Controlled Substances (Commercial Offences) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 24 September 2015.)

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (11:21): As we have spoken of in this place before, obviously the bill will insert new provisions into the Controlled Substances Act which allow the DPP to prosecute drug trafficking and manufacturing offences on the basis that the offence is a single continuous offence. We all know that drugs are a scourge on our society. We all have electorates and all understand, in our society, how much this is a serious issue. I thank the writers of the bill and those who have been consulted on the bill and lodged feedback on the bill. We took a recommendation of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court summarised its opinion in a case, and it stated:

The merits of adopting in South Australia a provision like section 5(1) of the Drugs Misuse Act 1986 (Qld) deserves the attention of the legislature.

That was R v Faehrmann; R v Moore; R v Price-Austin (2014) South Australian Supreme Court, Full Court decision, 25, at 57.

As the law stands, a court must sentence the person according to the provisions of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 South Australia on the basis of offending for a single offence, which must be taken into account separately. I implore the government to support the bill. I implore the Independents to show their independence and have the courage to also support the bill. You are either with us today or you are with the drug traffickers: it is as simple as that.

We know drugs are a scourge on our society. We have had a Supreme Court recommendation to the parliament to put this law into place. So, the only reason the government will not support the bill is if it supports drug traffickers or it is playing petty political games. I would say that drugs are a scourge on our society. It is a huge issue. I do not want to see us come into this place, when we have a recommendation from the Supreme Court, and not implement that recommendation. The government needs to put all these petty political games behind it and support the bill. I commend the bill to the house.

The house divided on the second reading:

Ayes 16

Noes 21

Majority 5

Second reading thus negatived.