CRIMINAL ASSETS CONFISCATION (PRESCRIBED DRUG OFFENDERS) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 14 February 2012.)

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:45): I am just finishing off the remarks that I was making about this matter at the end of the second reading speeches. I will be relatively brief. I will get to the point where we were yesterday afternoon, because it was going along okay, I thought.

I was explaining that the Hon. Stephen Wade had put out a missive directed at me entitled 'All talk, no action', which is immensely humorous, given who is putting this out. The Hon. Stephen Wade is almost like a constant fax machine, spitting out release after release—daily release. In fact, I understand he even has sound bites that go out. He is a very busy man. He says, 'Labor is more interested in press coverage than in getting the job done.' He goes on to say that I personally have failed to do 19 different things, and he then goes on to enumerate them.

I explained yesterday, by going through them, that—for instance, the alleged failure by me to live up to the promise made by the government to take profits from drug traffickers was, to say the least, comical, given the fact that the reason we have not done that is because he has blocked it in the other place. Very amusing, but—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Okay. The opposition has gutted that piece of legislation in the upper house, and I suspect he was one of the ones who voted for it. I also can tell you that, if he had not voted for it—just him. If just the Hon. Mr Wade had had the integrity to vote for it, it would have passed. So, there we go. Going back through his missive, he says, 'ALP community safety policy 2010—tough on tagging. Delivered? No.' This is very good: 'legislation introduced in November 2011, but no progress since.' Has he heard of the thing called the Christmas holidays? We were not in here on Christmas Day or Boxing Day passing the legislation that we put in. I mean, for goodness sake. So, that is another failure of mine and everyone else in here, that we were not here all over Christmas passing this legislation.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Wait a minute. The next one: 'promise: weapons prohibition orders'. That was the promise. 'Delivered? No.' Then his comment on this one is—this is good—'legislation introduced in 2010 and passed by the Legislative Council in November 2010, but no progress since.' Wrong. Legislation was filleted in the Legislative Council. There were 80 amendments. I believe parliamentary counsel have searched the archives and never seen anything like it. There were 80 amendments, and can I remind—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: —the parliament what this outrageous legislation proposed to do.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The member for Croydon will know all about this, because the young man who died in the city, when he was stabbed—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: That's right, the Sudanese boy.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The Sudanese boy who was stabbed in Grenfell Street because a lad was able to go into a shop and buy a knife. He came out with it and he went through a Crocodile Dundee moment and said, 'You call that a knife? That's not a knife.' He went back in and got a bigger one, which he was allowed to buy, then he went out and stabbed this young man who died.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: Sixteen years old.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Wait a minute, and we also wanted police to be able to get orders about nunchuckas, knives, star knives, knuckledusters, etc., in respect of people like a gentleman who has been on the front page of the newspaper over the last couple of weeks. Right? So, again, we were accused of having done nothing when, in effect, the bill has been morphed from what it was, to something which looks like it might have originated in the mind of my good friend, but late departed of this place, Sandra Kanck.

So, what else has he attacked me on? Here is another thing that I did not do. On 26 August 2011, I announced that I would be consolidating an appeals body into an AAT. No, I did not. I said we were commencing the investigation of that process, and we would be reporting back to the parliament, and that is exactly what we are doing. Secondly, internet censorship—this one is really good, this one is a beauty—'Labor promised to remove former attorney-general Atkinson's internet censorship changes in the electoral act. Bill introduced in May 2010 but not progressed.' Do you know why? Because they stuck it into a committee. I said, 'Look, just put the bill through.' I introduced that legislation to honour the commitments made by the member for Croydon in May 2010, and that was introduced and passed here.

An honourable member: Which committee?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Legislative Review Committee.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, there was a select committee.

An honourable member: And it has reported?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Yes, and again—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, wait. It reported after two or three years gestating the thing, and completely changed the bill.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Norwood, you are misbehaving. Behave or go out.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Then, public integrity—well—'Released a discussion paper in November 2010 proposing a range of reforms; only progress has been to promise a lightweight version of ICAC.' Wrong. Wrong. It was made clear by the Premier exactly what was coming and you will see it soon enough. So, here we are. I thought it was necessary to go through some of this stuff because the member for Bragg traversed a great deal of territory, and it is only fair to do the same thing. With those few remarks, I close the second reading debate.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:53): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.