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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-14 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

ORGANISED CRIME

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:15): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Community safety is the government's highest priority. Organised crime is a threat to community safety. Anyone listening to the radio or watching television recently would understand the length these organisations are willing to go to and their propensity to reoffend. The government is now proceeding with a suite of measures directed towards organised criminal gangs in South Australia. These measures do not stand alone. They are each part of a picture that, when taken together, will undermine and disrupt these criminal gangs. Starting on this first day of parliament, we will restore and reintroduce three bills that have been held up in the other place.

Ms Chapman: What about the fourth one? What about the most important one?

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Bragg!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The first of these measures is to attack the motivation and drive for these influences—greed and money. Profit is the primary motivation behind most forms of criminal activity, including insidious crimes such as blackmail, extortion and drug manufacturing. Those engaged in organised crimes cannot be deterred by gaol sentences alone. Attacking the proceeds of crime is a fundamental pillar of our strategy targeting organised crime.

Ms Chapman: Two years!

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Accordingly, the government will be reintroducing the Criminal Assets Confiscation (Prescribed Drug Offenders) Amendment Bill 2011. This bill was significantly weakened in the other place with the support of the Liberal opposition—

Ms Chapman: Weakened? What an insult!

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —and this government reintroduces it now with the full expectation that this bill, in its original form, will now be passed.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left will be quiet.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We will also be restoring a bill that aims to prevent the use of, and access to, aggressive weapons such as star knives, knuckledusters and machetes. During the last sitting of parliament, the government sought to pass legislation enabling the police to curtail the opportunity of organised criminals to possess these weapons. The bill was rendered unworkable in the other place with the support of the Liberal opposition, and we ask that it now be passed.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The use of criminal intelligence by police is critical to effective policing. It has been a concern of the government for some time that the criminal intelligence provisions in several acts may be unnecessarily vulnerable to a High Court challenge. Through the Statutes Amendment (Criminal Intelligence) Bill 2010, we sought to minimise this risk. Despite repeated briefings from the police, the other place, with the support of the Liberal opposition, has insisted on reducing the scope of the current provisions, making the police's job harder, not just safe from a challenge. We will be restoring this bill in the other place and calling on the opposition and other minor parties to support the original bill.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left will be quiet. Premier, can you sit down, please? I cannot hear the Premier and what he is saying from the comments coming from my left.

Mrs Redmond: Well, he's not being honest.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I think you need to be careful about what you're saying. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: In addition to the recommittal of these three pieces of legislation, the Attorney-General today will give notice of the introduction of two bills to complete the package of measures. The Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Act Amendment Bill, although complex in detail, has been based on the best available advice and will repair the damage to the SOCCA legislation arising from the Totani decision.

The High Court's decision in November 2010 meant some important aspects of the government's legal framework could not be applied. Since that decision, and the subsequent High Court decision in Wainohu based on similar New South Wales legislation, the government has been looking closely at ways to repair the SOCCA act. Our aim has been to amend the legislation so that it should not be vulnerable to a successful High Court challenge by the very criminals at whom it is directed. Make no mistake, our new legislation will be the subject of legal challenge. So the government has taken care to do all it can to make this legislation constitutionally secure and to withstand these challenges.

The Attorney-General will also give notice of the introduction of the organised crime offences bill that will create a number of new measures aimed at combating serious criminal gangs and protecting public safety by attacking criminal behaviour.

Recent events highlight the need for this parliament to act swiftly, and it is critical that this package of legislation is supported and passed as a matter or urgency. Therefore, it is the government's intention to suspend standing orders at the conclusion of grievances today to reintroduce and immediately debate the declared drug traffickers bill.

I call on every member to consider carefully this package of legislation to give proper weight to our collective responsibility to protect our community from organised crime.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the member for Norwood.

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