Convicted Arsonists

The Hon. C. BONAROS (14:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Attorney a question about convicted arsonists.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Late last year, this parliament passed new laws allowing people who have already been convicted of lighting bushfires to be monitored around the clock by GPS tracking. Although all of us supported that legislation at the time, concerns were raised about the timing and haste with which the bill was passed, an election promise of the government that was only introduced just before parliament rose for Christmas for the government to pursue.

There were also concerns about the effectiveness of the bill's monitoring processes, with some legal experts asserting it may be winter before convicted arsonists on the police's radar would appear before the courts and have orders issued against them and that without interim order provisions the laws would be rendered virtually useless and certainly well after the fire threat had passed. My questions to the minister are:

1. Have the new laws been used over the summer period? If so, have any convicted arsonists been ordered to be monitored by GPS tracking or have any applications to that effect been made to the courts?

2. Is the Attorney committed to revisiting this issue with a view to addressing the issues raised and concerns raised by legal experts in time for the next fire season?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for her important question and also note the important work that this parliament did to get this legislation through. I don't have at hand figures of whether applications have been made or not and if any have been successful, but if they are available I am happy to bring them back. Certainly, we were keen to have legislation in place as soon as possible, to make sure that this was another tool in the arsenal to prevent bushfires occurring.

We know that the police, during the fire danger season through Operation Nomad, often are able to pay attention to those who might be at the very highest risk of endangering the community through setting bushfires, so we were keen as soon as we could to have laws in place to allow a further tool in that ability to try to keep the community as safe as possible, but in relation to whether applications have been made or not I am happy to bring back a reply.

Of course, it is a necessary balancing act between making sure that there are the strongest possible laws in place and making sure that individuals have rights through a court process when they are subject to things that do restrict their liberties. I will see if there is information to bring back on if there have been applications or not.