Page 888 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989
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penalty was not appropriate and, after due consideration of the penalty and what we were really aiming at in relation to this type of legislation, recommended that the penalty for contravening a direction given to leave an area be $200 or 24 hours' community service. The committee also recommended that the new Bill include a provision to allow persons to provide a reasonable excuse for not moving on, after considering Justice Elizabeth Evatt's recommendations.
Our conclusion is on page 13, Mr Speaker. The committee recommended that the Police Offences (Amendment) Bill 1989 be withdrawn and that I be ordered to prepare and present a Bill in accordance with the recommendations of this committee. That is the first recommendation - indeed, the main recommendation - of the committee. The draftsman has been instructed to prepare a Bill in those terms. The terms, as agreed to by the committee, are attached at appendix 4.
I have made a couple of additional comments myself, and dissenting comments. I feel that my original Bill, incorporating its amendments, is a preferable and simpler type of legislation, and easier to administer than what has been proposed by the committee. However, I was overruled on that. The committee's submission has been communicated to the legislative draftsman.
I formally present the following documents:
Police Offences (Amendment) Bill 1989 - Select Committee - Report, dated 25 July 1989.
Evidence received by the committee.
Minutes of proceedings.
I move:
That the recommendations be agreed to.
MS MAHER (8.17): The Bill proposed by Mr Stefaniak on 28 June 1989 has been very controversial. It has also become a matter of great community concern. Members of the community have become alarmed at the increase in the number of assaults, break and enters, vandalism, and drinking in public, especially those involving young people.
Many individuals and community groups believe that the Bill, in its original form, granting police practically unlimited additional powers to move people on, would be the answer to curbing these types of unacceptable behaviour. Many others believe that just expanding police powers will not solve the problem of antisocial behaviour. In fact, some consider that the passage of the Bill would cause a big rift in the already strained relationship between police and young people.
The committee was set up to determine whether the proposed legislation was the most appropriate way to deal with the
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