HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-02-05 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Bills

Summary Offences (Unlawful Selling of Knives) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 13 November 2024.)

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (10:38): I rise to just briefly speak on the bill, in circumstances where the government has indicated it will bring its legislation to the parliament. That is welcome and we support it.

In the particular circumstances of the day's events in Sweden, we have read, terribly, that at least 10 people have lost their lives in Orebro and another dozen have been harmed in what is Sweden's worst mass shooting. It has happened at an adult education place of learning, in circumstances where, as we are told, a person who was not known to police, with no history of crime, has taken a weapon and caused mass casualties.

As is typically the case, the Swedish community and authorities were calm and resolute in their response. I was particularly moved this morning by the words of the priest at the local church in Orebro, who said quite calmly that they have been offering a coffee and a word of calm to the people in the community responding to this terrible tragedy.

It is a reminder to us, if we ever needed it, that violent crime can come and devastate a community at a place and time and nature that no-one would have thought, so vigilance towards ensuring that we are doing all we can to remove access to weapons, obviously those that are capable of causing such catastrophic mass trauma—guns in this case; knives, the subject of this bill—are matters of responsibility. I reflect on those terrible events at Port Arthur that happened just a few weeks after the election of the Howard government back in April 1996. Sometimes it is events that lead to the need for the sort of public galvanising around improvement for safety for community.

In this case this bill, brought to the house by the shadow minister for police, has shone a light on a matter of serious concern for our community. It is good that the government has responded and we look forward to seeing the introduction of that legislation as it has been foreshadowed in the house yesterday. This is a day for serious and sombre reflection around the world about how we tackle violence. Meanwhile, this bill has had its important role to play.

If I just say one thing more about this particular context, we are going to see the start of the arts festival here in South Australia in the coming weeks. The headline opera in the arts festival, Innocence, is a Finnish opera with a Swedish, Norwegian and Scandinavian cast. It is about a school shooting and the responsibility that we all must reflect on in terms of what leads to such terrible events.

We have Sweden in our mind today and we can think about what a key performance will bring to us in Adelaide in a few short weeks. It is good that this legislation is coming to the fore and we look forward, as I say, to what the government will introduce in this sitting week.

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (10:42): I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

The house divided on the motion:

Ayes 27

Noes 13

Majority 14

AYES

Andrews, S.E. Bettison, Z.L. Boyer, B.I.
Brown, M.E. Champion, N.D. Clancy, N.P.
Close, S.E. Cook, N.F. Dighton, A.E.
Fulbrook, J.P. Hildyard, K.A. Hood, L.P.
Hughes, E.J. Hutchesson, C.L. Koutsantonis, A.
Michaels, A. Mullighan, S.C. Odenwalder, L.K. (teller)
O'Hanlon, C.C. Pearce, R.K. Piccolo, A.
Picton, C.J. Savvas, O.M. Stinson, J.M.
Szakacs, J.K. Thompson, E.L. Wortley, D.J.

NOES

Basham, D.K.B. (teller) Batty, J.A. Brock, G.G.
Cowdrey, M.J. Gardner, J.A.W. Hurn, A.M.
Patterson, S.J.R. Pederick, A.S. Pratt, P.K.
Tarzia, V.A. Teague, J.B. Telfer, S.J.
Whetstone, T.J.

PAIRS

Malinauskas, P.B. Pisoni, D.G.

Motion thus carried; debate adjourned.

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