HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-03-06 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

CRIMINAL LAW (CLAMPING, IMPOUNDING AND FORFEITURE OF VEHICLES) (PRESCRIBED OFFENCES) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

Mr HANNA (Mitchell) (10:40): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Criminal Law (Clamping, Impounding and Forfeiture of Vehicles) Act 2007. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Mr HANNA (Mitchell) (10:40): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Mr HANNA: I have a problem in my electorate.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HANNA: It is to do with hoon driving—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Attorney-General will come to order.

Mr HANNA: —and, in particular, those who drive four-wheel vehicles and motorbikes in the property surrounding Field River. Field River, which is an overlooked watercourse in Adelaide's southern suburbs, runs from near the Glenthorne property just near South Road to the sea; it runs into the gulf. It has a number of problems, and pollution is not the least of them.

One of the issues is that, because it is a vast, privately-owned piece of land, it falls outside a lot of the regulatory regime that would apply in public reserves and national parks, and so on. A resident caretaker, Mr Geyer, takes good care of the land, but it is beyond his power to keep out the motorbikes and four-wheel drives that not only rip up the dirt but also take advantage of their presence on the property to place graffiti on 19th century European heritage buildings.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HANNA: They take advantage of their presence on the property to light camp fires and hack through some of the native vegetation. Some of the native vegetation there is still in the state it was in before European settlement, so it is quite a special place. It is privately owned by the Sheidow family trust; I may not have the name right, but it is certainly held on trust for the Sheidow family. Mr Sheidow was an original white settler in the area and the property has stayed in the family.

The problem is that it is difficult for police to be there all the time. Even if they are called to the site it is not easy to catch people on motorbikes who zoom off through a fence or a pedestrian walkway back onto a lawful road—and then they are off. While this parliament can do only so much about the policing aspect, what it can do is send a strong message to those people who use their vehicles irresponsibly off the road that they will suffer if they are apprehended. It occurred to me that the clamping provisions introduced by the Labor government, which have been—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: And which you opposed; it's on the record.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr HANNA: —very popular in the community would be ideally suited to this sort of offending. When it introduced this law, the government overlooked that it would be appropriate to cover the offence of trespassing on private property with a motor vehicle.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the Attorney-General.

Mr HANNA: My legislation is quite simple: it merely includes the offence of trespassing involving the use of a motor vehicle among the other offences that have been prescribed by regulation. Now, if I were the minister I would simply add this offence by regulation, but I am not the minister—and I do not behave like him, either.

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson interjecting:

Mr HANNA: I think the young people in the gallery today will be the judge of that—not that I should refer to them. The legislation is simple, and will send a strong message to those who ride motorbikes and operate four wheel drive vehicles illegally, trespassing on the Sheidow family land around the Field River. However, I imagine there are a number of other private properties around South Australia that will benefit from this penalty being applied to miscreant drivers—particularly farming properties, for example, where people ignore fencing and just drive through gates without permission and so on.

So, it is offending with a vehicle that I am concerned about, and it seems to me that the law brought in by the government to clamp vehicles which are offensively driven should also apply in this case. I commend the bill to the house.

The SPEAKER: The bill has to be adjourned.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (10:46): I am willing to give my earnest consideration—

The SPEAKER: Order! The bill has to be adjourned; you cannot speak on it. You can adjourn it, and you will have the call.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT