Thursday, 30 November 2023

Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Anthony Carbines:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (12:42): I am delighted to stand to speak on the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023. I am very delighted to stand to speak on what is an incredibly important bill, particularly in light of the frivolous acts that we saw from those on the other side, who sought to adjourn this debate to play political games. I find it really distressing that on the one hand those opposite will stand up and suggest that they are the great friends of the police force and yet they seek to adjourn off a debate on what is the last day of Parliament, attempting to make sure that we cannot debate this bill in full.

The member for Berwick in his contribution went even further to politicise community safety. He stood there and tried to suggest that single-officer stations will be closed down and in doing so to just alarm the community. The Chief Commissioner of Police made it very, very clear that there are no plans to shut down single-officer stations. Perhaps those on the other side could stand with our police force and with our community instead of seeking to gain political points endlessly with these debates.

As I said, I am very glad to stand to speak on this bill. I join those on this side of the house in extending my thanks to the police force across Victoria. We know that we are entering a very confronting period, frankly, for them, and as was pointed out by the member for Malvern, very sadly, domestic violence increases during this period. So I, along with others, extend our genuine thanks, and we genuinely stand with the police force.

This bill goes to a number of matters. It will enhance Victoria Police’s disciplinary system – there are a couple of elements to the bill around the disciplinary system. But something that others have not so much touched on is the firearm amendment, so I will speak briefly on the police bill, but I would also like to turn to those matters. We know that there are over 20,000 employees of VicPol, and they deliver policing services to over 6 million Victorians, with approximately 14,000 interactions with members of the public every day – that is every day. They work incredibly hard for us, and it is right that this bill seeks to make recommendations to reform the disciplinary system. We know that the bulk – the vast majority – of our police officers are of the absolute highest integrity, but this means that they can go out there knowing that the community have faith in that integrity as well.

The first amendment will empower a Victoria Police discipline inquiry to direct a police officer or protective services officer to undertake a medical assessment if they are satisfied that the assessment is necessary to determine whether the officer is physically and mentally fit to do so. At the moment PSOs or police officers who are subject to a discipline inquiry can request an adjournment of the inquiry on medical grounds. This amendment will mean that they can be directed to do so, but it will also ensure that only approved medical officers will be utilised to do that. The bill also ensures that a breach of the Victoria Police code of conduct is a breach of discipline. It is essential that the code of conduct be sufficiently enforceable to enliven the intent of this amendment, and to that end the government welcomes Victoria Police’s commitment to continuing consultation with the Police Association Victoria, the Police Registration and Services Board and the Department of Justice and Community Safety on the development of this code of conduct.

The bill will amend provisions relating to the conditions Victoria Police may attach to a good behaviour bond that applies to a police officer in a disciplinary context, including adding a non-exhaustive list of relevant conditions, specifying that conditions must be reasonably linked to the relevant breach of discipline and confirming how non-compliance with a bond might be addressed.

The fourth amendment, in regard to police discipline, will extend the statute of limitations for the offence of Victoria Police personnel accessing, using or disclosing police information. It currently sits at 12 months, and that will be extended to three years. That is necessitated by the fact that sometimes these matters take a while to come to light, and the 12 months basically was too brief for the matter to come to light, be fully investigated and then acted upon. As I say, I would like to join all our members in thanking the police force for all that they do and all that they will do for us in this coming season.

Another aspect of this bill relates to the Firearms Act 1996, and I just want to acknowledge that the Allan Labor government is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring the firearms industry operates safely. A point I really want to make, and I know that the member for Ripon and I agree on this, is that we understand that sport shooting and recreational hunting have many positive economic and social benefits, particularly in our regional communities. This government stands firmly in making sure that the laws around the firearm industry operate safely but also acknowledges the importance that firearms have. Many in this house know that I come from a farm. It is a day-to-day tool on your farm, having firearms to deal with pests and so forth.

We have some of the strongest firearm regulations in the world. Look, you will not often hear me say this, but the one and only decent thing that I think previous Prime Minister Howard ever did was around the firearms regulations that they brought in after the appalling atrocities that happened in Tasmania many, many years ago. I remember at that time on our farm we had to go through and get together all of the firearms and hand them in. That was around being able to fire multiple shots at once. This amendment actually goes to both of those matters. We are in the middle of an amnesty at the moment, which was brought in federally in 2021, and this seeks to just make clear that people can use the amnesty to hand in firearms, but to a dealer. There was just a little bit of a lack of clarity there, so this is really to make sure that that clarity exists. It also amends the act about bolt action shotguns that have detachable magazines. As I said, the one thing Howard did was about getting rid of the ability to fire many bullets in fast succession. That was the really important part of it. What we are finding here is that detachable magazines have increasing capacity, and so we end up really having a rifle or a firearm that has the capacity to fire many bullets. This bill will state the condition that they cannot carry, possess or use a detachable magazine greater than five shots in combination with a bolt action shotgun. It just goes further in that work. It ensures that legitimate firearms users can still use bolt action shotguns, but it also ensures that firearms regulation is responsive to changing community needs. I really just wanted to highlight that aspect of this bill.

There are also some amendments around the Road Safety Act 1986 which give police officers the ability to use immobilising devices in a broader range of situations. As someone who lives in East Ballarat and goes to sleep at night to the screeching brakes of hoons, I think this will be a good addition to the arsenal of the police.

In my remaining minutes I really want to return to acknowledging our wonderful police force. We are going into a very, very busy time for them, and they keep us safe. As many have pointed out, while we are sitting at home – well, I am actually going to be camping – with our families on Christmas Day, many of those officers will be at work, making sure that our community stays safe throughout the Christmas period. So unlike those opposite, I am very glad to speak on this bill. I think it is an important bill, and I am glad that the adjournment sought by those opposite was voted down, allowing us to get on with this important debate.

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (12:52): Acting Speaker Farnham, as this is the first time I have had the opportunity to speak before you, I congratulate you on your recent appointment.

I rise today to debate the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Bill 2023, an all-encompassing bill that makes several amendments to the Child Employment Act 2003, the Fire Rescue Victoria Act 1958, the Firearms Act 1996, the Road Safety Act 1986, the Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003, the Victoria Police Act 2013, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 and the Worker Screening Act 2020.

According to the government the bill before the house introduces a range of policing reforms which are aimed at strengthening the integrity of the Victoria Police discipline system and supporting Victoria Police and other agencies to maintain community safety. Further, the bill will amend the Firearms Act to allow a licensed firearms dealer to receive, accept or take possession of a firearm from an unlicensed person who is not exempted by the Firearms Act for the purposes of sale, registration or destruction.

Police custody officers, PCOs, will also now no longer be required to obtain a working with children check if they are engaged in child-related work, including as part of their role as a PCO. This will provide consistency between key frontline Victoria Police roles regarding working with children check exemptions and will remove the current duplication of worker screening requirements for PCOs. This is a sensible change considering that PCOs are subject to the same background and security checks as it is.

We also have amendments to the Fire Rescue Victoria Act 1958 which fix a drafting error in the relevant act resulting from the CFA and MFB merger some years ago and which will further provide for the allocation of certain property rights, liabilities and obligations of the Country Fire Authority.

Further, we have some minor technical amendments to the VCAT act to address a potential ambiguity as to the operation of section 77, particularly following the case of Krongold Constructions and Thurin of 2023. The bill clarifies that if a matter is referred to a court under section 77(3), the court has the power to extend any limitation period, including to any party that was not joined to a VCAT proceeding before the matter was referred. Part 7 of this legislation enshrines the police code of conduct into legislation, which according to the government was requested by Victoria Police to emphasise to all officers how important it is to comply with the police code. Victoria Police play an essential role in keeping our community safe and protected, and police officers are entrusted with significant powers which must always be used responsibly and ethically, which is why it was concerning, though, to hear earlier this year that there had been a jump in 2022 in the number of police officers subject to disciplinary hearings, with some officers accused of family violence, sexual harassment and unjustified use of police information. A total of 17 police officers had been dismissed in 2022, and a further 31 resigned while their cases were being heard. Other alleged offences included predatory behaviour targeting colleagues or vulnerable community members, prejudice against community members of different ethnicities, drink driving and drug use. Such behaviour of course is unacceptable, especially for those whose first and foremost duty is to uphold the law and maintain public trust and confidence. If a minority of police officers act poorly or indeed illegally, it can harm the entire community and other police personnel. It also harms the reputation of police, especially when the vast majority of police are upstanding and doing the right thing, often in difficult circumstances.

Such a measure in this bill to enshrine the police code of conduct into legislation will hopefully send a strong message to those police officers in the minority who have done the wrong thing but also to all incoming new police officers as to the significance of their duties and reassure the public that police officers as a whole can be trusted to keep the community safe and protected. I want to again reiterate as well, though, that the vast majority of police officers are upstanding, ethical and brave individuals who sacrifice their own safety for our sake, so it is sad that a minority of officers can tarnish the reputation of Victoria Police.

Speaking of Victoria Police, the Victoria Police neighbourhood policing forum is on 6 December from 9:30 to 12:30 at the Mornington Golf Club in my electorate. Local services and community members are welcome to talk with police about important issues in the Mornington electorate and broader peninsula, examining topics including current crime trends and crime prevention, young people, family violence, road policing and drugs and drug-related crime. This will be a fantastic opportunity to build bridges between the community and those who protect the community, fostering a relationship of greater trust and transparency between police and the public, and I commend all the officers at Mornington police in my electorate for the terrific job they do locally, often in difficult circumstances and with sometimes limited resources given to them.

On amendments to the Firearms Act 1996, this bill will also place a special condition on the holder of a category A or A and B long arm firearms licence who has obtained the licence for the reason of hunting, sport or target shooting. The special condition will state that a licensee cannot carry, possess or use a detachable magazine greater than five shots in combination with a bolt action shotgun. I understand that Victoria Police requested this specifically due to it being an emerging issue, but the government has admitted that there is no hard evidence to support this. This five-capacity limit came out of a range of consultations and discussions about appropriate safety thresholds. The broad stakeholder consensus was for a limit but not about what the limit was to become. On the record, a five limit is somewhere at the lower end of the range that was proposed. Of course most avid gun owners and shooters in Melbourne and across Victoria are responsible and decent people, and I know many. At the same time, we must take action to prevent those minority who do or might do the wrong thing, but without punishing the majority of law-abiding gun owners and shooters.

On the amendment of the Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003, this act – the TCPA – provides Victoria’s countering violent extremism laws. The TCPA currently provides for two early-intervention pathways for persons who have been assessed to be at low to medium risk of engaging in violent extremism – the voluntary case management and support and engagement order schemes. The TCPA establishes the countering violent extremism map, which provides coordinated case management by key government agencies for participants in these schemes. The bill also makes important changes to facilitate the operation of the CVE map and the VCM and SEO schemes to ensure they operate efficiently and effectively. These matters are more relevant than ever given the recent heightened tensions given the situation in Israel and Gaza. We have had some people actively supporting Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation. We have also had neo-Nazis trying to target Jewish people on our trains and streets and people calling for an intifada against the Jewish people, and we have also had people at protests chanting antisemitic slogans and more. Such behaviour is deplorable and disgraceful. I fully support –

The ACTING SPEAKER (Wayne Farnham): Member for Mornington, it is now time for lunch. Everyone, time for a hamburger and a chocolate milkshake.

Sitting suspended 1:00 pm until 2:01 pm.

Business interrupted under standing orders.