MEDIA RELEASE
16 December 2024
The PILCH Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic (HPLC) has slammed today’s introduction of new powers that allow police to conduct random strip searches in the street and to lock people up for having a drink.
Last Thursday, on International Human Rights Day and the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Upper House of the Victorian Parliament voted to pass the Summary Offences and Control of Weapons Acts Amendment Bill (Bill). Despite the protests of minor parties, the Government and the Opposition voted together to pass the Bill, as presented. In the parliamentary debate, Greens MP Sue Pennicuik said:
I had thought about amending the bill, but if I had done so, I probably would have left very little in it — it probably would have been reduced to about three clauses — because I find most of the provisions are not supportable. As I said earlier, they are not necessary because the powers that already exist under the Summary Offences Act and the Control of Weapons Act are sufficient already and the police do not need more powers.
Despite this, the new police powers will be effective from today, and they include:
- giving police the power to direct people to move on from a certain area where they may, at some stage in the future, perhaps, breach the peace;
- a new offence of disorderly conduct, which is not defined and relies upon the subjective and arbitrary judgement of individual police officers;
- hefty new fines for the vague new offence of disorderly conduct and for existing offences of “drunk and disorderly” and “drunk” – that’s right, we can now be slogged $234 for walking home from the pub; and
- random search powers (including strip searches of children) in mystery designated areas.
‘The government’s laws are a serious breach of Victorians’ human rights, and the evidence shows that similar laws just don’t work to prevent crime,’ said James Farrell, Manager/Principal Lawyer of the HPLC. ‘Rather than pretending to be tough on crime by introducing ineffective measures, government should base policies on sound evidence that will improve community safety and outcomes for individuals.’
Mr Farrell also warned that the experience elsewhere shows that the powers have been applied in a discriminatory way to some of our most vulnerable community members, including people who are homeless, young people and people suffering from mental illness and indigenous people. ‘Homeless people occupy public spaces out of necessity and will be disproportionately impacted by move-on powers due to their lack of secure housing,’ Mr Farrell said.
‘The Brumby Government wants to be seen to be tough on crime, but these new measures are weak on protecting our community. The government should adopt smart justice approaches that recognise genuine community safety is really about education, health, housing and human rights.’
Ends.
Contact
James Farrell
Manager/Principal Lawyer, HPLC
(03) 8636 4408
James.farrell@pilch.org.au