Coach torching sad slur on our city

Tag : folk toys
We are very sorry please don't judge our city by this unfortunateincident. A visit to Canberra by a group of Adelaide schoolchildrenhas been marred by mindless criminal behaviour, the torching oftheir bus early yesterday in the city's Civic centre. The 90 Year 7students lost all their gifts and souvenirs in the fire. Theowner-driver of the bus was devastated, pointing out that he hadbeen forced to park on the street because cars were wrongly parkedin the bus zone outside the group's youth hostel.
Not only the visitors, but all Canberrans, must be asking what sortof a place we have become when something such as this can happen inthe heart of our city.
The message it sends out is galling at a time when the ACT istrying to make itself more attractive as a destination fortourists. A survey published only yesterday showed Canberra was theAustralian city in which people would least like to holiday.
It is not the first time visitors have been targeted in Canberra.Earlier this year, what had started out as a happy Easter at theNational Folk Festival for another visitor turned sour when her carwas set on fire in the car park near the ACT Legislative Assembly.The woman complained at the time, ''There's nowhere secure to parkat night time. It doesn't present a very good image for interstatevisitors.''
When news of the latest incident was aired on radio yesterday, itbrought to light another side of Canberra; an outpouring ofgenerosity, similar to that which emerged after the devastatingJanuary 2003 bushfires. People who wanted to prove that Canberradoes have a heart donated cash, toys and even clothes to thechildren. Government agencies, so often seen as facelessbureaucracies, also responded immediately with new backpacks andwater bottles. It was all coordinated by Dianne Dowling, from theACT National Trust shop at Old Parliament House, and she deserves abig pat on the back. The reaction was wonderful, and there is muchthat is wonderful for visitors to see in our beautiful city.
Nevertheless, there is an ugly underbelly in this city and itssuburbs that needs to be addressed. Some of our parks and streetsare being handed over after dark to small groups of vandals andanti-social gangs who splash graffiti on walls, smash streetlighting and damage other public property, set alight stolen carsand litter footpaths with broken glass. In some areas, it seems theauthorities have given up the fight, no longer replacing streetlighting after it has been repeatedly destroyed.
Some residents dare not park in their street or on the nature stripbecause there is a risk their vehicles will be vandalised or thetyres slashed. This type of behaviour is costing the communityheavily, not only in dollars but, as the Australian Institute ofCriminology has reported, through danger to human lives, increasingfear of crime among the aged and the underprivileged, loss ofservices, and a general lowering of the quality of life in ourcommunity.
It is all very well for ACT police to claim, as they did yesterday,the city is safe and setting a bus on fire in the middle of thecity on Wednesday morning was just a random act of stupidity. Itprobably was, but we invite them to visit those areas in Canberrawhere, if people have to walk through them after dark, they do sowith a degree of nervousness and fear for their personal safety.
Before the last election, the ACT Government was promising to rollout more closed-circuit television cameras which, if fullyoperational, would be a deterrent to crime and help lead to theapprehension of offenders.
Caretaker Police Minister Simon Corbell confirmed yesterday that$5.8 million would be spent increasing the number of cameras inCivic and, for the first time, installing government cameras inManuka and Kingston.
Corbell also says the number of patrol cars and police on the beathas increased in the past four years. He says Canberra is notbecoming more dangerous. But incidents like yesterday's do not helppublic confidence.
The problem is not confined to Canberra and, in an effort toconfront the problem, councils and local businesses elsewhere inAustralia have resorted to offering rewards leading to theconviction of offenders. Certainly we, as members of a community dohave a role to play. We should dob in these people reward or noreward whenever the opportunity arises, and expect they will bedealt with appropriately.
When it is all boiled down, while we spend a lot of time debatingissues such as the power station, we should be just as concernedabout whether or not people are safe on the streets of our city. Weneed to know that when we park our car in the city, when we returnit will still be there, in one piece.
This is what government for the people is all about. And it is anissue which the new government, of whatever complexion, mustaddress.