Bills

Criminal Law Consolidation (Sexual Predation Offences) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 10 April 2024.)

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (10:32): I am very pleased to speak in support of this bill. I thank the member for Heysen, in his role as the shadow attorney-general, for bringing this bill to this place in a very timely manner. It has been here in this place now for over a month. I understand that he has briefed the Attorney-General's office and the Minister for Women's office about the bill. That was, I think, two weeks ago now, but he has not heard about the government's intentions on this bill. I can only assume that the most urgent matter of removing King's Counsel from the statute books distracted the Attorney-General from engaging in this very important issue.

I will explain why it is important. We have a situation where you can carry something that is used as dangerously as somebody carrying a knife, that can be used in a nightclub or an entertainment venue as a mechanism to seriously sexually assault somebody, and that is what they call a date rape drug. You are not allowed to bring a knife into a nightclub; there are severe penalties for bringing a knife into a nightclub, but if you have a date rape drug, or GHB, as it is commonly known—there are many drugs that do this. Some of the most commonly used drugs are GHB, or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, and benzodiazepines, which are prescription medications primarily used for the treatment of medical conditions.

GHB is a central nervous system depressant that is typically used to treat conditions such as not being able to sleep, which is obviously a serious issue, characterised by excessive daytime sleeping but not being able to sleep at night. It is also used off-label as an anaesthetic and as a treatment for alcohol and opioid dependence. You can see it has very extreme uses, so why would somebody—a fit or able-bodied person who is well enough to go to nightclubs—who does not have a prescription for this drug, have it on their person in a nightclub?

One could safely assume that the only use by that person is for committing a heinous sexual crime of rape: drugging somebody, knocking them out, removing them from the premises under some pretext of, 'She's had too much to drink, I'm getting her home,' and that poor woman then waking up somewhere that she does not know in a terrible state, and working out the worst has happened, and no memory. We saw that just recently. Queensland state MP Brittany Lauga—a young Labor MP in the Queensland parliament—was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted on a night out in Yeppoon. I quote from an ABC report:

Queensland Labor MP Brittany Lauga has alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted in the central Queensland town of Yeppoon last weekend.

This story is dated Saturday 4 May. The report continues:

In a statement posted on social media, Ms Lauga said she had contacted police in the early hours of Sunday morning.

'Tests at the hospital confirmed the presence of drugs in my body which I did not take.'

This is the situation. The research that I have done on this particular topic is that there is a very low conviction rate of men who use this method of assault, simply because of the circumstances. Getting the evidence is very difficult as to who is actually responsible, yet this is not about a change to legislation and being at the bottom of a cliff in an ambulance; this is putting a fence at the top of the cliff to stop it from actually happening.

The penalties are extremely severe in this bill for having date rape drugs on your person in a prescribed place. For a basic offence, it is up to 10 years' imprisonment. That is a pretty strong deterrent, and the penalties are even higher for an aggravation or an increase in the harm that the offence could cause. It becomes an aggravated offence with imprisonment for 12 years if it is related to other situations that increase the seriousness. If victims are of a certain age, then of course it is increased even further.

So this sends a very strong message that this behaviour is an extremely serious offence. Having this on your body is evidence that you intended to use it for a very serious criminal offence. Let's be honest about this, it is almost exclusively women who are the victims of these crimes. Why on earth do you have a drug that requires a prescription—that we know has the effect of knocking somebody out—on your person when you are going to a nightclub? Why do you have that? Consequently, I call on members of this house to support this bill.

I am disappointed that we do not have any indication from the government at this stage as to whether they believe this is a bill that is worthwhile of support. There has been no feedback whatsoever to the member for Heysen, and I have not seen any media on this from the government. We know that the government is very quick to put out a media statement whenever they have made a decision on a particular issue, so I can only assume that either the work has not started or we are still waiting for the completion of the work. Either way, it is disappointing that the engagement has stopped after the initial briefing.

I do encourage the government to come back to this place with a position on this bill, and be ready to debate it, and hopefully support the bill. I am sure that the shadow attorney-general will be amenable to amendments if, for some reason, his work, in some instances, may have unintended consequences. We want this to work, and so of course the Liberal Party would be very happy to work with the government to get this bill right.

I do congratulate the member for Heysen for bringing this bill to this place and giving the parliament the opportunity to raise the issue. Actually, I think it would surprise a lot of people listening to this debate that there are virtually no consequences for someone who has this on their person in a nightclub. There is, if you have a knife. It is an offence if you have a knife, and take a knife into a nightclub, but not a weapon that could be used to assist you to commit a heinous crime.

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:42): I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

The house divided on the motion:

Ayes 22

Noes 14

Majority 8

AYES

NOES

PAIRS

Motion thus carried; debate adjourned.