Adelaide: "world murder capital" 
Tuesday, July  30, 2002 18:45  | ABC'S PM Program 30/07/2002 

MARK COLVIN: Move over Johannesburg, Moscow and Baltimore. Adelaide is the murder capital of the world. Well, it is according to a documentary called 'The Trials of Joanne Lees', which has been shown in the UK. South Australians are furious, and the tourism industry is crying foul.

Ben Knight reports.

EXCERPT FROM DOCUMENTARY: It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime for British backpackers, Joanne Lees and her boyfriend Peter Falconio. But that Staurday night, in July 2001 in the middle of Australia, changed their lives forever. They were attacked, suddenly and savagely.

BEN KNIGHT: That program aired in the UK two weeks ago, and claims to tell the story of the disappearance, and presumed murder, of Peter Falconio. And it paints a pretty rough picture of Australia.

EXCERPT FROM DOCUMENTARY: Like most backpackers, Joanne and Peter would be unaware that Australia is easily the world's most dangerous country for serious assaults.

BEN KNIGHT: If that sounds like a big statement, it probably is. But, strange as it may seem, the figures do back it up. Keeping in mind, of course, that countries like Mexico and Rwanda don't actually provide figures, but then, there's this:

EXCERPT FROM DOCUMENTARY: ... that it has in Adelaide, the murder capital of the world.

BEN KNIGHT: That's right.

EXCERPT FROM DOCUMENTARY: The murder capital of the world.

BEN KNIGHT: Not surprisingly, South Australians are outraged, including talkback callers like this one to ABC radio in Adelaide, this morning.

CALLER: I just want to say if we're the murder capital, and it's so unsafe here, I'd suggest that people shouldn't travel to England where all the doctors seem to kill the people off.

BEN KNIGHT: But they have a right to be angry. According the Australian Institute of Criminology, Adelaide is not the murder capital of the world. Its director, Adam Graycar, says there are plenty of cities which are way ahead.

ADAM GRAYCAR: Just about everywhere, you know. It's much more dangerous in Columbia, Croatia, or Camaroon, than it is in Australia. The United States has a homocide rate about four times that of Australia.

BEN KNIGHT: So where would a reporter get the idea that Adelaide is some kind of murder capital?

ADAM GRAYCAR: Well, when you look at South Australia, there have been some very bizarre and very strange homicides that have achieved a great deal of notoriety, and a great deal of publicity. But when you look at the statistics over time, on average, South Australia has had a lower homocide rate than the national rate for most of the last ten years or so.

It's been as low as half the national rate in 1995, but then when bizarre homicides like the Snowtown events occur, then the rate has been above the national rate, but slightly above. Overall, South Australia has a much lower rate, so this journalist must have just made it up.

BEN KNIGHT: The program is scheduled to be repeated in Britain this week. Nick Xenophon, an independent state MP, wants the state government to step in, and stop it going to air.

NICK XENOPHON: This is something that has to be rectified in the world media. This is something that if we don't rectify and correct the record, it will affect our tourism industry, and that's why it's important that we deal with this, and in the next 48 hours stop the reference to Adelaide being broadcast again on the Channel 4 Network.

BEN KNIGHT: But Tourism Minister Jane Lomax Smith isn't rushing into anything.

JANE LOMAX SMITH: At the moment, we have to mindful that all negative images are bad for our self-esteem, and brand Adelaide, and the brand is important to preserve and protect. When you get the facts, you can't respond.

BEN KNIGHT: And that, according to one expert, is the right strategy. David Foster is an associate professor at RMIT's tourism department.

DAVID FOSTER: Well, look, from my understanding, whenever we've had a small crisis in tourism before, it's had no long-term impact whatsoever. So, I'd suggest the best thing they could do is, perhaps, let it lie, and just ignore it, and it'll go away in the longer term.

[ABC Online]