals and local councils.  It also makes our communities less attractive places to live and families’ feel less safe.

Our plan to tackle graffiti in local communities balances meaningful penalties and incentives to break a developing juvenile habit. It will:

• - require juvenile graffiti vandals to appear before the court for a graffiti offence;
• - empower courts to suspend convicted graffiti vandals’ drivers’ licences or extend the time spent on Learners and Provisional licences;
• - legislate for courts to impose Community Service Orders on offenders to make recompense and clean up the graffiti; and
• - encourage the formation of voluntary graffiti removal squads in local areas, in partnerships with local government and local communities.

We believe local communities make great decisions about their area if given the power to do so. The policy invites local councils and groups to get involved in partnership with State Government and create responses that suit their local areas.

Our plan to tackle graffiti in local communities balances penalties for young people who do the wrong thing with positive incentives to break a criminal habit from developing.

Cancelling drivers licence privileges is a highly motivational penalty to make offenders think twice about graffiti vandalism. Positive measures and incentives, including constructive time with volunteer mentors, will offer solutions to young people who have not had this opportunity in their personal background, while cleaning up the consequences of their offence.

The NSW Liberals & Nationals will hold partnership discussions with all interested community groups and organisations, including local government and young people who wish to participate in tackling graffiti.

Funding will be allocated to support local councils to set up local schemes in their areas – funding which will be redirected from existing graffiti-related resources, to produce better outcomes.

Young offenders face longer time on their ‘L’ or ‘P’ plates under a policy to crackdown on graffiti vandals, NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell and Shadow Minister for Police Mike Gallacher announced in Five Dock today.

“If you spray, you pay – it’s as simple as that,” Mr O’Farrell said.

I've been driving cars since 1972 without making any insurance claims, and the last time I was booked was in 1973 on a motorbike. I consider myself a careful safety-aware driver.

The standard of driving behaviour on Sydney roads has been deteriorating for years. Drivers now routinely break all the rules without any consideration of other drivers or the law. It's common to see a vehicle lurching through a roundabout without turn signals because its driver is chattering into a mobile phone.

Return quality services in areas such as health, transport, education and community safety

NSW Liberals & Nationals know that the quality of essential services such as health, transport, education and community safety have declined over the past 15 years. We believe that the best place to start to return quality services is to consult the people who use them – the people of NSW.

ALP Oppositions always talk a lot tougher about women than ALP governments.  Liberals are a bit the reverse.  Historically they were a bit diffident about courting the human rights vote but when they got in, they always behaved decently.

Take domestic violence.  John Howard was the first prime minister to identify domestic violence as a national issue and introduced the first Partnerships Against Domestic Violence programme in 1998.  Its particular focus was prevention.