Page 3228 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 September 2014
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The Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety commented in their report No 23 that powers created by the bill might be exercised to suppress expressions of political concern. The right to freedom of expression, including political expression, is limited by the bill in a number of ways. With respect to protection of symbols and restriction of advertising in certain clean zones, I refer the committee to the discussion in the explanatory statement to the bill which outlines the way in which the right to freedom of expression is safeguarded and the ways in which any limitations on this right are restricted to the minimum degree necessary.
With respect to behaviour which may interfere with an event, clause 14 of the bill provides an offence prohibiting certain behaviour at events or event activities. I will be moving a government amendment to this clause, government amendment 12, which will further restrict any limitation on the right to freedom of expression, including political freedom.
Dealing with the comments from the committee in relation to police powers, the committee provided a number of comments in their report, suggesting that certain police powers provided by the bill should be restricted. As such, I would make some general comments and outline further how government amendments 16 through 22, which I will be moving today, address these matters.
Police in Australia draw on national guidelines for incident management, conflict resolution and use of force in the management of incidents at major events. In this regard it is useful to recall that the Sixth Assembly considered in detail issues around how police manage critical events involving large crowds, and how they apply available powers through policing practical and operational guidelines.
In 2008 the Standing Committee on Legal Affairs considered police powers of crowd control in the ACT. The submissions to that committee, and the committee’s own report and the government’s response, underscore the importance of an informed approach to how police can manage issues that can arise through major events.
The government’s submission noted issues of crowd psychology, the way groups can interact, and crowd dynamics. It is in this context that we ask police to manage risks associated with major events through the use of expanded search and related powers.
With regard to conducting searches of people or property, it is important that this may occur away from the eye of the general public if that is the wish of the person subjected to the search. If items are to be confiscated, the person should have the ability to regain their property at a later appropriate time, provided the items are not illegal.
With regard to removing people, police would only use force as a last resort, and any such disruptive person will first be given the opportunity to leave the event of their own accord.
In its report, the committee raised a number of issues with respect to whether giving authorised people a power to stop, detain and search a person without the need to be
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