Summary Offences (Knives and Other Weapons) Amendment Bill

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:40): 

I rise to speak in support of the Summary Offences (Knives and Other Weapons) Amendment Bill 2025. With an increasing incidence of knife crime reported across Australia and South Australia, it is a critical time that law reforms aimed at addressing knife crime and prohibiting the sale of knives to minors are enacted.

The Bondi Junction Shopping Centre stabbing rampage in April 2024 shocked us all. Every Australian can see themselves in those victims. There was a new mother on an outing with her baby, a refugee security guard only a week into his new job, the daughter of a wealthy family excited about her wedding planning, an international student enjoying her retail therapy after exams, and parents who never went home to their kids. It is such a frightening, confronting and heartbreaking experience for so many.

Closer to home, it was reported that machetes and batons were allegedly brandished by teenagers before the lockdown of Westfield Marion Shopping Centre in June last year, followed by the stabbing of a teenager with serious injuries at Elizabeth Shopping Centre. Mobile phone footage of the incident shows several teenagers fighting, with three of them carrying knives.

While I am glad to see that the government has finally introduced a bill, with a strong push from the opposition, our community is wondering why it has taken so long for the government to bring about these reforms, especially when community members, business owners and law enforcement agencies have repeatedly called for additional measures to tackle knife crime, which has been increasing over 15 per cent year on year.

The bill presents a suite of changes, including banning the sale of knives to all minors and making it unlawful to supply a knife to a minor if there is a reasonable suspicion that it will be used in an offence. I understand that the opposition has previously called for exemptions that would allow minors to purchase knives for the lawful pursuit of occupation, education or training. From the briefing I received from the government, I understand that such exemptions were not supported by the retail industry due to concerns that exemptions would cause confusion and place the onus on retail staff to decide whether a minor is exempt from the ban or not. Simply banning the sale of knives to all those under 18 seeks to avoid any confusion and provides clarity for retail workers.

The bill also creates a new requirement for safe storage of certain types of knives at retail premises and expands the existing offence of carrying a knife in a school or public place to apply to educational facilities including childcare centres, preschools, primary and secondary schools, universities, TAFEs and other tertiary education campuses. I believe these are all sensible reforms that will help our community become a safer place. I understand that the Hon. Frank Pangallo also would like to include places of worship and I would like to indicate my support for his amendment.

I turn my attention now to the increased powers afforded to police in the bill. The bill would expand the ability of a police officer to scan people for weapons by using electronic metal detectors at certain declared events and places, including licenced premises, public places holding a declared public event, declared public transport hubs, declared public transport vehicles, declared shopping precincts, at any public place where there is a likelihood of violence or disorder involving weapons, and at any time on a person in a public place if they have been found guilty of certain offences in the last five years or have been a member of a declared criminal organisation.

These are quite significant expansions of existing police search powers. It will also be an offence to refuse or fail to comply with a requirement or direction made under this part of the act, with a maximum penalty of $2,500 or six months in prison. I understand that existing safeguards have been replicated in this bill and that declarations must be published on the police commissioner's website before the commencement of the declaration period.

There are a number of criteria that the commissioner must be satisfied with to make and maintain a declaration, including that the exercise of search powers will not unduly affect lawful activity in the area. I would like to see that police are cognisant of the impact these additional search powers may have on members of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, who may have difficulty understanding why they are being searched with a wand metal detector in a public place.

We expect to go through security screening and searches when we go to the airport and other locations with high security like this place, but it will be a new experience for many to be wanded at a shopping centre or at a train station. If police are searching every person boarding or exiting a bus, that would be understandable, but if, for example, police were randomly searching visitors in a major shopping centre or Rundle Mall, would they feel targeted or be embarrassed by these types of random searching techniques?

The commissioner must also ensure that existing procedures and safeguards are upheld and are sufficient to reduce the risk of people from migrant and refugee communities feeling singled out or unduly targeted by metal detector searches while going about their daily lives. I am also pleased to see that swords and machetes will be added to the list of prohibited weapons in the regulations, as requested by SAPOL, making it an offence to possess them without an exemption.

In line with this, a new exemption category will be created for machetes used for gardening and camping purposes only. As somebody who has occasionally used a machete to participate in harvesting maize with African community members at various festivals, I am very glad that this exemption has been clearly outlined in the bill to ensure that such cultural practices, gardening purposes or other legitimate uses are not impacted.

I understand that SAPOL were closely involved in the consultation and the drafting of these reforms and that significant public consultation was undertaken by the government to ensure that the legislation balances civil liberties and community safety. I will consider all the other amendments during the debate. With those remarks, I commend the bill.