NT Laws Permitting Police To Detain People Suspected Of Committing Minor Offences To Be Challenged In The High Court
Thursday 2 April 2015 @ 12.22 p.m. | Crime
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) has announced it will be launching a High Court challenge against the new police powers enacted by the Police Administration Amendment Act 2014 (NT). The new powers introduce what is called in the Act an “alternative post-arrest option”, which allows a police officer to detain a person for a period of up to four hours if the police officer suspects they have committed an offence for which they could be served with an infringement notice. The changes have also been called "paperless arrests".
An article in The Australian reports:
“The government says paperless arrests cut down on red tape, keeping police on the street rather than filling out paperwork, and will prevent “troublemakers” escalating situations”.
However, NAAJA and the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), who is coordinating the legal team working on the case, are attempting to get the laws declared invalid. Ms Ruth Barson, Senior Lawyer at the HRLC, said in a press release:
“These laws allow police to lock someone up for minor offences like swearing which would usually only attract a small fine. The laws allow police to effectively act as prosecutor and judge. The right to liberty is a fundamental human right and should only be restricted by the courts, save for well-established exceptions.”
The HRLC also compiled a list of examples of offences that could attract an infringement notice and thus lead to detention. The list includes offensive conduct, swearing, causing annoyance to another person, playing a musical instrument so as to annoy and failing to keep a front yard clean. During the time of detention, police are not required to bring the person before a bail justice as soon as reasonably practicable or provide them with the opportunity to seek legal advice.
NAAJA and the HRLC are particularly concerned that “the laws will inevitably have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal people”, since Aboriginal people already comprise over 85% of the prison population. The Northern Territory also already has the highest imprisonment rate in the country.
ABC News reported that Northern Territory Attorney-General John Elferink defended the laws, saying “lifestyles” were to blame:
“Unfortunately because of lifestyles, Aboriginal people are over-represented in our health system, under-represented in our education system, over-represented in our jail system…We will be defending what I believe to be the good law of the Northern Territory and an effective law in terms of policing our streets”.
According to a document released by the HRLC, NAAJA’s argument will be that the laws are unconstitutional on two grounds – that the detention oversteps the traditional exception to the rule that only a court can detain people, and that the laws undermine or interfere with the integrity of the court system.
Ms Barson told ABC News:
“It's important that the High Court has the opportunity to determine whether or not it's lawful to give police these types of detention powers, without any involvement of the courts.”
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