Page 722 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 1 April 2008
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It should be carefully noted that the government is not proposing that the offence of defacing premises stands alone as a way to attend to the concern of posting of bills. The government, through the Department of Territory and Municipal Services, is working to provide places for people to lawfully bill-post in Canberra. Recently another three bill-posting silos were commissioned in the Canberra central area, and further bill-posting sites are being considered. Shopping centre operators are encouraged to provide designated spaces for legal bill posting and many shopping centres around Canberra provide this facility.
Although the government is providing places where people can lawfully bill-post, members should remember that, while some bill posting represents political expression, most of it is commercial advertising—and free advertising at that. The aesthetic and financial cost borne by the community and private property owners is a significant one that warrants the type of prohibition included in the offence. Whilst the offence does impose a restriction on the freedom of expression, it does so in a manner that is rationally connected with the objective of addressing the problems associated with the posting of bills.
The bill admits the existing offence notices provision in section 441. Section 441 is an updated formulation for infringement notices that lacks much of the machinery required for modern infringement notice schemes. As members may be aware, the framework for infringement notices currently exists in the Magistrates Court Act 1930. All new infringement notices come under part 3.8 of that scheme.
The bill amends the offence of “consumption of liquor in certain public places” to make it amenable to an infringement notice. The bill will also apply the existing evidence provision creating a legal presumption to the amended offence. The bill provides that in proceedings for an offence against the Liquor Act, a beverage in a container labelled as containing alcohol will be taken to be liquor within the meaning of the offence provision unless the contrary is established by the defendant on the balance of probabilities.
The effect of this provision should not be understated. The application of the legal presumption will mean that police officers and inspectors of licensed premises will be able to issue an infringement notice where the physical elements of the offence have been witnessed without the requirement to undertake a forensic analysis of the beverage. This will lead to the more efficient enforcement of the law as it relates to the consumption of alcohol in public places. Such provisions were not provided for in Mr Stefaniak’s legislation.
On a related matter, the government has announced that it will release a discussion paper to explore whether the Liquor Act is adequate in satisfying community expectations on a range of issues, importantly including the responsible sale and consumption of alcohol in the territory. Today I have released a discussion paper seeking public comment on those issues.
By way of amendment to related legislation, the bill makes a consequential amendment to section 77 of the Children and Young People Act 1999 to make an
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