OAKESHOTT INDEPENDENT
"STOP PICKING ON THE 29,800 KIDS OF THE MID-NORTH COAST WHO CAN'T VOTE" SAYS OAKESHOTT
To Local Editors;
In response to an email media release you would have received from Andrew Stoner MP, Leader of The Nationals, in regard juvenile crime, where he criticises Mr Oakeshott for voting against juvenile justice law changes;
Independent MP for Port Macquarie, Robert Oakeshott, today said the campaign by Andrew Stoner to lock up people under 18 who appear before the court lacks moral authority, is wrong and needs to be re-thought.
"Mr Stoner wants to be seen as being tough on juvenile crime because he says there is an escalating problem. However, his own statistics suggest otherwise, Mr Oakeshott said.
"Using Mr Stoner's own figures on court appearances, the conclusion leans more towards the fact that the Mid-North Coast is doing pretty well for juvenile related crime, and police and other agencies are to be congratulated. If anything, the figures re-confirm what a safe area the Mid-North Coast is to live and how lucky we all are, said Mr Oakeshott.
According to NSW law, a person is treated as a child/juvenile up to the age of 18, under the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987, section 3.
"Therefore, if Mr Stoner's quoted figures are correct, 60 juveniles appeared before both the Hastings and Greater Taree Courts for the full year of 2006, when the latest Census figures have 29,800 people under 18 years of age living on the Mid-North Coast, suggests the laws are working, and that juvenile justice agencies, parents and most importantly young people on the Mid-North Coast should generally be congratulated, said Mr Oakeshott.
"Of course there are incidents that arise such as the street incident in Bonny Hills over the Christmas period, and of course we need to be vigilant in dealing with these matters, and of course more resourcing would assist in this. However, the raw data from 2006 suggests our area is doing pretty well and that the laws themselves seem to be working for the community at large, said Mr Oakeshott.
"Andrew is talking about less than half of one per cent of people under eighteen on the Mid-North Coast, as if they were the centre of some crime-wave due to broken down laws.
And this is even before we start to dissect the types of offences being presented before the Court, where I suspect the majority would be in the category considered as relatively minor, one-off offences, where the lesson is well and truly learnt by the individual involved as part of the life lessons of growing up, said Mr Oakeshott.
"So if Mr Stoner wants to move a motion asking more resourcing for relevant departments and agencies on the Mid-North Coast dealing with youth, then I would certainly support him. But not if it is about picking on kids and treating them as some bunch of political whipping-boys and girls. That is nothing more than cheap, cynical, desperate politics.
4 April 2008