The Victorian Government has introduced the Summary Offences and Control of Weapons Acts Amendment Bill, which will provide police with broad new powers to randomly search people in designated areas without any requirement that police officers have a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing; to strip search people pre-arrest; and to move people on the basis of a suspicion that a person might do an illegal act in the future.
The Bill has been introduced into the Victorian Parliament to ‘enhance police powers to tackle violence and disorder’.
Whilst there may be a legitimate need for the Victorian Government to take legislative or other action to combat violence in our community, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre is extremely concerned that:
- the Government has not articulated the particular public safety and security risk that the Bill seeks to address;
- the Government has issued a Statement of Compatibility that admits that some of the limitations on human rights are neither ‘reasonable’ nor ‘demonstrably justifiable’ but wishes to pass the law anyway; and
- there has been no consultation with the community during the development of the Bill or prior to its introduction to Parliament.
On 20 November 2009, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre made a Submission to the Victorian Parliament’s Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee, calling on the Committee to ask the Police Minister to articulate the particular public safety and security risk that the Bill seeks to address, and to provide cogent evidence of that risk; to recommend that the Bill not be passed in its current form, given that it includes unreasonable and disproportionate limitations on human rights; and, if the Bill is to be passed, to recommend that, at the very minimum, certain amendments be adopted.
