Law cuts ‘human rights’

THE “wanding” trial to crackdown on Gold Coast knife crime could have an “intrusive” impact on the devout Sikhs who carry a kirpan, the state government says.

Police Minister Mark Ryan has also said the new police powers under the trial “would limit a number of human rights”, but the need to protect the community from knife crime outweighed the impacts.

The use of hand-held scanners would be used without a warrant throughout Surfers

Paradise and Broadbeach safenight precincts as part of a 12month trial to reduce knife crime.

In a statement of compatibility with Queensland’s Human Rights Act, Mr Ryan said the trial could impact religious and cultural rights.

“Knives are an important religious symbol for some faiths,” he wrote. “For example, baptised Sikhs are required to carry a kirpan, which is generally a small-blunted object resembling a dagger. The proposal may have a particularly intrusive impact on devout Sikhs.”

He noted people were able to carry knives for “genuine religious purposes” and police would take that into account when considering whether to charge a person.

The state’s top legal bodies are worried about the trial, saying the laws could lead to discrimination and impinge on basic privacy rights.

Mr Ryan conceded the scanners “would limit a number of human rights, and in particular the right to equality before the law, freedom of movement and the right to privacy”.

He said one impact was police could “arbitrarily stop and scan a person, in the absence of any reason, provided only that a senior police officer has provided authorisation”.

Mr Ryan wrote that the powers were designed to be exercised non-intrusively, with no power to request the person’s name.

Less “restrictive” alternatives to the laws “would not be as effective in achieving” the trial’s purpose of reducing knife crime, he said.

Mr Ryan said the law changes around wanding might “not be compatible” with human rights as the power to stop and scan someone in the party precinct, as well as the power of a senior officer authorising the use of scanners, “was not based on any criteria”.

“However, the government has determined that the need to uncover knives in safe-night precincts outweighs the impacts on the human rights of people stopped and scanned by police,” Mr Ryan wrote.

The trial was announced this year as part of a suite of measures targeting youth crime and comes after a spate of stabbing deaths on the Gold

Coast, including 17-year-old Jack Beasley in 2019.

When asked about the issues raised last month in front of a committee, Jack’s mother, Belinda Beasley, said: “If you’re not carrying anything, or doing anything illegal, you shouldn’t have a worry.”

Harrison Geppert, 17, (September 2019), Nicholas Braid, 35, (April 2020), Cian English, 19, (May 2020) and Raymond Harris, 27, (September 2020) all died in incidents involving knives.

The Bill is expected to be put to parliament next week.