Page 2210 - Week 07 - Thursday, 6 June 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
In relation to police, I think we have more police on the beat now than we did two years ago and, by the use of such things as police shopfronts and innovative ideas such as the police bicycle squad, the police have a greater presence in the community than they have had for some time. I was pleased to see the Alliance Government - and a couple of other members of this Assembly also - defeat a Bill Wood amendment Bill to try to get rid of the very useful move-on powers. That was defeated and those very useful powers remain. Little wonder, I think, that the police and the community have confidence in this Government to do its little bit to preserve law and order in the Territory. I think that confidence is well founded.
Some legislation that has been around for a long time was introduced by this Government, Mr Speaker, and that is the Weapons Act. That had its genesis in 1977, but it was this Government that brought it in. In early 1990 Mr Collaery introduced a rather half-baked Bill that had quite a few problems. However, with the 12-month community consultation that Bill was tightened up and renovated considerably and the legitimate concerns of the gun lobby were then catered for in that Bill. What we have come up with is a Bill that balances the rights of individual citizens, but also looks after the rights of the community. I think that is certainly a very important piece of legislation, fine-tuned and then passed by the Alliance Government.
There have been a number of amendments, too, to the Liquor Act. Those amendments have tightened controls on under-age drinking and the criteria for determining the suitability of liquor licence holders, together with greater powers of the licensing authority. Also, of course, we have done things like legalising two-up on Anzac Day, which seems to come under that Act as well. More significantly, perhaps, our Motor Traffic Act has been amended in a number of areas. The Motor Traffic (Alcohol and Drugs) Act has been amended to bring us into line with New South Wales, and we now have .05 as the legal limit rather than .08. This is very important. It removes an anomaly whereby people could drive from Canberra to Queanbeyan at .07, get through a random breath test somewhere out at Harman and then, when they cross the border, they get picked up for drink-driving.
We have also increased the fines payable for traffic infringement notices, to bring us more into line with other States as well. Other Acts which this Territory has benefited from include the Tobacco Act. I think the Minister for Health's Act there leads the country in some of its provisions.
That leads me to a second area which I will speak on, Mr Speaker, and that is the area of sport, because sport has benefited from the Health Promotion Fund. I think there are a few bugs that still need to be ironed out there so that the fund can be more effective; but, to date, general
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .