THIS week’s agreement of a raft of new legislation to improve the Island’s defences against a raft of crimes including cyber-stalking, harassment, deepfake explicit images, and threats of sexual violence is to be welcomed.
Credit must go to the Minister and her officers for successfully bringing this complex and wide-ranging package of laws to the States Assembly for debate, and to the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce, whose 2023 report directly led to it, and catalysed these important changes.
For those who justify their decision not to engage in local politics because, “nothing changes”, or “it doesn’t affect me,” then this is further proof of just how wrong they are. It does; and while no new legislation is ever perfect, what has been agreed this week is still a significant step forward.
It was also a good example of how the Island has a responsibility to make sure its legislation stays up-to-date with modern life, even though doing so obviously always comes at a cost, estimated in this case to be somewhere between £3m and £8m.
Deputy Helen Miles drew attention to the extra demand which would now be placed on both the Police and the wider judicial system, and pointed out that how that would be funded still needs to be worked out.
There are perhaps other topics where the point would be more apposite. On this subject there seems to be near universal agreement that the Island’s defences have fallen well behind what’s now needed, and that lack required urgent, and comprehensive, attention.
But more generally, the Island’s politicians will increasingly be put in a position of adjudicating between an obvious need to fund important changes, and an equally obvious need to reduce costs for the taxpayer.
Former incumbents of the States Assembly may note, ‘twas ever thus – except of course that the cost of the public sector has risen steadily for some years.
In the current times, anyone who is wary of making those tough decisions really should think again about putting their name forward in the June elections.
Expect the debate to become increasing polarised, something we got a taste of this week, when the mere question of how the proposed changes would be afforded was met by some with warnings about “austerity”.
Such divisive claims should be met with the derision they deserve. Businesses and households across the Island are already rigorously prioritising what they need to spend, and revisiting how they do it, so that they can still do what’s needed, but at a lower cost. That’s not austere, it’s efficient common sense.
