Page 12 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 2008
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In light of the government bill, Mr Acting Speaker, I can foreshadow today that the government will be opposing Mr Stefaniak’s Crimes (Street Offences) Amendment Bill 2007. I thank Mr Stefaniak for bringing this matter to the attention of the Assembly.
The bill extends infringement notices available under the Magistrates Court Act to offences that present offensive behaviour in the community. The bill creates a new offence of “urinating in a public place”. At present where this offence occurs, ACT Policing pursue charges of either “offensive behaviour” or “indecent exposure”. With the new offence, police will have access to a more straightforward and appropriate option. The bill also amends the existing offence “noise abatement direction”. The specific offence of failure to follow a direction has been made a strict liability offence.
The third Crimes Act offence dealt with by the bill is “defacing premises”. The issue of the criminal defacing of private and public property is an active concern for the government and the community. For this reason, Mr Acting Speaker, with this new offence, police and city rangers will have an additional option when confronted with the defacing of premises, particularly graffiti.
The bill also amends the offence of “consuming liquor in certain public places” in the Liquor Act by making it a strict liability offence. At the same time, the bill addresses the difficulty currently faced by police in prosecuting this offence by applying the evidential presumption of when a beverage is, in fact, liquor. This change means that where a beverage is in a container that is labelled as having at least 0.5 per cent alcohol and the person has committed the physical elements of the offence, there will be a legal presumption that the substance in the container is, in fact, liquor, meaning that police will be able to pursue a charge without having to undertake a forensic analysis of the beverage. This is a particular matter that was not dealt with in Mr Stefaniak’s bill.
The regulations accompanying the bill are made pursuant to part 3.8 of the Magistrates Court Act 1930 and contain the framework provisions for the issuing of infringement notices in relation to specified offences. The service of these infringement notices will be limited to persons over 16 years of age.
Police officers will be able to issue an infringement notice for the offences of “urinating in public places” and failure to follow a “noise abatement direction”. Police officers and authorised persons under the Litter Act 2004—mostly city rangers—will be able to issue an infringement notice for the strict liability offence of “defacing premises—strict liability”. This effectively makes a person who graffities private or public property liable to an infringement notice. Infringement notices under the Crimes Act will carry a liability of $200.
Police officers and inspectors of licensed premises under the Liquor Act 1975 will be able to issue infringement notices for the offence of “consuming liquor in certain public places”. This offence occurs where a person consumes liquor within 50 metres of a bus interchange, a shop, licensed premises or a place prescribed by regulation. This infringement notice will carry a liability of $100.
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