Page 2782 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
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So, Mr Speaker, we are very concerned that the circumstances that the opposition members - those that support this power - are citing as examples of its proper use, to us, seem to be examples that fall far short of the circumstances that would require its use.
The circumstances that you used, Mr Speaker, of the bloke who had been in a fight and was ready to get into another fight, certainly are appropriate. That falls within the legislation; but not terms like "harassment" or, in Mr Kaine's words, being annoyed or concerned about the conduct of a young person or persons acting in a boisterous manner.
I would suggest that many parents of teenagers have thousands of examples of that in their lounge room over any given year. It is not conduct that is appropriate to give rise to this power, and if it is being so applied it is being applied wrongly. I think that that would only add to the concerns of those members who are very much sitting on the fence of this issue, and I think that reinforces the views of those government members and Mr Duby, who feel that on balance this is not an appropriate law.
MR STEVENSON (12.23): Mr Speaker, very briefly, as a former police officer, I am well aware of times when we were not able to move people on. Mr Stefaniak put the point very well. No-one else has been out here on the road trying to handle the problems. It is a difficulty. It is far more difficult now when people, as I mentioned earlier, know their rights. We have seen no valid evidence that the powers have been misused. There is no suggestion that they are being misused politically.
It is obviously the case that, if we, at any later time, need to do something about them, we can. Perhaps in the very near future the people themselves will be able to take that matter into their own hands with a voters' veto Bill, when they have the right to look at existing or proposed legislation and veto it if they choose.
MR COLLAERY (12.24): I think Mr Connolly browbeat Mr Kaine a little bit on that issue. After all, Mr Kaine did say that he did not stand as a lawyer. I took Mr Kaine to take the general lay person's view that he apprehended violence, or something to that extent, by being harassed in a bus station.
I was a bit troubled by Mr Connolly's exaggerated idea that we put a shiver up his spine. I assure Mr Connolly that I spent a great time of my local career opposing the police and trying to defend people on the other variety of charges we have discussed. I think he has to give some credit to the very difficult decisions that people take. My strong view, gained over many years, and also as a father of four children who have all gone through their teenage years, is that there is a balance. This is a difficult decision on balance.
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