Page 3081 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 September 1993
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My subsequent contact with the issue of move-on powers has occurred in very recent times, in fact since Mr Humphries tabled his Bill to remove the sunset clause which applied to the move-on powers, seeking to make them permanent. Since then I have spent considerable time increasing my understanding of the issues, beginning with the reading in Hansard of the debates of the First Assembly. They make interesting reading. It is worth recording for Hansard purposes the history of the move-on powers debate in the First Assembly.
As most people will be aware, in 1989 Mr Bill Stefaniak, as a private member, tabled a Bill to reinstate move-on powers which had existed in the Territory until 1987. The thrust of the Bill was to prevent crime before it happened. With the support of the Residents Rally, the Bill was referred to the Select Committee on the Police Offences (Amendment) Bill, which reported on 25 July 1989. The referral occurred on the motion of Mr Bernard Collaery following the Bill's introduction but before the Chief Minister, Ms Follett, had had the opportunity to speak on the Bill. The membership of the select committee comprised Mr Stefaniak as chair, Mr Collaery and Ms Carmel Maher. It is interesting to note that there was no Labor member on that select committee.
There was wide community interest in the Bill at the time. A considerable number of submissions, 50, were received and numerous people, 23, appeared as witnesses at a public hearing. The committee reported to the Assembly, making a substantial number of recommendations to the Assembly about how the Bill could be modified to better meet community need. It is also noted that the chair of the committee, Mr Stefaniak, made additional and dissenting comments to the committee's report. The Bill, as amended, was agreed to by the Assembly on 24 August 1989, the sunset clause taking effect on the Bill's gazettal from 5 September 1989 to 5 September 1991.
Subsequent discussion on the move-on powers occurred in May 1990, when Mr Wood, as an opposition member, sought the repeal of the move-on powers. Mr Wood had researched the issue thoroughly and concluded from the reading of the transcript of the public hearing that the select committee had not even-handedly reflected on or commented on the issues raised. Debate was adjourned and was resumed on 24 October 1990 by Mr Stefaniak, who opposed the repeal of the provisions. In his response he quoted a series of instances where police move-on powers had been used, which were responded to by Mr Connolly saying that in each instance particular provisions of the Crimes Act could have been used to achieve the same outcome. Mr Wood's attempt to repeal the move-on powers at that time failed, although one comment that he made at the time seems especially relevant to this debate, and is worth quoting today. I quote from an earlier Hansard:
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 ...
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