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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-29 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Knife Crime

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): My question is to the Premier. Will the government take any action to address knife crime in South Australia and, if so, when? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: In recent months, we have seen a spate of alleged knife crimes by minors, including at Arndale, Marion and last week at the Elizabeth shopping centre.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:05): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. The Leader of the Opposition will be very grateful to know—as I am sure he may already, but there is every chance he may not—that the government has already committed to a range of reforms in respect of knife crime, ones that seem to be remarkably similar to those that have been proposed by the member for Bragg and the Leader of the Opposition.

Regarding the announcement from the opposition today in respect of their proposed knife crime reforms, we welcome the bipartisanship that you have now brought to the table. There is that old saying, 'Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.' We won't necessarily apply that here in those circumstances—others can draw their own conclusions—but we have gone out for a comprehensive exercise. The opposition have proposed a comparatively narrow approach.

We believe that if we are going to address knife crime, let's do it properly. That's why we have put on the table not just the sorts of restrictions around age like those opposite have put, but also to dramatically increase the remit of the act or the remit of the law to be able to capture other behaviours and also provide a degree of enforceability to this. Like I said, we welcome the opposition catching up; I guess that is one way to define it.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Given the interjections, I was trying to be cordial, but if we are more frank about it, this is another good example of the opposition joining the party. You're a little bit late, but you're welcome. We will make sure that a comprehensive bill is introduced to the parliament at the appropriate time.

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