Page 4721 - Week 16 - Wednesday, 28 November 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
question about that. With these move-on powers a policeman can say, "Move on or I will charge you". With the conditions before that, the conditions that should apply, a policeman can say to a person, "Move on", and specify what likely charges will arise, "or I will charge you". That surely is the better way to go. That does not allow for misuse; it does not allow for excesses either, on the part of the people to whom the police may be talking.
One of the speakers on the other side of the house made a point with which I agree, although it was not developed, and that relates to the training of police. I think therein lies a great deal of the problem that we have. The police have the most difficult task of all - dealing with people. That is no easy task; we all know that. Often those people are intoxicated. I do not believe that sufficient attention is given in their training to how to deal with people. It requires great skill. The training is inadequate. Some people have a natural tact and an ease or a firmness of manner, as the occasion requires; others do not. But it is not something that is lightly acquired.
I know this only too well. Mr Jensen said that young people today have changed; they are more demanding - I forget his precise words - they require or demand more; they are much more aware of their rights. As a teacher, I know that only too well. In my career, before I came to this place, my whole approach had changed over the many years in which I was engaged as a teacher.
I hope that the police also have made those changes that society has enforced upon them. In any classroom in which I taught in recent years I could not enforce a rigid discipline - "You will do this or else". It is not appropriate, and it simply does not work; the same applies to the police. We have a society today, as described, that will not allow that to happen. If you explain things to people, whether they are in school or in the community, you will get a better result - not always a successful one, I would add.
So, let me concentrate some thought on the need for greater training of police to deal with people. I acknowledge that in a great number of circumstances in which police come in contact with young people, particularly late at night, alcohol is involved. It has to be handled carefully. I do not think that simply saying, "Move on or I will take you to gaol" is the way to do it.
A further problem that I have with this legislation is that some people are more likely than others to be so arrested. I know Mr Whalan's son. He was a natural to be picked; there is no doubt about that. He has some of his father's characteristics, too, in terms of how he should be approached. That case was dropped. I will say no more about it, but it suggests that the provision was not appropriate.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .