What the Tasmanian Liberals will do:

Act to reduce street violence by implementing an anti-violence social media campaign, aimed at highlighting the link between the behaviour and consequences of street violence.

What the Liberals will do:
Social media is an increasingly common means of communication between young people. By utilizing social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, we can take the anti-violence message direct to those most usually involved and affected.

In addition, this will allow young Tasmanians to express their ideas about reducing street violence directly to those running the campaign. This real-time interactive feedback will drive the future direction of the campaign.

The message of the campaign will be where people are, and will be in an expansive set of formats such as text, photos, RSS feeds, podcasts, and videos. Building the campaign on a social media platform will allow for this versatility.

The campaign will engage the community on all factors that lead to street violence such as access to alcohol, the inherent culture within our community, availability of satisfactory transport and the role of our police service.

Using social media will also allow the campaign to be versatile and transferable. Generation Y are a fast moving group, and it is vital that a Tasmanian ‘One Punch Can Kill’ style campaign has the flexibility to move with this group.

We will ensure that environmental design is considered and Tasmanians are able to provide their view on such as design issues as street lighting, smoking areas, taxi rank shelter and access.

We will also make certain that the outcomes from the valuable work being conducted by the Tasmanian Legislative Council Select committee into street violence and the Federal House Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth Inquiry into the impact of violence on young Australians are carefully considered in implementing the campaign.

A Hodgman Liberal Government will commit $100,000 over two years for this campaign, which will be administered by the Department of Premier and Cabinet in conjunction with Tasmania Police.

Why this policy is needed
The impact of street violence on the community is significant, with the initial physical impact often only the start. Our health system deals with the initial damage of street violence in our emergency wards and surgery rooms, but there are also long term emotional costs that are carried by both the victim and the perpetrator of violence, and their families.

Street Violence is a complex issue and any strategy to reduce its prevalence in our community should consider the role that alcohol, other drugs, policing, the location of violent acts and environmental design play.

Violent acts are often not isolated incidents; they can be fostered through a culture which inherently believes that violence is ok. This belief is regularly reinforced in places such as school grounds and sporting fields. And research has shown that young men between the age of 15 and 25, typically the Generation Y age group, are more likely to be assault victims or offenders than other groups.

Social media plays a vital role in the lives of Gen Ys and influencing their culture through allowing two way communications. For example, Dell Computers uses Twitter to gain timely feedback on its products; and customers can see a how their feedback influences new products. The Liberals consider harnessing the opportunity offered through social media as vital in reducing street violence.

The ‘One Punch Can Kill’ campaign operates in Queensland and is the result of some hard work by groups such as the Queensland Homicide Victims’ Support Group and Matthew Stanley Foundation in pushing for more to be done in reducing street violence.

Its aim is to inform the youth of our community that acts of violence can have lasting and even fatal consequences, and this message is bluntly, but effectively put in its slogan, ‘One Punch Can Kill’.

The Tasmanian Liberals are firmly committed to reducing street violence and believe that the ‘One Punch Can Kill’ style campaign will have positive results in Tasmania, but we understand that our community deserves to play a pivotal role in helping too. We need a campaign tailored to Tasmania and that influences the underlying factors of street violence. This is why a Hodgman Liberal Government will ensure that the youth of Tasmania, the families that have been impacted by street violence and the pubs and clubs that deal with street violence every weekend, are all involved in implementing the Tasmanian campaign.