Page 4153 - Week 13 - Thursday, 27 November 2014
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I am pleased to present the Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2014. The bill addresses a number of criminal justice legislation issues that have arisen in the territory. The bill makes two important amendments to the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act. I will deal with these in turn.
Firstly, the act is amended to provide an interview friend to an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who is a suspect, serious offender or volunteer under the act. An interview friend is there to support the person subject to a forensic procedure or during an application process for an order for them to undergo a forensic procedure. Currently, an interview friend must be provided for a child or incapable person at any hearing for, or the carrying out of, a forensic procedure. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly overrepresented in our criminal justice system. It is fair and appropriate that they be afforded appropriate assistance and safeguards when involved in a justice process.
Secondly, the bill amends section 54 to provide that, if an intimate forensic procedure is to be carried out on a suspect, serious offender or volunteer, the person carrying out the procedure or helping to carry out the procedure must be of the same sex as the relevant person if practicable. The current absolute obligation to provide a practitioner or helper of the same sex, unless consent is given to the practitioner or helper being of a different sex, poses significant operational difficulties for clinical forensic medical services due to the limited number of suitably qualified male practitioners and nurses.
The bill also creates a new offence in the Criminal Code to prohibit the display of drug pipes, including ice pipes, hash pipes and cannabis water pipes, in retail and wholesale outlets. The prohibition applies to products that are intended for the purpose or apparent purpose of inhaling, drawing or smoking, smoke or fumes of controlled drugs. The prohibition does not apply to the display of smoking equipment that is not intended for use with illicit drugs but conceivably could be used this way.
This new offence balances the potential harmful impacts associated with al1owing the display of drug equipment with the concern that prohibiting the sale of drug equipment could lead to more harmful ways of consuming controlled drugs. The prohibition is consistent with the government’s commitment to a harm minimisation approach to illicit drugs.
This bill also contains amendments to the Crimes Act 1900. The amendments will ensure that the law appropriately deals with voyeuristic acts that are in breach of people’s right to privacy. New section 61B(1) will criminalise indecent observations or recordings of another person in a situation where that person should be given privacy. This is an important amendment to ensure our current legislative scheme appropriately addresses behaviour where citizens participate in antisocial and criminal behaviour at the expense of other people’s right to privacy. The primary offence will apply where the offender observes another person with the aid of a device or captures visual data—for example, a film—and a reasonable person would consider this an invasion of privacy and indecent.
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