2016-10-11
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — I will start by saying the Greens will support the Police and Justice Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2016. This bill makes a number of amendments to the Victoria Police Act 2013, which are either administrative, procedural, clarifications or corrections to the act. But some, such as the amendments to the Police Registration and Services Board regarding complaints of sexual harassment, will in fact have profound effects on the conduct of the investigation of those complaints and the way that victims and witnesses are handled. The bill also amends several acts, including the Crimes Act 1958 and the Sentencing Act 1991 to update references to CrimTrac and the Australian Crime Commission.
The key amendments made by the bill are under clause 4. The bill provides that a person who has been appointed to act as an assistant commissioner is eligible for reappointment and enables a person to act as an assistant commissioner for a maximum of two consecutive terms. Under clauses 3 and 8 the bill aims to clarify the operation of the respective police and public servant liability schemes for tortious acts of sworn police and public servants by inserting a note in the Victoria Police Act 2013 and in the Crown Proceedings Act 1958 to the effect that claims against the state for tortious acts of police officers and protective services officers are to be brought under the Victoria Police Act and that claims for tortious acts of public servants, which include police custody officers, who are public servants, are to be brought under the Crown Proceedings Act.
The bill also provides that where the Chief Commissioner of Police considers that candidates for transfer to a position of constable are equally efficient, the chief commissioner must have regard to their relative seniority. This amendment will only apply to transfers to non-metropolitan positions of constable, and I would ask the minister if in his summing up he could go to the question of why this only applies to transfers of non-metropolitan constables and not to metropolitan constables as well.
Importantly, the changes I mentioned earlier under clause 15 to the Police Registration and Services Board — there are a number of changes — are particularly in support of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) report of December 2015 into sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, including predatory behaviour, in Victoria Police. The bill will prohibit the publication in board decisions of identifying information about informants, complainants or those who have raised concerns about or who have been adversely affected by the actions of the applicant in a hearing, unless it is deemed in the public interest to do so, and nor are any identifying details to be reported or disclosed unless it is deemed to be in the public interest to do so.
This will create a greater support for victims and will encourage reporting of inappropriate behaviour by protecting information about those who have been directly affected. We are very supportive in particular of those reforms to implement recommendations of the VEOHRC report to address the high level of prevalence and high level of tolerance of sexual harassment in Victoria Police that was identified in that report. The report did identify that there was a high level of homophobia; sexually based hostility was widespread in the police force; and there were things like a double standard for women employees, where they are regarded as less competent and feel the need to prove themselves. A culture of victim blaming was widely held about women who experienced and or reported sexual harassment, and there was substantial evidence of a sexist organisational climate in Victoria Police.
I think this has been widely reported in the press. Certainly many members of Parliament, including me and Ms Springle, have made comments about this report and in particular have welcomed the comments of the chief commissioner that the police command will be working to implement the findings of the VEOHRC report. It is worth noting that the report also found that targets of these types of discrimination I have mentioned and witnesses come under some pressure from their colleagues and experience a lot of harm, including psychological harm and exclusion. Some have even had suicidal thoughts et cetera. So very serious issues were identified by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, and we welcome the commitment of Victoria Police to implement the recommendations of that report. One of these is the change I have referred to brought in by this bill.
Other reforms to the Police Registration and Services Board are such things as allowing participation in hearings by audiolink or audiovisual link and the requirement for the production and tabling of an annual report by the board. The bill makes this a statutory requirement and provides the president of the board with the power to issue practice directions, notes, statements and forms in relation to reviews and appeals. This amendment would enable the president to direct and manage the business conducted by the board at a procedural and practical level. It may sound like not much of an amendment, but it could have very far-reaching effects in terms of the operation of the board, in particular in relation to what I was mentioning before with the implementation of the recommendations regarding the human rights and equal opportunity commission reports.
The bill also changes the qualifications required for membership of the professional standards division and registration division of the board. It does this by ensuring that a person who has been an academic or professional staff member at an institution and who has considerable skills and expertise and has since resigned or retired can be eligible for membership of either the professional standards division or the registration division of the board. The bill also amends the qualifications required for registration with the board by changing the test for former Victorian police officers seeking reappointment to Victoria Police and thereby seeking to register with the board from showing the person's 'aptitude and efficiency' to perform as a police officer to the person's 'capabilities' to perform as a police officer, and as I mentioned, the bill makes a number of administrative changes and terminology changes which result from changes at the commonwealth level with regard to CrimTrac and the Australian Crime Commission and a number of other Australian acts and provisions.
With those comments, the Greens are very supportive of all the provisions in the bill, particularly those changes to publication of identifying information with regard to complaints and complaints of sexual harassment in Victoria Police. The Greens are supporting the bill.