Liberals fail to be honest with election policies
Greg Barns says emotive falsehoods are being peddled on pokies, crime and justice
ONE hopes that in election campaigns political parties frame and present policies grounded on fact not emotion.
In this campaign, however, the Liberals have highlighted policies on poker machine reform and on criminal justice that are poor substitutes for evidence-based policy.
Last week, the Hodgman Government announced policies that will lead to more people being jailed. Bail would be more difficult to obtain and there would be mandatory minimum jail terms for sex offenders. There were other announcements such as militarising police by giving them drones, and nonsense about removing a defence in one-punch assault cases.
The line from Mr Hodgman and Corrections Minister Elise Archer was that jail works. Tough on crime equals less crime was the mantra. Police Minister Rene Hidding said: “All Tasmanians deserve to live in safety and free from the impact of crime, and we make no apology for being tough on crime.”
The Government wants to build more prison beds and keep failed youth detention facility Ashley open.
None of the policies will reduce crime or make the community safer. The record of the Government speaks for itself. Since 2014, inmates have risen from about 450 to 620.
Yet Tasmania has the third highest rate of recidivism, behind NSW and the Northern Territory (both jurisdictions are addicted to jailing people), at 44.3 per cent.
In other words, more than four out of 10 prisoners released return to prison within two years. Well done Will, Rene and your colleagues on making Tasmania less safe.
One would think a government would listen to experts like JusTas, a group consisting of the likes of the Salvation Army, Red Cross, University of Tasmania and alcohol counsellors. In other words, those who work on the ground daily with offenders.
Last week, JusTas released its wishlist of policies. This list, informed by evidence not ideology or populism, includes closure of Ashley, increasing education and rehabilitation in prison, better housing for ex-offenders, residences for those on bail, funding into disadvantaged areas, and moving to a health-focused approach on drugs.
The Brian Injury Association of Tasmania wrote to all political leaders urging a holistic approach to dealing with acquired brain injury problems. Remember, about 80 per cent of those in youth and adult detention live with a brain injury.
None of what JusTas or BIAT is proposing has been embraced by the Liberal Party. Instead it is fooling voters into thinking more imprisonment, reducing the rights of those charged with crime and more police will make for a safer community. It will not and the Premier, a lawyer, knows this.
On poker machines the Liberals have been stooges of Federal Hotels and the Tasmanian Hotels Association. The Liberals policy document says: “The gaming industry estimates that around 5000 jobs are at risk if electronic gaming machines are removed from pubs and clubs.” This claim should have been checked by Mr Hodgman and his party because it is false.
Last week, Griffith University economics professor Fabrizio Carmignani wrote that “data recently released by the Tasmanian Department of Treasury and Finance estimated that in 2017, there were 370 full-time equivalent jobs related to poker machines and keno in hotels and clubs in Tasmania. Even when we consider that the number of people employed would be higher than an estimated 370 because some people work part-time, the claim that a change in legislation would place ‘around 5000 jobs’ at risk is a significant overstatement.”
Economist Saul Eslake said he agreed with Professor Carmignani noting “it is impossible to take seriously the assertion that the removal of poker machines from them in five years’ time could cause the loss of around 5000 jobs.”
In pushing two of its most important policies in this election campaign, Mr Hodgman and the Liberals have not been honest. They have pushed policies on gaming machines and justice that are not based on evidence.