Page 2706 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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MR CORBELL: There is no question in relation to certainty. The legislation guarantees a 20-year contract period. That is a legally binding obligation on the electricity retailer. In relation to the other matters that Ms Hunter has raised, as I have already indicated to Ms Hunter, if she can provide me with further information and details of the claims that she has raised, I am happy to investigate those matters further.
Transport—roadside drug testing
MR HARGREAVES: My question is to the Minister for Transport. Chief Minister, can you please inform the Assembly of the advice that you may have received from the Chief Police Officer about a proposal for a random roadside drug testing scheme?
MR STANHOPE: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. It is an important question on an important issue. Yes, I have received advice from the Chief Police Officer on the Hanson-Bresnan drug testing bill and it is a matter of concern, of course, to me, and I am sure to all Canberrans, that the legislation that the Greens and the Liberals are committed to passing tomorrow is legislation on which ACT Policing has, in the words of the Chief Police Officer, fundamental concerns. He goes on in his advice to list the fundamental concerns that he has with the legislation which the Liberals and the Greens have determined, without consultation with the broader community or with experts or people within the legal field or the human rights commissioner, to pass.
I will not have enough time during this question to detail all of the Chief Police Officer’s concerns, but I think it is important to place on the record what we face tomorrow as the Liberals and the Greens crash through this legislation. This is a quote from the Chief Police Officer:
The Hanson Bill does not incorporate formal laboratory testing of an oral fluid sample as part of the analysis process, which is seen by ACT Policing to be a critical requirement for sound and successful prosecutions. Limiting a prosecution so it is based solely on the results obtained from an oral fluid test conducted at the police station, without the added layer of certainty of a laboratory test, and without the further option of an independent test,—
and this is the important part of this particular concern—
creates a precarious situation for both police and prosecutors and has the potential to lead to a substantial number of challenged and, ultimately, failed prosecutions.
In other words, ACT Policing believe that prosecutions that proceed on the basis of the Hanson-Bresnan bill will fail. In other words, the legislation will not work; it will fail. That was the first of the points that the Chief Police Officer makes.
He goes on to say:
Jurisdictional experience, particularly in Western Australia, also shows that current roadside drug detection technology can, and does, show false positive
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