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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2572 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

minister, Mr Michael Knight, seeking some clarification as to what SOCOG's requirements were with respect to security legislation. I wrote to Mr Knight on 16 February. A reply came back to me dated 13 March, but it was not received by me until 21 March. I have to say that a very unhelpful reply was given in which he said:

the ACT's bill-

He goes on to suggest that I should contact Commander Paul McKinnon of the Olympic Security Command Centre-that is what OSCC stands for, by the way-to get better advice on exactly what is required. My understanding is that discussions with police in New South Wales have indicated a requirement to have legislation of the kind which the government has in fact put on the table.

Ms Tucker: With penalties to this detail?

MR HUMPHRIES: I do not know. The New South Wales people were not specific about the extent of penalties, as far as I am aware, but the New South Wales authorities pointed to the fact that they have similar provisions in their own legislation. So when Mr Knight says that legislation of a similar nature has not been sought by police in New South Wales, strictly he is right because it is already there. They already have legislation in place of that kind and, as far as I am aware, they have it of a similar kind in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia.

Not surprisingly, I was not much enlightened by Mr Knight's reply and I have taken further advice from the Australian Federal Police to ascertain just what is the requirement in the ACT. The legislation before the house today accords with the advice I have received from the security coordinator for the Olympic Games events being hosted in the ACT. I have put it to the house on that basis and asked the house to support it on that basis.

The provisions in this legislation are not exceptional as far as Olympic venues are concerned around Australia, and they are certainly not exceptional as far as Olympic events are concerned around the world. I doubt that any Olympic venue in the last two or three decades would have been without legislation of this kind applying to those venues and providing for the sorts of security provisions which appear in this legislation.

I will finish on the previous point by saying that I would not like to see this kind of provision in place customarily in ACT legislation for ordinary sporting events, but these are not ordinary sporting events and it behoves us in the most unlikely event that something disastrous in the way of a security breach occurs to have backed up with appropriate legislation those people out in the field who will have to deal with this situation. It is not fair for us to leave them to deal with a crisis at an Olympic venue without the appropriate legislative power to deal with it as they need to. That is why I think that we should pass this legislation.

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