Bills

Summary Offences (Obstruction of Public Places) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Received from the House of Assembly and read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (17:56): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to insert the second reading speech and explanation of clauses without my reading them.

The PRESIDENT: Is leave granted?

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: No, leave is not granted.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is not granted. Minister, you are going to have to read it.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The bill I introduce today is the Summary Offences (Obstruction of Public Places) Amendment Bill 2023. The bill amends the obstruction offence in section 58 of the Summary Offences Act 1953. The current offence provides that a person who wilfully obstructs the free passage of a public place is guilty of an offence. The current penalty is a fine of $750.

In recent times, there has been an increase in these types of protest activities about various issues that have caused disruption for the general public and in such a way that severely hampers the conduct of South Australians. Irrespective of the causes that the protest is aimed at, the way that protests are conducted puts the protesters' safety and the safety of the public at risk and means our emergency service personnel can be tied up dealing with these persons who often choose to put themselves at risk.

Because of increases in these types of actions, the adequacy of the current obstruction offence has been examined and it is clear that improvements can be made to make the offence more effective in being able to be used to deal with the type of conduct we are seeing.

The bill I introduce today makes changes to that obstruction offence. It increases the penalty of the offence to a maximum fine of $50,000 or imprisonment for three months. This provides a strong deterrent for those who are considering engaging in that type of dangerous conduct. There is a range of fines that a court can impose, including much larger fines.

The bill inserts provisions that will allow the prosecution to apply to the court for an order that the defendant pay the reasonable costs and expenses of the emergency services that were required to deal with the conduct. This provides a strong financial disincentive to those persons who might be considering engaging in this type of conduct. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Explanation of Clauses:

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

This clause is formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Summary Offences Act 1953

2—Amendment of section 58—Obstruction of public places

This clause amends section 58 to provide for reckless conduct, to make it clearer that conduct may be captured by the offence even if it only indirectly causes obstruction of the public place, to increase the penalty for the offence and to provide a mechanism for recovery of costs of police and other emergency services required to deal with the obstruction.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. L.A. Henderson.