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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-10-25 Daily Xml
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EMERGENCY SERVICES WORKERS

Ms FOX (Bright) (15:08): Can the Attorney-General inform the house of any measures that are designed to further protect those who serve the community as emergency workers through legislation?

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:08): Emergency workers provide a valuable service to the people of South Australia. They are often called upon to act in unpredictable and dangerous circumstances, many times putting their own health and safety at risk. I am pleased to tell honourable members that, under new regulations I recently announced, penalties for offences against a range of emergency workers, including those in hospital emergency units, ambulance and fire crews and volunteer emergency workers, are to be substantially increased.

Changes to the Criminal Law Consolidation Act will extend to the aggravation of an offence against an emergency worker in the same way that such penalties already apply to offences against police and law enforcement officers. The range of offences covered is broad and it includes violent offences such as assault, acts endangering life and recklessly or intentionally causing harm through crimes such as theft. Aggravating an offence will increase the potential penalty by up to 50 per cent. This is the least we can do to protect further those who provide such a valuable service. Their work requires a quick response and a capacity to assess unhindered true life-threatening situations. They do this in emotionally demanding and unpredictable circumstances. The last thing any such worker should have to contend with is the fear that they will become a victim of crime while performing their duties.

The changes will cover workers in hospital emergency departments, including doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, support staff and volunteers, the South Australian Ambulance Service, the Metropolitan Fire Service, the Country Fire Service, the State Emergency Service—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON: —well, I'm sorry that the member for Bragg thinks this initiative is a waste of time—Surf Life Saving South Australia, Volunteer Marine Rescue SA and any provider of a service that is incidental or related to the service provided by one of these emergency service providers and essential to it. For the offence to be aggravated, the alleged offender must know of the worker's occupation and that the worker was engaged in that occupation at the time of the offence, and have appreciated the worker's vulnerability when committing the offence. I thank the member for Bright for her interest in the welfare of South Australia's emergency workers.

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