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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-05 Daily Xml
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Bills

Controlled Substances (Drug Offences) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:31): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Controlled Substances Act 1984. Read a first time.

Second Reading

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:31): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am really happy to be introducing another measure into this place that supports the work of our police—

The SPEAKER: You are the lead speaker, member for Elizabeth?

Mr ODENWALDER: I am indeed the lead speaker; thank you for your interrupting my flow, sir. As I was saying, I am really happy to be introducing another measure into this place that supports the work of our police in combatting the scourge of drugs and, in particular, ice in our community.

When I was a police officer, all those years ago, if you had asked me what was the biggest single contributor to antisocial behaviour, to low-level crime and to violence in our community I would have said without a moment's hesitation that it was alcohol. But I talk to police officers now, from very senior officers to managers to prosecutors to intel to patrol cops, and when they are asked what is the biggest problem in all these areas, and indeed the biggest threat to the safety of operational police officers and emergency services workers, they say ice. They say ice every time.

It is incumbent on all of us as lawmakers to do everything within our power to halt the flow of ice and to give police the authority to use their common sense and experience to seek out and discover ice. The bill I am introducing today, the Controlled Substances (Drug Offences) Amendment Bill, obviously applies to the Controlled Substances Act generally, and all drugs fall within its area of authority, but in my mind, at least, it is aimed primarily at ice. Indeed, this measure is very similar to one introduced by the previous government as a result of the recommendations of the Ice Taskforce last year.

The Controlled Substances (Drug Offences) Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Controlled Substances Act in order to give police the authority to search people and vehicles observed entering and leaving a known drug house, that is, a house from which the police reasonably suspect drugs are being dealt and/or trafficked. At present, it is very difficult for police to prove this link. This amendment provides that simply being seen leaving or entering such premises can be cause to suspect and therefore reason to search. Under current law, the police have no particular power to search these people and vehicles for drugs, even if they reasonably suspect that drugs are being sold from that house.

As well as being a measure to combat ice trafficking, in line with the recommendations of the Ice Taskforce, as I outlined, it also disrupts the activity of these houses, which cause neighbours a lot of anxiety simply because of the constant activity. Mr Speaker, if you live near a drug house—and I hope for your sake that you do not—you know about it. There are people coming and going 24 hours a day at all hours of the day or night. The people who live near these drug houses live with anxiety all the time. Knowing that these people may be criminals only adds to that anxiety.

I believe that the police need clear authority to search those people coming and going from these houses, both to stop the spread of drugs and to help gather evidence to shut down the businesses of the drug houses. This measure, when something similar was introduced last year, was opposed by the then opposition. They did offer reasons: they said that it went too far; they said that it gave police too much power. There were arguments about delivery people, Jehovah's Witnesses getting caught up and this kind of thing. These arguments rest on the assumption that the police are idiots. I do not believe that the police are idiots. The police know, and indeed the neighbours know, that these people are up to no good

This government claims to be waging a war on drugs, yet at every turn they oppose sensible measures that will help our police to fight the scourge of drugs. It makes no sense. Whether it is giving police power to search a vehicle for drugs when there is a positive test on the roadside or creating zones around prisons within which drug offences would be amplified, the government seem intent on opposing measures that will disrupt the very people they claim to be at war with. I call on the government this time to see sense and support the opposition in supporting the work of our police. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.

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