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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2570 ..
MR MOORE (continuing):
This legislation is important. It has been on the table for some time and it is now time for us to deal with it and be ready for the Olympics.
MR KAINE (4.36): From listening to Ms Tucker a few minutes ago, I must say that she really expressed my thoughts about this bill. It ought to be a matter of concern whenever we seek to impose constraints on what our citizens can do. Here we are considering a bill which says that any Australian citizen who chooses to go to the Olympic Games immediately becomes susceptible to-and I think Mr Moore used these words-draconian measures.
I understand the need for security, but the security system should take care of that. I do not think that I can accept the proposition that every citizen who goes to the Olympic Games is a potential terrorist, nor should they be treated as though they are. So I have some concerns about giving people who are not police officers powers to frisk search somebody or to ask for their name and address when they are simply attending a sporting event and, if they do not give them, then to be subject to arrest, essentially.
I think that some of the things that we are doing here are over the top. I have grave reservations about the necessity for them. Ms Tucker has said that quite well and I do not need to repeat it. But there is one point that I want to make. I want to draw Mr Moore's attention to something. Mr Moore is saying that this legislation is draconian, but it is necessary. I think that is the thrust of what he said.
Mr Moore: For a very short period.
MR KAINE: It is draconian, but it is necessary. I simply refer to the following statement made by Mr Moore in this place only last year:
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
That is what Mr Moore said only a year ago in discussing another piece of legislation that was nowhere near as draconian as this piece. It is interesting to see how Mr Moore's views change when he is sitting over there and not sitting somewhere else. I would urge Mr Moore to take heed of his own words and his own advice when he is voting on this matter.
MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (4.39), in reply: I think the bill is going to pass, so I thank members for their support for the legislation, although it is obviously layered with a number of criticisms. I want to address some of those criticisms. First of all, I want to pick up and address the point about the legislation being exceptional, of its being draconian, as some members have described it. It is exceptional legislation.
Mr Moore: The scrutiny of bills committee said that.
MR HUMPHRIES:
The scrutiny of bills committee, I recall, has also made that point. It is exceptional legislation. It is legislation that I would not feel comfortable about applying in every one of its present manifestations or with all its present attributes to ordinary sporting events held in the ACT; I make that quite clear. But this legislation is
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