Page 3596 - Week 12 - Thursday, 13 October 1994
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In framing this legislation for the ACT we have been careful to take into account the local situation in the Territory and our community policing philosophy. The ACT Criminal Law Consultative Committee was consulted on the adaptation of the Commonwealth Act to the Territory's peculiar circumstances. The Bill provides for a comprehensive scheme for obtaining and executing search warrants, including telephone warrants, stopping and searching conveyances, arrest and related matters such as personal searches, taking and destroying fingerprints, holding identification parades and other identification procedures. It sets out the powers and obligations of police when carrying out any of these procedures and spells out the many safeguards to protect the rights of individuals.
I now mention some important features of the Bill. In relation to search warrants, the Bill will introduce improved protection for individual rights by providing that a limited number of judicial officers and officials have the power to issue a search warrant; requiring police to disclose to the issuing officer whether the use of firearms may be necessary; requiring warrants to specify the scope of the search that is authorised; requiring the warrant to specify whether a search at night is authorised and inserting a presumption against a search warrant issuing which authorises a search after 9.00 pm and before 6.00 am - this is a special provision for the Territory; requiring a police officer to state in an application for a warrant whether that officer has applied before in relation to the same person or premises; limiting the life of a warrant to seven days; requiring police to give the occupier the opportunity to allow entry before executing a warrant; requiring the police officer executing the warrant to give his or her name to the occupier and requiring a copy of the warrant to be given to the occupier.
Mrs Carnell: Is this not our Bill?
MR CONNOLLY: No. This is a far more sophisticated version of the clumsy, shoot from the hip, slapdash approach of this bereft Opposition.
The Bill will also allow the occupier to be present at the search if the occupier is present at the premises, and it will require receipts of things seized under a warrant to be given to the owner. The Bill will clarify police powers by expressly providing for an issuing officer to issue a warrant by phone or electronic means in urgent situations; giving police in the course of a search the power to seize evidence of an offence if this is necessary to prevent its concealment, destruction or use in committing an offence; and giving police in the course of a search power to take photographs, record fingerprints found, take samples of things, copy documents, and search computers and word processing equipment.
The Bill will expressly provide police with power to enter premises to make an arrest for serious offences. To date this power has existed by implication from the police statutory power of arrest. The Bill will not affect existing legislation which empowers the police to enter premises to prevent the commission of an offence or a breach of the peace. The Bill will replace existing legislation with respect to stopping and searching vehicles for evidence in respect of ACT offences. In doing so, the Bill will impose new safeguards on the exercise of this power. It will require that a warrant be obtained for such a search, unless the search is serious and urgent because evidence of a serious offence may be concealed or destroyed. The search must be conducted in a public place and a vehicle must not be detained longer than necessary to conduct the search.
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