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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-06-20 Daily Xml
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Criminal Law Consolidation (Throwing Objects at Vehicles) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:43): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:43): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill makes a very simple change to the CLCA—indeed, it changes two words in the CLCA—but it is an important change that reflects, I think, community expectations regarding recent events on the Southern Expressway. This bill, simply put, seeks to increase the maximum penalty for throwing rocks and other missiles at vehicles on a roadway from five to 10 years.

Members will remember that two weeks ago the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition, the member for Croydon, released his six-point immediate action to combat the rock-throwing epidemic on the Southern Expressway. Over the course of this year and particularly in the last month or so, driving along the Southern Expressway has become a frightening experience for too many motorists, who have seen regular reports of rocks being thrown and dropped from bridges and rocks and other missiles being hurled from the roadside.

We have seen near misses and we have seen direct hits. It is incredibly fortunate that the recent attacks have not resulted in a serious injury or worse. We on this side believe that we must do everything we can to prevent the next attack and to make sure that punishments for this behaviour reflect its seriousness. The government has been slow to act. These people, put simply, are thugs and criminals and they need to feel the full force of the law. We also need to send a very clear signal to the community and to the perpetrators that this parliament takes these offences extremely seriously.

The police, of course, are taking this seriously. They have acted entirely appropriately. I welcome the implementation of Operation Watercolour along the Southern Expressway, which involves the use of mounted police, dog units, bicycle police, motorcycle officers and patrols. Assistant Commissioner Paul Dickson is quoted as saying:

The focus of this operation is to prevent further incidents and identify suspects relating to any of the offences reported to police or people who may attempt this dangerous and irresponsible act.

The behaviour of those linked with these incidents is appalling and extremely dangerous. It is highly likely that their activities will cause either serious injury or death.

Assistant Commissioner Dickson went on to observe that police have already identified a group of individuals, mostly young people, whom police are keeping a very close eye on. It is worth noting that six people, sadly mostly very young people, have either been arrested or reported so far this year. These people need to clearly understand that their behaviour is reprehensible and this parliament will not tolerate it. As I said, the opposition has put forward its six-point immediate action plan for sensible, effective measures that can be implemented immediately. Those measures are:

declare the Southern Expressway a protective security area so that protective security officers can be deployed at the commissioner's discretion;

install temporary cyclone fencing at vulnerable areas;

install high-powered lighting in low-lit areas;

remove built-up vegetation;

increase rewards to $50,000 for the arrest and conviction of offenders; and

the bill we have before us today doubles the maximum penalty for rock throwers to 10 years' imprisonment.

I will leave those first five measures for today. Those debates will go on, but I refer members to this final measure. This is a simple amendment to the CLCA that increases the penalty for dropping or throwing a rock on or at a vehicle on a roadway from five to 10 years. While the government have not seen fit to implement the other measures outlined in our plan, I would be astounded if those opposite did not support this simple but powerful measure.

Make no mistake: anyone who uses the Southern Expressway on a daily basis—and I know that includes members of this chamber—does so knowing that at any moment they could be hit by a falling rock, causing a serious accident or worse. This has to stop, and this parliament has a role in stopping this. We as a parliament need to do everything we can. Increasing the maximum penalty for this stupid criminal behaviour will send a message to the crooks and to the community that this parliament believes that these are serious offences and need to be treated as such. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.

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