Drug-Related Crime

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:14): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police a question relating to a recent incident in Rundle Mall.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: Early Saturday morning of last week, two young men were stabbed while walking down Rundle Mall. The attack was unprovoked and it is alleged the attacker was under the influence of an unknown illicit substance. This attack is similar to the unprovoked attack that occurred at Paradise Interchange a few months ago, which I have raised in this place previously, where a person was stabbed without warning by an attacker also under the influence of an illicit substance and unknown to the victim. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the minister concerned about the recent trend in unprovoked attacks fuelled by illicit substances in South Australia?

2. With the offender at Paradise Interchange set to serve just over one year in prison, is the government confident that an appropriate sentence will be handed down following the latest incident?

3. Is the Ice Taskforce considering tougher penalties for those committing violent offences whilst under the influence of such illicit substances?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:15): Firstly, let me thank the honourable member for his question and also pass on my sympathies to those individuals who have been stabbed. It is a tragedy whenever an act of violence occurs within our community, but one that occurs in unprovoked circumstances is particularly unfortunate and should not occur.

We are lucky that we live in a relatively safe community. Here in South Australia and metropolitan Adelaide, we are one of the safer parts of our country and certainly one of the safer parts of our world, and it is fortunate that these incidents are relatively rare. Of course, their relative scarcity also means that they stand out when they do occur and, in turn, shock the public, particularly in a location as publicly available and widely used as Rundle Mall. It particularly captures the state's attention.

Let me state firstly that I think it is a good thing—and I think our men and women in uniform should be congratulated—the fact that I understand an apprehension has been made by SAPOL of the people who are allegedly responsible for this. Obviously, I can't comment on it further, being a matter before the courts, but clearly it appears as though the wheels of justice are turning when it comes to this particular incident.

Regarding the Hon. Mr Hood's question about sentencing, of course, sentencing is a matter for the courts. There is, of course, the sentencing act review which is underway at the moment, and I understand we will be continuing to debate it, potentially later this evening, if not tomorrow. Sentencing is a matter for the courts and principally we hope that we put the right frameworks in place for sentencing and the courts make their decision accordingly. What I would say is that if members of this place have reservations around our particular sentencing arrangements at the moment then, of course, there is an opportunity to express those views during the course of the debate on the sentencing act.

Regarding ice: we don't know necessarily, as it stands, whether or not the illicit substance that the alleged offenders allegedly have taken is ice, but we do know that ice consumption in the community is on the rise. We also know that ice is a particularly insidious drug by virtue of the fact that it does create a propensity for people to act in ways that are violent, in many instances uncharacteristically aggressive or violent, which is a different side effect that we see from many other illicit substances in the community, for instance, cannabis. Cannabis is not a drug that is regularly associated with spontaneous acts of violence, but ice is, which presents all the more reasons why, as a community, and indeed this government being a leader within it, we have to do as much as we can to try to mitigate ice consumption.

The Ice Taskforce was a comprehensive exercise to try to look at what we can do in the short term to address the ice challenge. As I have said previously when talking about the response and the Ice Taskforce, we seek to come up with a policy that addresses both the demand side and the supply side of the equation. The supply side of the equation speaks specifically to a law and order response and there are a number of measures we have put in place to try to do that, not least of which is giving police the tools and resources they need, whether it be an increase in the size of the dog squad or new pieces of equipment for SAPOL to be able to use to go out there and catch people doing the wrong thing.

We are also, of course, investing in campaigns, like the Dob in a Dealer campaign, for instance, to apprehend more low-level dealers. Of course, one of the things that we are also doing is increasing police powers to ensure that police have the capacity to apprehend these people.

Sentencing arrangements were not specifically looked at in the context of the Ice Taskforce. That, of course, we see as being appropriately dealt with through a review of the sentencing act. Nevertheless, we are committed to doing what we can to reduce the supply of ice, including giving police the powers and tools that they need to be able to do that.