Should we be afraid, very afraid?
Criminals, particularly those in teen gangs, have taken over the River City. Apparently.
Brisbane is a crime-ridden hell-hole and its residents are not even safe at home in their own beds.
At least that’s the impression a casual viewer of the nightly television news, and peruser of other news media, might get.
I’m not going to claim that crime isn’t an issue nor that we shouldn’t be concerned about it.
The Crime Report, Queensland for 2021-22 does show quite alarming rises in offences, especially those against persons. But, of course, that’s an annual comparison against 2020-21, when life — including that of the criminal class — was significantly affected by COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns and other disruptions. The numbers also reflect the introductory mandatory reporting by police of domestic violence incidents (and, for the life of me, I don’t know why that wasn’t the case previously.)
The 2022-23 report will be more revealing, I imagine.
Nevertheless, comparisons over the 10-year period from 2012-13 to 2021-22, show big increases in the rate of assaults, rape and attempted rape, and breaches of DVOs. Some of this may, again, be down to reporting, but we do have a problem.
And, therefore, it’s a legitimate source of news.
Problem is that there is no room for nuance on the 6pm bulletin. If their aim is to scare people — especially old people — then they’re succeeding.
My first complaint is that Brisbane, Queensland and Australia are still safe places to live. Our country is the 27th safest place out of 200+ countries according to one recent survey.
You are not risking your life by stepping outdoors, in fact it could be argued that you are wasting it. (Especially if you’ve started tuning in to conspiracy theories on the web when you could be taking a nice walk in the park.)
My second complaint is the politicisation of this issue.
Some would have us to believe that the state government is entirely to blame for the teenagers who stole your car, or the fact that your neighbours decided to build a meth lab which subsequently blew up. And that a change of government would magically fix all this.
It’s the government’s role to create laws, funds the systems of law, order, incarceration and rehabilitation, and allow for a robust, well-resourced and independent police force and judiciary to get on with the job.
Yes, legislation can be flawed, and magistrates can make poor decisions, but the key here is the money. The whole system suffers from chronic underinvestment.
Why don’t governments, of all stripes, invest enough in keeping us safe? Because they know that we don’t want to pay for it.
The same goes for education and health. We get what we’re prepared to pay for. And, except in cases of waste, corruption and incompetence — and we’ve certainly seen some of that over the years — we’ve no right to complain if we’re not prepared to support politicians who are brave enough to say: “Yes, we can reduce crime, but we’ll either have to cut services dramatically in other areas or raise your taxes to do it.”
Try taking that to an election.
SHOW ME THE MONET
The Monet In Paris exhibition at Northshore, in Hamilton, will close on August 27. I haven’t seen it, but I did see the Van Gogh one a year or so ago and I understand this is of the same high standard. But mostly I’m including it here so I could use that headline.