Youth Crime

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON (15:09): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General regarding youth crime.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.A. HENDERSON:The Advertiser reported on 23 October this year that there were three teenagers who allegedly stabbed a teen three times in the torso during a brawl at the Elizabeth shopping centre, which left a teen fighting for his life. Earlier this year we also saw teenagers who were allegedly armed with weapons who also had a brawl that plunged Westfield Marion into a lockdown. It was later reported by The Advertiser that one of these teenagers had a machete. My questions to the minister are:

1. In light of reports of youth crime, will the government rule out raising the age of criminal responsibility?

2. What new measures are being put in place to ensure that youth gangs are being held to account and that members of the community can feel safe in their place of work?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:10): I thank the honourable member very much for her question and ability to talk about this subject. In relation to the later part of her question—what new measures are being put in place—I am happy to repeat to a large extent the answers that I was able to provide to the Leader of the Opposition yesterday. I thank the honourable member for her question and for departing from the strategy of asking my colleague all the questions today to essentially repeat the question her leader asked yesterday. It is very helpful when that happens.

Some of the new measures that we talked about that are going to be put in place include an extensive and comprehensive review of knife laws in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: As I was able to inform the chamber yesterday, we once led the nation in terms of knife laws. What we have done is release a discussion paper. I believe there were more than 100 submissions to that, looking to do a whole range of things. One very small element of that is raising the age at which you can buy a knife, an element where I am very pleased to see the sincerest form of flattery being engaged in by the very inexperienced leadership team from another place where the very new shadow police minister, the member for Bragg, Jack Batty, and the L-plate Leader of the Opposition, Vincent Tarzia, have taken that one very small element and have flattered us by copying it and drafting a bill to raise the age from 16 to 18.

Of course, that in itself kind of ignores the fact that many 17 year olds could go to their kitchen cabinet or knife block in the kitchen and have access to a knife, but I applaud the Liberal Party for at least copying a tiny bit of what we are doing and looking at raising the age, although of and in itself I think most people would shake their head and think that by itself isn't going to be particularly effective.

That's why in relation to these new measures we are also looking at a number of other things in legislation we intend introducing very early next year that will include things like expanding authorities' ability to undertake metal detector searches—expanding them to things like public transport hubs and shopping centres, which I think will please greatly the honourable member who asked the question specifically in relation to a shopping centre, and expanding the definitions of schools in relation to increased fines for carrying a knife from just things like primary schools and high schools to other areas such as universities, TAFE campuses, preschool or childcare settings.

That is in addition to other measures we have already announced in relation to exactly what the honourable member has asked. Just this weekend—just this weekend—we announced, together with the independent retailers association and together with the SDA, the union that represents workers in retail settings, that we are looking to introduce workplace protection orders in South Australia.

These will be modelled similarly to something that already is in place and that from all the feedback that we have received is working very well in the ACT. That would give the ability, as it works in the ACT, for a workplace to seek an order from the Magistrates Court to bar someone from that workplace—that shop, in this instance—who was engaging in threatening or intimidating behaviour or in property damage that threatened people's safety or who has done those sorts of things. But we are looking to go further than what the ACT does and not just give workplaces the ability to do it but whole precincts, like shopping centres. We are also looking at giving things like industry associations the ability to apply for those workplace protection orders. So, absolutely, we are looking at things that we can do to protect South Australians in a retail setting.

That is in addition to some of the things we have already done. But wait, there is more. That is in addition to some things that we have already done, like significantly increasing the penalties for assaulting a retail worker. If my memory serves me correctly, we have already passed legislation that increases the penalty for basic assault of a retail worker from two to five years and aggravated assault from three to seven years, more than doubling, if I am remembering the exact amounts of penalties correctly.

In answer to the honourable member's question—are we doing anything?—absolutely, we are doing quite a lot in relation to the protection of not just people who work in the retail sector but also those who use the retail sector. The first part of the question from the honourable member was in relation to raising the age of criminal responsibility. Let me repeat very clearly what I have said before: this is aimed at what the evidence tells us makes the community safer. We will only look at doing anything in this field if it makes the community safer.

As I have said before in relation to the Hon. Robert Simms, who has asked questions about the minimum age of criminal responsibility a number of times, we do not have a policy position as a government, but if that was something that we did in South Australia it would be on the basis of evidence where it has happened before and making sure that there were other things in place rather than the criminal justice sanctions, therapeutic or family supports that would make the community safer, working as we currently are with SAPOL to look at the evidence from around the world where these things have happened.

I do note that in many of the instances I think we see reported in the media, it wouldn't apply even if we did have a policy—which we don't—to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to many of the ages of people who are reported as offenders. The proposal that went out with the discussion paper was to raise the age to 12. From the reports that I have seen, most of the offenders are in the mid to later teenage years, not 10 or 11 year olds, but, as I say, we do not have a policy in that respect and anything that we do will be informed by the evidence, solely focusing on what makes the community safer.