Transcript of my speech in the Assembly, supporting Mr Cain’s Jack’s Laws Motion.
2024 05 16 Cain’s motion – Jack’s Laws
Thank you, Madam speaker, I would like to start with thanking Mr Cain for bringing this very important motion to the assembly today. I was told when I was investigating this motion, that we don’t have any knife data. That was the information I received from the AFPA when I spoke with them recently.
Assault figures
But what we do have is recently released data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The numbers on assaults, acts intended to cause injury, and weapons as the principal offence are quite startling.
I know that the Minister for Police and Crime Prevention keeps telling us that Canberra is a low crime state. But as I said in my previous motion, that’s not the whole picture. There were 902 acts intended to cause injury, including 882 assaults in the ACT last year. And according to the ABS data, these are on the increase, a 22% jump from the previous year. There were also 151 charges for weapons possession.
I am aware that these may not be knifings. And that assaults have different levels depending on the injuries sustained by the victim. From Common Assault, Inflicting/Recklessly Actual Bodily Harm, and Grievous Bodily Harm. Potential charges can be elevated depending on the actions of the offender, such as attempted murder and so on. The break down isn’t captured in the ABS data.
There is also an offence that relates to injuries sustained by a knife. The obvious ones like common assault, Grievous Bodily Harm may still apply, but there is also something called ‘wounding’. This can be an additional charge to an assault charge. This is where a person intentionally wounds another person, usually by breaking/slicing the victim’s skin. This is punishable by imprisonment for 5 years. Or up to 7 years if it’s aggravated, such as against a pregnant woman or in a family or domestic violence situation.
Carrying a knife
Madam Speaker, there is within the Criminal Code legislation, a section about ‘going equipped with offensive weapon for theft’ (section 316). The maximum penalty for this charge is 500 penalty units, 5 years imprisonment. This is used in cases of burglary and armed robbery. Again, it’s an additional offence to the original charge.
If we do find someone carrying a knife we can seize the knife, but under the Crimes AC5, we must return the knife if seized. It raises the question, if we are seizing a weapon, why are we giving it back to the person? Why are we not confiscating it permanently?
In speaking with the AFPA, they said they would like to see the knife forfeited to the Territory and destroyed. Second best case, the person should have to apply to the Chief Police Officer for the return of the knife, and then it’s a decision for the CPO to agree to the return. This is already in place for cars that are seized after performing a burnout.
Purchasing a knife
Another issue that was raised with me was the matter of purchasing a knife. It should be considered whether we are comfortable with a 16- or 17-year-old legally able to buy a knife. Maybe that should be raised to 18? These are serious weapons.
And who does do the compliance on the selling of knives? Checking that those who sell large knifes, or any knife, do so only to those of the legal age. And that they have an appropriate sign up as required under the crimes Act?
Conclusion
There are some serious community safety aspects to this motion. But there are also benefits for officer safety. Currently it is difficult for police to apprehend a person with a knife. They must conduct an ‘ordinary’ or ‘frisk’ search, which is time consuming and can be invasive, as the police must touch a person for a ‘frisk’ search.
A more human rights approach would be to allow police on the street to ‘wand’ people where they suspect them of carrying a knife. If police had the ability to ‘wand’ someone, this could alleviate the need for the person to have to remove outer clothing, and also make the search much quicker.
We already have a situation where police are under resourced and feel undervalued and overworked. Addressing some of these issues would improve safety, and also speed up the work, where a person is suspected of carrying a knife.
I support this motion, and call on the Government to act quickly in increasing the powers for ACT Policing consistent with the Jack’s Laws.
END