Page 788 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
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There also has been concern raised at the unconstitutional - we are told - powers of search and entry. I have heard concerns that police officers will have the power to break your doors down and burst into your bedroom and check whether your gun is licensed and registered and in a safe fashion. Mr Speaker, simply and utterly, that is not so. The only power of search and entry that goes beyond a requirement to have a search warrant, which is the basic common-law position, the only enhanced power of entry and search here, is in relation to a dealer, and a dealer under this Bill has considerable privileges. With those privileges come considerable responsibilities, and I cannot see any exception being taken to the police having power to enter the premises of a dealer.
There is no power in this Bill for the police to enter private premises without either the consent of the owner of the dwelling or a search warrant; but good and decent citizens of this Territory have had it put to them that this Bill in some way gives the police power to enter their homes in the dead of night and rifle around for weapons, if that is an appropriate phrase. It is simply a lie. It is an irresponsible lie; but understandably it gives rise to concern. I can understand why any citizen who has had this put to them would be agitated about this Bill and would want to get in touch with their elected representatives. I can well understand that concern, but it is simply not the case. It is a scandalous lie being put about in the community for partisan advantage.
There is another example. There is a provision in this legislation that if a weapon is unsafe a police officer may direct that the unsafe weapon be made safe and be dealt with, and it is an offence to have an unsafe weapon. It is being put about that a weapons dealer who is repairing that weapon is himself at risk of being in breach of the law because he has the unsafe weapon on his premises. Well, Mr Speaker, clause 38 of the legislation specifically authorises the dealer to repair weapons. It would be an absurd interpretation of any law to say that a person who is repairing an object is guilty of having in their possession an unsafe object. This is an example of not so much an outright lie as the other two but a deliberate absurd distortion of the provision to lead to a result that again causes concern to ordinary citizens. Again it is extremely irresponsible and again it is clearly a furphy.
Mr Duby: Humbug.
MR CONNOLLY: Humbug, indeed. I am agreeing regularly with Mr Duby on this. I have had it put to me, again by concerned citizens, that there is no right of appeal; that they are very concerned that there are considerable discretionary powers vested in the registrar. There are only very few circumstances in this legislation where a registrar is required to refuse a licence; but there are a
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