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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-03-06 Daily Xml
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Summary Offences (Knives and Other Weapons) Amendment Bill

Final Stages

The House of Assembly agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the House of Assembly desires the concurrence of the Legislative Council:

No. 1—Clause 9, page 10, after line 36 [inserted section 66Z]—After subsection (4) insert:

(5) To avoid doubt, a reference in this section to a public place includes a reference to a place of worship.

No. 2—Clause 9, page 12, line 7 [inserted section 66ZB(1)(b)]—After 'a' insert 'declared'

No. 3—Clause 9, page 13, after line 37—After section 66ZC insert:

66ZCA—Declaration of place of worship

(1) The Commissioner may, by notice in the Gazette, declare a place of worship to be a declared place of worship for the purposes of this Division.

(2) Before making a declaration under this section, the Commissioner must—

(a) be satisfied that the exercise of powers under section 66ZB is necessary or appropriate for the purposes of deterring or detecting the commission of offences involving the possession or use of a knife or other weapons in the place of worship; and

(b) be satisfied that the exercise of powers under section 66ZB—

(i) is likely to be effective in deterring or detecting the commission of offences involving the possession or use of a knife or other weapons in the place of worship; and

(ii) will not unduly affect lawful activity in the place of worship; and

(c) in the case of a place of worship that has previously been the subject of a declaration under this section—have regard to whether searches carried out under section 66ZB pursuant to the declaration identified persons carrying knives or other weapons.

(3) A declaration under this section—

(a) must specify the area that comprises the declared place of worship (which may, to avoid doubt, include specified premises); and

(b) may be subject to conditions specified in the notice; and

(c) must comply with any other requirements set out in the regulations; and

(d) remains in force until revoked under this section.

(4) The Commissioner may, by subsequent notice in the Gazette, vary or revoke a declaration made under subsection (1) (and must revoke a declaration if the Commissioner is no longer satisfied of the matters referred to in subsection (2)).

(5) The Commissioner must cause a copy of any declaration, variation or revocation under this section to be published on the Commissioner's website.

No. 4—Clause 11, page 20, line 21 [clause 11, inserted clause 25]—Delete '(and for no other purpose)'

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I move:

That the House of Assembly's amendments be agreed to.

This is in relation to laws involving the sale and availability of, and police powers, in relation to knives. When this was last in this chamber there were amendments moved by the opposition and also amendments moved by the Hon. Frank Pangallo.

We indicated as a government that we were interested in those amendments and would cede to their passage to the lower house so that we could take time to consider them. Having done that, and having been considered in the lower house, the amendments moved by the opposition are in relation to timeframes in terms of when the act comes into effect. We were able to make sure that could be facilitated.

There are a suite of amendments from the Hon. Frank Pangallo that would, in effect, have places of worship treated the same as nightclubs and licensed venues in terms of police powers for knives. I have had the benefit of having discussions with the Hon. Frank Pangallo on amendments I believe have previously been circulated to members that are on the table.

It is a quite simple amendment, in relation to the Hon. Frank Pangallo's amendments, that has the effect of having a place of worship treated in the same vein as things like shopping centres or public transport hubs; that is, it would give powers to police to declare, for a six-hour period, if there is—I think the language is—'a threat of danger or violence', and also the ability for the police commissioner to declare those in an ongoing manner as places where those police powers could be used, rather than the more extensive powers that would have had them as akin to licensed nightclubs.

With that, I commend the amendments that were made in the lower house and look forward to their passage in the Legislative Council, if that is the desire of members.

Motion carried.

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