Page 1323 - Week 07 - Thursday, 24 August 1989
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the following week the reference to "or of another person" was taken out. It also included a subclause (3), which is still in this Bill, in relation to excluding demonstrations and pickets from this Bill, because it was never the intent that this legislation would cover demonstrations and pickets.
With those amendments, my original Bill was quite satisfactory and was in line with current legislation in South Australia, legislation which various Labor governments have been quite happy to use. I believe that was a far better Bill than this, which, although it covers most of the major problems, does not cover all problems that police may find themselves likely to encounter actually on the streets. It does, however, cover the major causes of concern, and they are groups of people fighting, violence, intimidation and damage to property.
So whilst this Bill is very much a result of a committee decision, it does basically still do the job. Accordingly, the bottom line is that we go along with it although it is not, I think, as effective as my old Bill with the amendments that I proposed for that.
Mr Speaker, there is one provision I will come to later on. I have moved an amendment in relation to the 24 hours community service. I might add that I felt my original penalty of $1,000 or three months imprisonment, which is what they have in South Australia, was far more appropriate. I certainly am aware of what the Chief Minister has said in relation to community service being an alternative to imprisonment. However, it was a majority committee recommendation that that 24 hours go in there.
Mr Speaker, the Liberal Party, unlike many of the other parties in this Assembly, appreciates the work done by the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Capital Territory police force as it was before. This power, in a far more general form, in the Gaming and Betting Act was enforced in the ACT from the time of its inception until 1987, when it was taken out.
The committee did not have one instance of abuse of the power put before it. I have every confidence that the Australian Federal Police will exercise this power wisely, as they exercise the powers they have wisely 99.999 per cent of the time. We will be monitoring, as a party, the effect of this legislation. We will be seeing, in fact, if there are additional powers that the police need to make it work better; we will be monitoring what the courts say in relation to any hearing matters that come up in relation to looking at any ways of improving this legislation and will also be monitoring what various groups and individuals in the community have to say in relation to this legislation, to see whether in fact it should be and can be improved.
We are not very happy with the level of penalty. We also feel there is no need for the sunset clause. I think that
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