‘Law and Order’: Available to the highest bidder

Another state election, another law and order debate. This year’s state election provided all the usual tactics of any state election; those irritating tv ads, promises (which have a very short expiry date), and the law and order debate. This year the Law and Order debate surfaced itself somewhat late in the election campaigns, it seemed that only during the final weeks leading up to election is when the major parties were scrambling to make their law and order policies publicised. It was kind of like the parties were making it up as they went along.

Both political parties opened up the law and order auctions with very similar principles and policies; protect families from the ‘growing’ crime rate, increasing police numbers, technological advances in policing and protections and tougher laws to deal with criminals.

Premier Kristina Keneally vowed that, if re-elected, her government would deliver 360 extra police officers. The Labor government also pledged to introduce more police powers and tougher criminal sentences. It will provide police officers with 25 mobile command units, six mobile forensic command vehicles and new tasers for general policing. Local councils would be funded to install more than 300 new CCTV cameras, stepping up the surveillance of suburban streets.

Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell responded by declaring that a Liberal Party government would fund an extra 550 officers, by 2014. He pledged 100 more highway patrol officers, 131 new vehicles and a new counter-terrorism helicopter. The Liberals also plan to return “drunk and disorderly conduct” to the Summary Offences Act, returning to police their infamous authority to arrest allegedly “disorderly” people at will.

Law and order policies in state elections are not a new phenomenon, Bob Carr was a pioneer of the ‘tough on crime’ approach in the 1990’s and has since set a precedent for each state election campaign. This law and order elections have revolved around the idea for the need for a more coercive approach to the criminal justice system, even though there is no proof that tougher laws actually reduce crime rates anyway...

The media is used as an outlet to portray the different policies of political parties. The media and politics relationship can be described as mutual as politicians rely on the media to convey their policies and the media then utilise these policies in order to generate stories. It is no surprise that the media plays a central role in the formation of societies opinions, it is one of Australia’s and the world’s most influential and well-known intuitions for political information. Media communication has become so embedded and integrated in everyday culture and routines. The media affects politics on all fronts, including, policy shaping, politician image production and public discourse and opinion.

By the way if anyone wants some really good political cartoons on the NSW state election go to http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/nsw/drawing-conclusions-20110309-1bnik.html