Bills

Public Intoxication (Review Recommendations) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:42): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Public Intoxication Act 1984.

Second Reading

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:42): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the explanation of the clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

The Public Intoxication (Review Recommendations) Amendment Bill 2016 seeks to amend the Public Intoxication Act 1984 to implement recommendations from the Review of South Australia's Public Intoxication Act 1984.

The Public Intoxication Act 1984 provides for the apprehension and care of a person in a public place who is under the influence of a drug or alcohol and is unable to take proper care of himself or herself. It has operated without material amendment since its introduction in 1984.

Data from South Australia Police shows that approximately 3,000 people are apprehended under the Act each year. Fifty percent of those apprehended identify as Aboriginal and 50 percent are discharged from police custody to home, or to the care of a friend or relative.

The Government committed to reviewing the Public Intoxication Act 1984 in response to the Deputy Coroner's findings delivered on 4 November 2011, from the inquest into the deaths of Kunmanara Kugena, Kunmanara Windlass, Kunmanara Peters, Kunmanara Kugena, Kunmanara Gibson and Kunmanara Minning, and in response to the findings from the Deputy Coroner's inquest into the death of Kunmanara Brown, delivered on 6 October 2011.

The review of the Act was conducted by public health law expert, Dr Chris Reynolds. The Review aimed to identify opportunities to improve the Act and its application, consistent with the Government's policy that public intoxication is not a criminal offence.

The Government released its response to the Reynolds Review in 2015, which included a commitment to make the legislative changes included in this Bill. The Bill amends the Public Intoxication Act 1984 to:

Expressly state the objects and principles of the Act;

Provide an expanded definition of a drug for the purposes of the Act;

Adopt a definition of 'public place' similar to that in the Summary Offences Act 1953;

Extend the maximum period of detention by police to 12 hours but retain the 18 hour maximum period of detention for declared sobering- up centres;

Protect people involved in the administration of the Act from civil liability, providing their actions are in good faith.

At present the Act is silent on its purpose, apart from its long title as 'An Act to provide for the apprehension and care of persons found in a public place under the influence of a drug or alcohol; and to provide for other incidental matters.'

The Review recommended that the Act should expressly state the objects and principles that articulate its scope and intentions. The Bill introduces Objects and guiding principles explaining that harm minimisation and protecting public health is the primary goal of the Act. They include that the primary concern is to be given to the health and well-being of a person apprehended under this Act and that a person detained under this Act should, where practicable, be detained in a place other than a police station.

The Review recommended that the reference to 'alcohol or a drug' as the cause of the intoxication should be replaced by a more general approach. It is enough that the person is simply intoxicated and by that fact incapable of taking proper care of himself or herself. Persons intoxicated in a public place who are unable to care for themselves should be protected from harm regardless of the intoxicating substance.

The Bill amends the definition of 'drug' to include alcohol or any other substance that is capable, either alone or in combination with other substances, of influencing mental functioning.

As a consequence, the Bill also removes the power to declare by regulation any substance to be a drug for the purposes of this Act. Expanding the definition of a drug within the Act makes such regulations unnecessary.

The Review recommended that the Act should apply to land or premises that are not necessarily public places, provided the owner or occupier of the land or premises does not object. The Bill inserts a definition of a public place that aligns with the Summary Offences Act 1953. A public place includes:

a place to which free access is permitted to the public,

a place to which the public are admitted on payment of money

a road, street, footway, court, alley or thoroughfare which the public are allowed to use.

Currently, police officers are required by the Act to discharge a detained person when they have recovered and can take proper care of themselves, but before the expiration of 10 hours. SA Health addiction medicine clinicians consider that a person should be sufficiently recovered after 12 hours to take proper care of themselves. The Bill extends the maximum period of detention by police to 12 hours and retains the 18 hour maximum period of detention for declared sobering-up centres.

The Review recommended that the Act should protect those involved with its administration from civil liability, provided their actions are in good faith and done for the purpose of complying with the Act. The Bill introduces immunity for civil liability for authorised officers for an act or omission in the exercise or purported exercise of official powers or functions.

The Bill also introduces statute law revision amendments. The Act has operated without material amendment since its introduction in 1984. These amendments modernise the Act but have no material impact on its operation.

By implementing recommendations from the review of the Public Intoxication Act 1984 carried out by public health law expert, Dr Chris Reynolds, this Bill aims to modernise the Act to protect the health and well-being of people found intoxicated in a public place.

I commend the Bill to the House.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Public Intoxication Act 1984

4—Amendment of long title

This proposed amendment is consequential on the proposed insertion in section 4 of the definition of drug.

5—Substitution of section 3

New section 2 sets out the objects and guiding principles of the principal Act.

2—Objects and guiding principles

The object is—

(a) to promote the minimisation of harm that may befall a person in a public place as a result of a person's intoxication; and

(b) for that purpose, to confer appropriately limited powers—

(i) to remove an intoxicated person from a public place in which the person is vulnerable or may become a threat; and

(ii) to take the person to a place of safety until the person is recovered.

In the performance of their functions under the Act, the Minister, police officers, authorised officers and other persons or bodies involved in the administration of this Act are to be guided by the following principles:

(a) primary concern is to be given to the health and well-being of a person apprehended under this Act;

(b) a person detained under this Act should, where practicable, be detained in a place other than a police station.

6—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

It is proposed to substitute the definition of drug to include alcohol or any other substance that is capable (either alone or in combination with other substances) of influencing mental functioning. This new definition will mean that it will no longer be necessary to declare, by regulation, substances to be drugs for the purposes of the Act. It is also proposed to insert a definition of public place.

7—Amendment of section 5—Administrative provisions

8—Amendment of heading to Part 2

These proposed amendments are consequential on the insertion of the new definition of drug in section 4.

9—Amendment of section 7—Apprehension of intoxicated persons

A number of the amendments proposed to this section are consequential on the insertion of the new definition of drug, while others modernise the language of the section . The amendment to subsection (4) increases the time in respect of which an intoxicated person may be detained in a police station from 10 hours to 12 hours.

10—Amendment of section 8—Application for declaration

The amendments proposed to section 8 are either consequential on the insertion of the new definition of drug or bring the language of the section up-to-date. For example, instead of referring to a court of summary jurisdiction, the substituted subsections refer to the Magistrates Court.

11—Substitution of section 14

It is proposed to repeal section 14 which is otiose and insert a new section that provides, in the usual terms, for certain immunity relating to official powers and functions.

13—Immunity relating to official powers or functions

New section 13 provides that, subject to this Act, no civil liability attaches to an authorised officer for an act or omission in the exercise or purported exercise of official powers or functions. An action that would, but for subsection (1), lie against a person lies instead against the Crown. This section does not prejudice rights of action of the Crown in respect of an act or omission of a person not in good faith.

Schedule 1—Statute law revision amendments

The Schedule makes provision for amendments to the principle Act that are of a statute law revision nature, by bringing the language up to current drafting standards. The amendments make no substantive change to the Act.

Debate adjourned on motion of Ms Chapman.