Page 202 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2008
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Crimes Amendment Bill. These matters are on the notice paper. Indeed, one of them is listed for debate today, should we get to it. I think it is appropriate that you draw Mr Stefaniak’s attention to the fact that he cannot go into the detail of that debate in advance and pre-empt that debate, especially when the bill is listed on the daily program for today. Both bills are on the notice paper. It is pre-empting the debate.
Mr TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Gentleman): Mr Stefaniak, could you refrain from debating bills that are on the notice paper.
MR STEFANIAK: I will, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, although I note that you went into it at some length yourself. I will simply say that there are several other offences, such as fighting in a public place and offensive behaviour which I would very strongly urge the Assembly to consider in any proposal in relation to such things as on-the-spot fines. That is something I have urged the minister to consider. I hardly think that mentioning that anticipates debate. With respect to those two areas, everyone on the police force to whom I spoke saw the need for things like on-the-spot fines for those types of matters. I think the Attorney now realises that on-the-spot fines enable the police to deal with something on the spot. They do not have to make an arrest and go back to the station; they do not have to take defendants back to the station, put them through the trauma of an arrest and then appear before a court.
There is a lot of time involved in that process. What is ultimately a minor matter can often be stopped or nipped in the bud by the issue of an infringement notice. That is the beauty of on-the-spot fines, which I think even the Attorney has gone some of the way towards accepting in his bill. I will not refer to the bill in any greater detail than that.
On-the-spot fines save court time; they save a lot of police time. Also, it is very effective, as has been shown by trials in Sydney, where the level of street offences was reduced by 50 per cent in areas where they have on-the-spot fines. It ensures that when the person wakes up in the morning, probably with a sore head, and probably realising what a goose they are, they pay the fine and it is a salient lesson to them. As with a speeding fine, it does not appear on their record, but it is there as an infringement notice. It does bring home to them the consequences of their misbehaviour and makes it highly unlikely, in many instances, that they will do it again, or at least they will be more careful next time they are out on the grog in public places. So it is very much a commonsense measure and it is no wonder that everyone who attended the roundtable was so strongly supportive of it.
In winding up some of the issues from that roundtable, the street offences bill is a good start, according to the police, because it decriminalises stupid behaviour by taking it out of the courtroom. The police felt they needed a better range of tools to deal with law enforcement. The AFPA would like to see an increase in police numbers. They say we are still not at the national average. They also stated that some of the processes to secure charges needed to be streamlined and courts needed to back up enforcement by police. A number of other issues were raised in relation to taxis, which the Deputy Speaker will speak about.
It was strongly felt that people should be responsible for their own behaviour. Other comments by people around the table who ran businesses were that street offences
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