Statement made on 18 October 2011 by Senator Grant Mitchell
Hon. Grant Mitchell:
Honourable senators, Republican, right-wing, hard-nosed Texas, which put the "tough" in "tough on crime," has decided in the last number of years to throw out exactly the same kind of crime agenda that this government is bringing in today. They are astonished that we are doing it. I have a quote from Republican Representative Jerry Madden, chair of the Committee on Corrections of the Texas legislature. I do not think it gets tougher on "tough on crime" than this particular representative. With respect to spending money on prisons and not spending money on drug programs, Madden said: "It was kinda silly, what we were doing," Then he discovered that drug treatment was not just cheaper than prisons — it cut crime much more effectively than prison.
Could the Leader of the Government tell us what evidence the government has to justify spending billions of dollars on a crime agenda that even the hardest of the hard-on-crime people think is silly?
Please click here to read the full text of the Senator's question