❓ Opposition questions effectiveness of new stop-and-search powers in combating methamphetamine, citing low cannabis finds. Minister defends powers, highlighting broader context of crime disruption and significant meth seizures.
AnsweredQoN 143Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
METHAMPHETAMINE —
USE
143. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Police:
I
refer to the minister's consistent denial about the scale of Western Australia's
resurgent methamphetamine problem and his comment that new stop-and-search
powers have disrupted the ability for meth to be distributed in the state.
Given that only five grams of
cannabis has been found after 70 searches at border search areas, will he admit
that his hard meth border has failed?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
USE
143. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Police:
I
refer to the minister's consistent denial about the scale of Western Australia's
resurgent methamphetamine problem and his comment that new stop-and-search
powers have disrupted the ability for meth to be distributed in the state.
Given that only five grams of
cannabis has been found after 70 searches at border search areas, will he admit
that his hard meth border has failed?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please!
AnswerView source ↗
As I have repeatedly tried to
explain to the member and other members opposite, in 2021, the then
Commissioner of Police, who is now the Governor, and the current commissioner,
who was then Deputy Commissioner of Police, came to a meeting with the Attorney
General, then Premier McGowan and me and requested a range of powers to be able
to attempt to replicate the effect of the border controls during COVID. A
number of powers have been delivered since that meeting. One of them was the
consorting legislation that the Attorney General passed; another was an
amendment to the Firearms Act that, amongst other things, created firearms
prohibition orders; and another was the amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act
that created 22 search areas. That is not the finite list. There were requests for other powers, and police are working
on proposals for additional laws to enhance the measures to disrupt organised
crime—the people who bring illicit drugs into the state and distribute
it around Western Australia.
Those
powers that I referred to were delivered to police. Police then implemented
those powers, so they are utilising the powers that they have been
afforded for conducting operations. The member is referring to the fact that in
the last five or so months since the law
that the member is referring to, the Misuse of Drugs Act amendment, came into effect, there have been a number of
operations. A member of the upper house requested outcomes of those operations .
This is the answer I got from police. For starters, it is operational. The
police do what the police do; government affords them power and resources,
which we have done.
Firstly,
it is early days with respect to what are quite expansive laws. They have
created 22 permanent search areas that can be enacted at short notice by
an inspector or above, which is quite extraordinary. They enable search without
warrant of people in those search areas. That is, as the member suggests, a significant
power. They are being considered in their use. They also need to, based on
intelligence but as part of that process, roll it out in a measured way so that
different districts become familiar with the powers and there is no overreach
of use of powers or inappropriate
application of the powers. That explains part of it. Finally, the other thing
that I would observe is—again, it is operational—that
the police use these powers for a number of reasons. They use them to achieve a
number of effects. One of them is deterrence. Another is shaping the
environment. It might be that, for instance, there is an operation in which the
police identify someone through conduct of one of these searches, but they do
not want to actually arrest them right then.
I can say to members that there
have been some significant seizures of methamphetamine in the last period that
the member is referring to. So far this financial year, a total of 314.59 kilograms
of methylamphetamine and almost $22 million has been seized from serious and
organised crime groups operating in Western Australia. The same people who use
those search areas seized those drugs and that cash as part of their
operations. It may well have been that the operations were being conducted as
part of a seizure and an arrest later. It is interesting that the member is raising this matter on I think the same
week that the people involved in the biggest cocaine bust in history have pled guilty in Western Australian courts. Our state crime division is
doing an incredible job. We have given them the powers they need; let them do
the operations. I would suggest that leaving police operations to them is a better
approach than trying to grandstand around an answer to a question in the upper
house.
explain to the member and other members opposite, in 2021, the then
Commissioner of Police, who is now the Governor, and the current commissioner,
who was then Deputy Commissioner of Police, came to a meeting with the Attorney
General, then Premier McGowan and me and requested a range of powers to be able
to attempt to replicate the effect of the border controls during COVID. A
number of powers have been delivered since that meeting. One of them was the
consorting legislation that the Attorney General passed; another was an
amendment to the Firearms Act that, amongst other things, created firearms
prohibition orders; and another was the amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act
that created 22 search areas. That is not the finite list. There were requests for other powers, and police are working
on proposals for additional laws to enhance the measures to disrupt organised
crime—the people who bring illicit drugs into the state and distribute
it around Western Australia.
Those
powers that I referred to were delivered to police. Police then implemented
those powers, so they are utilising the powers that they have been
afforded for conducting operations. The member is referring to the fact that in
the last five or so months since the law
that the member is referring to, the Misuse of Drugs Act amendment, came into effect, there have been a number of
operations. A member of the upper house requested outcomes of those operations .
This is the answer I got from police. For starters, it is operational. The
police do what the police do; government affords them power and resources,
which we have done.
Firstly,
it is early days with respect to what are quite expansive laws. They have
created 22 permanent search areas that can be enacted at short notice by
an inspector or above, which is quite extraordinary. They enable search without
warrant of people in those search areas. That is, as the member suggests, a significant
power. They are being considered in their use. They also need to, based on
intelligence but as part of that process, roll it out in a measured way so that
different districts become familiar with the powers and there is no overreach
of use of powers or inappropriate
application of the powers. That explains part of it. Finally, the other thing
that I would observe is—again, it is operational—that
the police use these powers for a number of reasons. They use them to achieve a
number of effects. One of them is deterrence. Another is shaping the
environment. It might be that, for instance, there is an operation in which the
police identify someone through conduct of one of these searches, but they do
not want to actually arrest them right then.
I can say to members that there
have been some significant seizures of methamphetamine in the last period that
the member is referring to. So far this financial year, a total of 314.59 kilograms
of methylamphetamine and almost $22 million has been seized from serious and
organised crime groups operating in Western Australia. The same people who use
those search areas seized those drugs and that cash as part of their
operations. It may well have been that the operations were being conducted as
part of a seizure and an arrest later. It is interesting that the member is raising this matter on I think the same
week that the people involved in the biggest cocaine bust in history have pled guilty in Western Australian courts. Our state crime division is
doing an incredible job. We have given them the powers they need; let them do
the operations. I would suggest that leaving police operations to them is a better
approach than trying to grandstand around an answer to a question in the upper
house.
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