Act: Disallowance of Police Powers (Drug Detection Dogs) Regulation 2002

[Chiral]

One of the most interesting pieces of parliamentary talk I have ever come across..very well worth a read.

POLICE POWERS (DRUG DETECTION DOGS) ACT: DISALLOWANCE OF POLICE POWERS (DRUG DETECTION DOGS) REGULATION 2002

[ref1ect1ons]

Each paragraph is a choice snippet for those with little time, great read chiral.

I ask the Minister to deny ever smoking marijuana in the past. I am confident that if he has any go in him he will say yes, because we all know that he has. Madam Deputy-President, I ask that you give the Minister the opportunity to put that on the record because it is something he should come clean on, just as he is expecting everyone else in the community to do. Young people on public transport will be encouraged to carry harder drugs that are less easily detectable than marijuana if they are harassed by sniffer dogs on public transport.

What crimes? To be strip searched for one joint, harassed by the police for one joint! I cannot believe it. You are the ultimate hypocrite in this House. You call us Greens loonies and you are out there saying one thing and you come into this House and you pretend to be the master of law and order. And you cannot even get it right. I will quote your tome, the Daily Telegraph. The Hon. Michael Egan says that he reads the Daily Telegraph. You bounce your policies off the Telegraph on a daily basis. In an article entitled "Sniffing out invasion of our civil liberties" in the Daily Telegraph on 24 May—

The Hon. Charlie Lynn: Criminals' rights.

Ms LEE RHIANNON: No. We are talking not about criminals' rights but about the rights of everyday people on the street. I presume that the Hon. Charlie Lynn's drug of choice is alcohol, which is legal. He should think how these operations would have worked during prohibition: a young bloke like the Hon. Charlie Lynn who wanted to enjoy his drug of choice could be accosted by a police dog who was trained to sniff out alcohol. The Hon. Charlie Lynn would not like that; he would have considered it to be an invasion of his privacy. In that sense, his attitude is deeply hypocritical.

Opposition should recognise that having these dogs on our streets is a giant advertisement for the Labor Government.

The Hon. IAN COHEN: You probably smoked and you cannot remember. The problem with you is that you cannot remember the fact that marijuana has a far more pungent odour than virtually all the hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. They are not as easily found by sniffer dogs, which can smell marijuana from the other side of the street. The fact is that the Minister is a hypocrite. He is driving a law and order agenda when he has smoked dope before, and so have virtually all of his friends and members in the union movement. They have all had a little puff of marijuana. It is part of our community. Big deal! I will be interested to hear what the Minister says. It is ultimate, absolute hypocrisy.

I was humiliated and embarrassed after being sniffed by police and a dog last night.

I was walking home in Kings X with my shopping, which included some meat when the dog accompanied by a police officer approached my shopping bags. In front of everyone at a set of traffic lights the police officer accused me of being a drug dealer and asked me to turn out my pockets. I tried to explain that the dog was sniffing my shopping contents but she (the police officer) didn't listen and tried to make out as if I was refusing to obey her orders …

I used to have respect for the police but now I think they are more of a menace than a help.

How dare the police accuse me of being a drug dealer …

I didn't even get an apology from the police when they had finished and they were wrong. THE DOGS HAVE TO GO.

[mr me]

Thanks for the post even though it kinda depresses me. It is just another reminder that we actually have very little rights in this country.

[faustus]

great read, thanks.

[ergoamide]

I really hate reading stuff like that, I mean it's good to see some politicians have the balls to stand up in parliment and say the drug war is a farce thats only made the problem worse and not one thing better. What makes me furious is reading comments by people who still think its a good idea based on nothing more than the 'drugs are evil' 1920's American rhetoric which is based on nothing more than lies in the first place. Just makes me wanna put a hole in the wall.

[Μορφέας]

good post +1

[Mycot]

Thanks for the post even though it kinda depresses me. It is just another reminder that we actually have very little rights in this country.

 

We're a nazi police state.