Sabin Mike: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSabin Mike: Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 25 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18926. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MIKE SABIN (National—Northland):Yes there has been only one call as I recall. The Summary Offences (Possession of High-power Laser Pointers) Amendment Bill—Hon Maryan Street: Oh this is going to stretch your brain. This will stretch your brain Mike. Come on get into it. Come on I’m looking forward to the argument.MIKE SABIN: I think what the member is suggesting there is that she would also like to take a call and so I will be very very interested to hear the member’s call. Clause 4—and I just want to pick up where Tim Macindoe the previous speaker left off because clause 4 is the meat of this bill. It shows us that new section 13B will be inserted after section 13A of the Summary Offences Act right after “Possession of knives”.There are distinct similarities between what this bill sets out to achieve and what the possession of a knife does and the crux of it rests on having a reasonable excuse and why it is that someone would be in possession of that. So it is not so much—Hon Maryan Street: Struggling struggling Mr Sabin. Struggling.MIKE SABIN: She is good is she not? It is not so much that—[Interruption] Well that is right. It is not so much that just having possession would constitute an offence but it is the context in which a person may then go on to use it. If we look at say possession of a knife what we know is that the length of the knife has no bearing on whether or not the person is in unlawful possession of it.One part of the clause we are dealing with was an area of contention which the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee dealt with at some length about the difference between a high-power laser or a hand-held high-power laser as the bill’s title has been amended to and the possession of a—what was it Dr Calder?Dr Cam Calder: There were a number of definitions I can touch upon in my answer.MIKE SABIN: That is right you can touch upon that. What the committee determined was that the possession of a high-power laser was where that line should be drawn. Although there are a number of low-power lasers that can still project laser light if you like for a significant distance the decision of the committee was that 1 milliwatt was the line that needed to be crossed. So when we look at the possession of a knife and the similarities of this section to that section if someone is to be in possession of a knife for an unlawful purpose the length of the knife has no bearing on whether or not that would constitute satisfying the ingredients of the offence. However in this particular bill when we are dealing with hand-held lasers there is a distinct difference and that difference is that it must be 1 milliwatt or higher.Dr Calder will be able to inform interested members of the Committee and I believe that Maryan Street in particular would be very interested to hear Dr Calder explain just how far some of these laser lights can project and the dangers they present—Chris Auchinvole: 1-1.MIKE SABIN: Sure. We have heard my colleague Chris Auchinvole here talk about rugby players. I do not know but it was 60 miles. I know he trifled with us here and asked us how many kilometres that could be and then gave us the answer that it was 60 miles which of course trumped us all because we just were not expecting that to come out. But the reality is that if we look at 60 miles it would be somewhere in the order of 100 kilometres?Chris Auchinvole: 100 kilometres.MIKE SABIN: Is it about that?Chris Auchinvole: Yeah yeah.MIKE SABIN: That is a long way up in the air in terms of the ability for someone to sit near an airport and project a hand-held laser at an aircraft. When it hits the inside of the aircraft it reflects. When it hits the windshield—if we can call it a windshield on an aircraft. I am not sure what it is called but it certainly stops a lot of wind coming in and you do not have to be an ex - police officer to know that. [Interruption] That is right—that is right; I am an ex - police officer. But one thing is for sure: it basically completely blinds the pilot or the driver or in some cases a sportsman on a rugby field. But if a high-power laser can reach up to 100 kilometres into the sky that is a dangerous weapon when used in the wrong context. One thing is for sure: what this bill is ultimately dealing with is those who would take something that has a legitimate use and purpose and use it for an illicit purpose that is dangerous. If we look—Scott Simpson: Nefarious.MIKE SABIN: Nefarious—is that Latin? I am not sure. Sounds good; I will go with it.Dr Cam Calder: Furry edges?MIKE SABIN: Furry edges—absolutely. But the point is that in foreign lands we have seen these things actually being used in a war context and one thing is for sure—