Why is it that these statistics have not created a greater focus on street violence in Tasmania?  The Government repeats a story that Tasmania is the safest state in Australia.  Ask if that is true to the punters on the streets trying to have a good night out and you will quickly find out that it is simply political spin. 

Not only is it violence in tense situations that is a problem, but there are people out there purposely engaging in violence for what seems little more than a pleasure.

The police however are always the first people that get attention for problem.  They are said to either not be doing enough, or doing too much in the way they go about trying to stop the problem and creating delineation between every day people and our law enforcement.

While we can and should always review the way our police go about their business, I think that this issue goes further than simply the way we police this situation.

This has become a cultural issue in Tasmania.  We need to put in place strategies that go towards educating people around the consequences of violence.  Put simply, a punch to the head can kill.

The ‘One Punch Can kill’ campaign aims to do start that education.  It has been successfully implemented in Queensland and Western Australia.  A facebook page that I have set up, “Tassie for a ‘One Punch Can kill’ campaign”, shows that there is a great lot of support for changing the way we aim to reduce violent street assaults.  The page also has given the opportunity for people to tell their story of violence in Tasmania.

Leadership is needed to finally say that simply putting more police on the streets is not the only way to deal with violence.

The unfortunate situation is that media coverage needs to occur further to highlight this as an increasing problem, and this only happens after people get hurt.  Liam - We need people with the courage to come out and talk about their experience like you have done.  This I know is hard, but needs to be done.

I will be holding a forum on the 29th September at Hotel Soho to further discuss the problem on street violence.  The guest speaker for the forum will be Jonty Bush. Jonty has a terrifying but inspirational story of violence to tell herself (google her name and you will find her story).

I have been trying to raise this issue for months, but only with the recent Rob Carnivale case has it started to get legs.  I hope now that we can finally create some momentum.

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MATT STEVENSON
Tasmania suffers nearly 90% more street assaults than Victoria and nearly 70% more than Queensland on a per capita basis.  This is a fact. (ABS – Recorded Crime, Victims, Australia, 2008: Vic 1.08 Qld 1.23 and Tas 2.04 per 1000 people)