Page 4696 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 28 November 1990
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liberties. It is a fundamental objection to arbitrary and broad discretionary police power and a concern about bringing young persons, in particular, into unnecessary conflict with the police.
I noted the irony some months ago when I thought I might be called on to make remarks on the move-on powers. We were instead debating the ethics committee proposal of the Leader of the Opposition. On that day the Attorney-General was indicating that, while there was some merit in having an ethics committee, it was unnecessary to give it the powers proposed by the Opposition. He referred to that ethics committee as an attack on civil liberties which he, as Attorney-General, was always vigilant to defend. Mr Speaker, this is a prime example of an unnecessary attack on the civil liberties of Canberra citizens. It is a bad law which will have bad effects on police-community relations.
Mr Speaker, the many minor public place offences which had existed in the Police Offences Act 1930 and which traced their origins back to colonial New South Wales legislation were repealed in 1983 by the Police Offences (Amendment) Act of that year. That did not, however, mean that Canberra became some sort of haven for petty criminals or street violence. There are pre-existing provisions in the laws in place in the ACT which cover many of the instances that are cited to support the move-on powers.
The Crimes Act 1900 of New South Wales, as amended in its application to the Australian Capital Territory, makes provision, in section 61, for prosecutions for common assault. As the Attorney-General and Mr Stefaniak would well know, "assault" is a wide term. A definition from a standard text on criminal law by Watson and Purnell, Criminal Law in New South Wales, defines assault as an offer or attempt to apply force or violence to the person of another in an angry or hostile manner.
Mr Speaker, it is clear from that definition that "assault" covers not only the laying of hands on a person but also the offering of hostilities. That offence would cover many of the unruly street crime activities that are cited to defend the move-on powers. So, we have a pre-existing offence of assault that would cover that type of activity.
In 1983, at the same time as the old street offences provisions were repealed, a less serious offence was created by section 546A of the Crimes Act, which provides that a person shall not in, near, or within the view or hearing of a person in, or near, a public place behave in a riotous, indecent, offensive or insulting manner. A monetary penalty is provided. This provision, Mr Speaker, was inserted at the time the equivalent offences in the Police Offences Act were repealed in 1983.
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