Member for New England Barnaby Joyce has announced plans today to allocate $435,000 in funding to provide CCTV security cameras for Uralla, Inverell, and Guyra, and investigate a long needed CCTV service in one of Armidale’s most notorious crime spots.
Speaking on the campaign trail in Uralla Joyce said that, if elected, they plan to utilise a revitalised Safer Communities Fund (SCF) to help ensure people in the Uralla, Inverell, Guyra and Armidale communities feel safe as they go about their daily lives.
The funding would deliver an upgraded and expanded CCTV network across the CBDs of Uralla, Armidale, Guyra and Inverell, helping businesses and families feel safe again.
“Crime is continually brought up with me, from stolen vehicles to break-ins and smashed shopfronts,” Joyce said.
“This $435,000 will get Uralla, Armidale, Guyra and Inverell back on track by giving police the tools to catch crooks and let local businesses breathe easier,” Mr Joyce said.
Mr Joyce announced the investment to help tackle soaring break-and-enter rates, including $155,000 to upgrade Uralla’s CCTV network in the main street, parks and council depots, $180,000 for mobile CCTV in Inverell, as well as funding for CCTV in Bradley Street in Guyra.
The announcement included funding for the ‘investigation’ of CCTV along the cycleway that connects the University of New England to the Armidale CBD. The path, well known locally as a very unsafe place, and historically the site of a number of sexual assaults of UNE students, had lighting added by Council last year.
Mr Joyce said the funding will support councils’ calls for modern surveillance to deter antisocial behaviour and assist police in holding offenders accountable.
The Coalition shifted their sites to crime, not normally a federal issue, earlier this week pledging $750m to target ‘drugs and thugs’.
Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, Senator James Paterson said under a Dutton Coalition Government, the New England community will be stronger, more secure, and better supported to tackle crime.
“Getting Australia Back on Track means keeping Australia safe – safe for families, safe for businesses, and safe for communities,” Senator Paterson said.
“Projects delivered under the Safer Communities Fund will help protect local communities by ensuring they have appropriate security infrastructure in place such as CCTV cameras, alarm systems and security lighting.”
The news came as the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) released a report finding legal actions for reported car thefts, burglaries and robberies have doubled in NSW since 2009. While crime rates have been steady for many years, the conviction rates have significantly increased for most offences except sexual violence, with improvements attributed to more access to technology such as CCTV.
Police officer turned criminologist Michael Kennedy said reducing policing to the bare numbers missed the complexities of the job, and cautioned against thinking that means there is less crime.
“It’s the equivalent of saying, ‘the more tickets that highway patrol gives out, the safer the roads will be’ and we know that’s not the case,” he told AAP.
“It’s an opinion being presented as a rational truth. But it’s not rational and it’s not true … you can’t apply that model of policing in every suburb, in every district, in every state.”
The constant chase of improved efficiency treated policing as a “business rather than a social contract” and was driving young cops out of the force, the University of New England associate professor said.
“They’re exhausted from this expectation their competency is measured by continuous improved productivity,” Dr Kennedy said.
Of the 11 offences examined, nine showed a significantly higher legal action rate in 2023 compared with 2009, the report found. About one in eight motor vehicle thefts are solved, up from one in 20. Rates for solving domestic violence-related assault have risen from 60 per cent to 67 per cent.
Sexual assault was the only offence with a significant decline in the legal action rate, dropping from 10 per cent in 2009 to seven per cent in 2023, while murder was stable at about 65%.
The data showed hard work was making a difference, Police Minister Yasmin Catley said.
“Police don’t just catch offenders – they put in the tough, behind-the-scenes work to make sure those people are held accountable, a process that is often complex (and) relentless,” she said.
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