What is all this fuss about the validity of the Crime Poll?

As the current state government has indicated it will be used to listen to community views and to help guide new policy.

This is nothing new, and in fact, exactly how a government should act, on community sentiments.

I applaud the state government for using such a modern medium to interact with the public. For all those who are criticizing this approach I would suggest that your comments would be best served by encouraging individuals to express their points of view on this poll, which would then largely overcome their concerns about this scientific method.

Let us never forget that we are a democracy and that the concerns of the public should drive policy and not the other way round. Crime in Victoria is a very serious issue and must be addressed before it gets further out of hand. For those who don’t consider it to be a serious issue I suggest you speak to one of the 40,000 individuals each year who are the victims of serious crime in Victoria.

As for online polling I would like to see far more of this which is an extremely effective and efficient means of governments listening to public sentiment. I would even suggest that the state government establish a website wholly devoted to polling on current and important issues. Let us embrace this exciting new medium which can like no other time in history allow the public to promptly and efficiently express their opinions to policy makers.

Domenic Greco

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