It was a landslide victory to Barry O’Farrell and the Liberal Party. Let’s just hope they can keep to all their promises and the slogan of “real change” and not go down the road Labor has done for the past 16 years.
Crime, politics and the media have an intertwining relationship. Politicians use the media as a way to get information to the public. This can be seen through the law and order policies that become the main focus of election campaigns. Political parties always want to be seen like they are doing something about crime to keep the people in society safe. After all it is the citizens who vote for them.
Both Labor and the Libs promised to crack down on crime by boosting police numbers, with O’ Farrell’s “blitz on crime” aiming to add an extra 550 officers. “With public concern about crime on the rise, the NSW Liberals & Nationals are determined to give police the powers, the resources and the backing they need to keep our community safe,” Mr O’Farrell said (O’Farrell & Gallacher, 2011).That seems to be the solution to crime every time – just put more police out on the streets and everything will be alright. However, Scott Weber (NSW Police Association president) said that more needs to be done and “we want to see both parties take the politics out of policing and make informed decisions” (Grogan, 2011). Sometimes life would be so much easier without the politics of it all.
The Coalition aims to target alcohol related violence and crime by strengthening ‘move on powers’ and introducing new offences to deal with the ‘drunk and disorderly’. This always happens to be one of the main policies. What kind of an election would it be without the need to tackle alcohol crime because people have the right to enjoy a night out without feeling unsafe?
Kristina Keneally took it one step further with her “tough on crime” approach by promising people New York-style anti-Mafia laws (Smith, 2011). Really? Have we turned into America? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for keeping people safe and secure, but do we need to go that far?
This all sounds like ‘law and order’ commonsense illustrated by Hogg & Brown (1998) as politicians have responded by increasing police powers as the solution, thinking that crime on the rise, looking towards New York as the model for the future, and calling for tougher penalties. Law and order commonsense is caused by assumptions of popular sources such as the media who have ingrained into society its views about crime and what sort of actions are needed to prevent crime. People take it for what it is and accept it.
Politicians use the media to their advantage to persuade the public about certain issues. Election time is the best time to get to people because this is when people are looking for a change. Whatever policies each party promises, there will always be a certain level of doubt over whether it will be put into action. With Barry O’Farrell leading the charge, hopefully this will be the breath of fresh air that this state needs to get back on track.
References:
Grogan, Z. (2011). Neither policy goes far enough, 23 March 2011, Liverpool Leader.
Hogg, R & Brown, D. (1998). Rethinking Law and Order, Pluto Press, Australia
O’Farrell, B. (2011). The NSW Liberals' & Nationals' action plan to tackle alcohol related violence and crime
O’Farrell, B & Gallacher, M. (2011). NSW Libs & Nats crime fighting plan: more police, more cars, new chopper, 21 March 2011
Smith, A. (2011). Anti-mafia muscle on Premier’s to-do list, 14 March 2011, Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/state-election-2011/antimafia-muscle-on-premiers-todo-list-20110313-1bt27.html
