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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2583 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

pass it, the police and the people they designate as authorised persons-and they do this under delegation from the minister-have to act in accordance with the legislation. If they find that a bit hard, I am afraid it is not our problem.

I am not going to impose on the citizens of this place this arbitrary search, this arbitrary fine, because they will not give me their name and address. They have committed no offence, except an offence of simply saying, "I'm just Joe Blow. I'm here to see the games, and I don't want to give you my name and address just because I have been picked out of the crowd for a random search." That is not reasonable in any context, and I would be interested in the minister's explanation for demanding it, other than to say that SOCOG says we have to do it. I am not impressed.

I support what Mr Stanhope is proposing here. If a police officer or an authorised officer wants to search somebody, do a body search or demand their name and address-it says "ask" but it means "demand", because there is a penalty for not doing so-they have to have some reasonable reason for wanting to do that. There has to be some reasonable concern that there is a problem before you do that to any citizen, Olympic Games notwithstanding.

MS TUCKER (5.25): The list has been circulated by Mr Humphries, but I hope he will speak again to define which of these items SOCOG have declared we have to have and which the ACT has decided.

Mr Kaine: That is a list I do not have.

MS TUCKER: It was just circulated to me. Mr Kaine does not have one, apparently. I am still concerned about the discussion we have just had. Mr Humphries has said it would happen rarely, so I am assuming that it would rare that there would be a search because there was a reason.

Mr Humphries: No. It will happen to every person entering the venue. Every person entering the venue will be searched. Their bags, at least, will be searched.

MS TUCKER: Okay. What is going to happen rarely? The body search? The frisk? You were saying it would be unusual.

Mr Humphries: There are no body searches at all. There are frisk searches.

MS TUCKER: I thought that is what that was.

Mr Humphries: In less common circumstances, as I understand it.

MS TUCKER: In less common circumstances? I am assuming that you would not have a frisk search unless you had reasonable grounds. You are saying it would not happen very often, so I imagine that you do not just pick someone. Or is it as Mr Rugendyke, a person experienced in the police force, has tried to tell us and that people with tattoos who come in a bus from Tuggeranong are suspect? This does not make me feel confident about how they will decide whom they search.

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