Better crime prevention, offender rehabilitation

Budget 2014 builds on the successful results of recent years in reducing crime and reoffending to ensure there are fewer victims of crime, Police and Corrections Minister Anne Tolley says.

“Police and Corrections will continue to target their resources to prevent crime and address the drivers of crime to make our communities safer,” she says.

“Both organisations have delivered fantastic results and I am confident that great gains will continue to be made as a result of this smarter approach.”

The Police’s core operating spending is being maintained at $1.46 billion in 2014/15. The next phase of Policing Excellence will focus on further improvements in the way the service operates, to provide more effective frontline policing and crime prevention. 

“The focus on targeted prevention through intelligence gathering and smarter deployment of officers has seen crimes fall by over 20 per cent over the past four years,” Mrs Tolley says.

“Increased foot patrols and frontline staff with the latest technology have allowed police to be more visible and deliver over half a million additional frontline hours each year –  the equivalent of 354 extra officers.”

Some one-off spending increases from the previous year, such as justice sector funding to enable a restructure of HR and finance, and the retention of a road policing underspend, are not required this year.

$109 million is available to justice sector agencies in the Justice Sector Fund for initiatives which contribute to meeting the Government’s priorities, including the Better Public Services targets of reducing crime and reoffending. 

Budget 2014 also supports the Government’s targets to reduce the reoffending rate by 25 per cent by 2017, with Corrections continuing to increase drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme places for prisoners, alongside greater access to education and skills training.

“This investment in addressing the drivers of crime has resulted in Corrections being half way to meeting its Better Public Services target of a 25 per cent reduction in reoffending,” Mrs Tolley says.

“This means there are 9,300 fewer victims of crime each year, and our sensible approach to rehabilitation means we are on course to reach the goal of 18,500 fewer victims each year by 2017.”

Meanwhile, funding for the Serious Fraud Office reverts to baseline of $7.6 million in operational funding in 2014/15 following the temporary boost to investigate and prosecute finance companies.

“These agencies have delivered excellent results for taxpayers by investing their funding in areas that produce the biggest and most important gains, and Budget 2014 supports them to make our communities even safer,” Mrs Tolley says.