Auchinvole Chris: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAuchinvole Chris: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18924. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CHRIS AUCHINVOLE (National):I am particularly pleased to have been able to offer a token of technical assistance to my colleague Mike Sabin who was in the police force. I think that needs to be established. We need that established. Not only that but we have another colleague Mark Mitchell who was in the police force and now I am a little bit nervous because we also have the Minister of Police and the Minister of Corrections Anne Tolley with us in the Committee. So I do hope that I get this completely right.We are talking about clause 3 of the Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill. Clause 3 as we have already heard amends the principal Act which is the Summary Offences Act 1981. I have always understood that a summary offence is a crime in common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily—Mike Sabin: “Sum-air-ily”.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: —oh “sum-air-ily” you would say; he also says “Wang-ana-why” as well—without the right to a jury trial or indictment. It is governed by the statute of limitations for 6 months arrest is bailable as of right and no fingerprints are taken. Is that right?Mike Sabin: That’s correct.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: That is correct. We have got that bit covered. When one has a look at the Summary Offences Act—and I will just bring it up on my little screen. For a layperson such as myself who is not overly familiar with the law beyond the level required to be a—Dr Cam Calder: JP.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: A justice of the peace. It is interesting if one has a moment to look at the summary of the Summary Offences Act. It covers offences against public order persons or property and spray cans. I can remember when we brought that one through Parliament. It was necessary to introduce legislation to control spray cans. I am old enough to remember—and I am sure that there are members on the other side of the Chamber who are too—when graffiti was simply “Kilroy was here.” and that was about it; you did not see anything much else. Then spray cans came along.Summary offences also include offences resembling forgery or fraud; offences against official information; intimidation; obstruction and hindering police; indecency; loitering and trespass; offences resembling nuisance; infringement offences; search arrest and jurisdiction; and amendments and appeals. It is an interesting chapter in history and is all meat and potatoes to the boys in blue—the thin blue line. I remember that I worked with a colleague who had been a policeman—Mike Sabin: This is the meat and three veg.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: This is three vegetables yes. Some of these laws were of course quite convenient from the point of view of apprehending people.Mike Sabin: Possession of a knife.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: Possession of a knife is a particularly significant one and that is the one that we have alluded to quite frequently in discussing the principal Act. [Interruption] Thank you. Perhaps I can just refer to section 13A of the Summary Offences Act subsection (1): “Every person is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or a fine not exceeding $2000 who in any public place without reasonable excuse has any knife in his or her possession.” This is tricky if you are a Scottish gentleman wearing a kilt with a sgian-dubh in your sock but it is also tricky for some Sikhs I think—where is Kanwal when you need him—because I believe they carry knives. The similarity of section 13A—Hon Maryan Street: You are making a fool of yourself Mr Auchinvole. Just cut the crap and get to the business.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: I raise a point of order Mr Chair. It is amazing that what we object to—The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy): Just come to the point of order.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: —is what we least like about ourselves. It was an indictment of that member Maryan Street to speak like that.The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy): Order! The member cannot use a point of order to attack another member. With the way in which the member raised that point he transgressed into that. But I say to the member Maryan Street who called out the interjection that it was inappropriate and it is not the sort of decorum we like to see in the Committee. Members can express their dissatisfaction by using higher-grade language.Hon Maryan Street: I’ll try to ramp it up.The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy): I am on my feet. The member will be trying somewhere else if she is not very careful. Mr Auchinvole has about half a minute to go.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: Thank you Mr Chairman. I am so sorry to see my parliamentary colleague so deeply upset. I do not know where she has been or what the cause of this is.Mike Sabin: Offensive language is in the Summary Offences Act.CHRIS AUCHINVOLE: Offensive language is in the Summary Offences Act. I do not know what it was and I do not know who it was that has upset Maryan Street but I am sorry to see her behave in the way that she is behaving because this is a very important bill. It might appear not to be so to that member but it is to us.