Page 4619 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 6 December 1994
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(1A) Where the Minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that it is necessary for the purposes of this Act that an inspector enter prescribed premises, the Minister may, by instrument -
(a) authorise an inspector to enter specified prescribed premises; and
(b) if satisfied on reasonable grounds that the circumstances are of such seriousness and urgency as to require immediate access to the premises - authorise the entry at any time.
(1B) An inspector may, after giving to the occupier of the relevant premises a copy of an instrument under subsection (1A), enter those premises, with such assistance and by such force as is reasonable -
(a) at any reasonable time; or
(b) if the instrument so authorises, at any time.".
Page 17, line 34, subclause (2), omit "(1)", substitute "(1B)".
Madam Speaker, clause 33 deals with the powers of authorised officers to enter premises, either where consent has been given or where reasonable grounds exist for them to believe that circumstances are of such seriousness and urgency as to require entry without consent. It is our belief that, if consent is not given, then an authorised officer should not be allowed to enter. Allowing authorised officers to have immediate access to private premises where consent has not been given effectively gives the officer greater powers than are actually vested in the police. If the police want to enter premises, they must obtain a warrant prior to entry. To give inspectors greater powers than the police is obviously ludicrous.
Our amendment provides that an authorised officer must obtain a written notice signed by the Minister before he or she enters premises without consent. This notice will obviously need to be served upon the occupant prior to entry. If the matter is serious enough for the inspector to feel that they must enter premises which they do not have consent to enter, obviously it will not be too difficult to get the signature of the Minister or the Minister's designated person - - -
Mr Connolly: It will be, on a Sunday if the Minister is in Sydney or down the coast.
MRS CARNELL: There are such things as faxes, Minister, and there is also delegated responsibility. As the Assembly would remember, we had this exact argument on the food legislation. We suggested, as we have here, that it was not all right for an inspector to enter premises without written authority because they may think a matter is urgent.
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