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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
Statutes Amendment (Public Assemblies and Addresses)
Bill 2011
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the Public
Assemblies Act 1972 and the Summary
Offences Act 1953.
Contents
Part 1—Preliminary
1Short
title
2Amendment provisions
Part 2—Amendment of Public Assemblies
Act 1972
3Amendment of section
3—Interpretation
4Insertion of section
5A
5APublic assemblies in
designated areas
5Amendment of section 6—Exemption for
participants acting in accordance with approved proposals or in designated
public place
6Insertion of sections 7 and
8
7Obstruction or disruption
of public assembly
8Regulations
Part 3—Amendment of Summary Offences
Act 1953
7Insertion of section
55
55Use of public address
system
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the Statutes Amendment (Public Assemblies and
Addresses) Act 2011.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of Public Assemblies
Act 1972
3—Amendment
of section 3—Interpretation
Section 3—after the definition of council
insert:
designated public place means a public place designated by a
notice in the Gazette under section 5A;
After section 5 insert:
5A—Public assemblies in designated
areas
(1) Subject to
subsection (2),
a council may, by notice in the Gazette, designate a public place within the
area of the council as a place within which assemblies may be held or through
which assemblies may proceed.
(2) A public place
may not be designated under
subsection (1)
unless it is within a prescribed area.
(3) Before a regulation is made prescribing an area that is within a
council, the Minister must consult with the council in such manner as the
Minister thinks fit.
(4) A notice under
subsection (1)
may make the conduct of assemblies within a designated public place subject to
conditions specified in the notice.
(5) A notice under
subsection (1)
may be varied or revoked by subsequent notice in the Gazette.
5—Amendment
of section 6—Exemption for participants acting in accordance with approved
proposals or in designated public place
Section 6—after subsection (1) insert:
(1a) If an assembly is taking place in a designated public place, a person
participating in the assembly—
(a) may, subject to any conditions specified in a notice under section 5A
in relation to the conduct of assemblies within the designated public place,
position himself or herself, or proceed over, any portion of the public place;
and
(b) in acting in conformity with the conditions specified in a notice
under section 5A in relation to the conduct of assemblies within the designated
public place, does not incur any civil or criminal liability by reason of the
obstruction of the public place.
6—Insertion
of sections 7 and 8
After section 6 insert:
7—Obstruction or disruption of public
assembly
(1) A person who,
without lawful excuse, intentionally obstructs or disrupts, or attempts to
obstruct or disrupt, an assembly—
(a) that conforms with approved proposals; or
(b) that is taking place in a designated public place in conformity with
any conditions specified in a notice under section 5A in relation to the conduct
of assemblies within the designated public place,
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $10 000 or imprisonment for 2 years.
(2) Without limiting the ways in which a person can obstruct or disrupt an
assembly, a person will be taken to obstruct or disrupt an assembly if he or
she—
(a) obstructs, or attempts to obstruct, a person proceeding to or from the
assembly; or
(b) promotes, or assists in the promotion of, the obstruction or
disruption of the assembly in any way; or
(c) engages in any other conduct that assists, or is intended to assist,
in the obstruction or disruption of the assembly.
(3) Nothing in this section prevents a police officer, or any other person
carrying out a function authorised by or under an Act, from carrying out his or
her official duties and functions.
8—Regulations
The Governor may make such regulations as are contemplated by, or necessary
or expedient for the purposes of, this Act.
Part 3—Amendment
of Summary Offences
Act 1953
After section 54 insert:
55—Use of public address
system
(1) If a person
uses a public address system in a prescribed area without the relevant
authorisation, a police officer may—
(a) require the
person to state his or her full name and address; and
(b) issue, in
writing, a direction to the person to immediately stop using the system in the
prescribed area.
(2) Before a regulation is made prescribing an area that is within a
council, the Minister must consult with the council in such manner as the
Minister thinks fit.
(3) A police
officer who issues a direction to a person under
subsection (1),
must advise the person that—
(a) during the period of 6 months after the issue of the direction,
it is an offence for the person to use a public address system in the area
identified in the direction without the relevant authorisation; and
(b) if the person refuses or fails to comply with the direction or is
found using a public address system in the area identified in the direction
without the relevant authorisation, the system may be seized in accordance with
this section.
(4) If a police
officer suspects on reasonable grounds that a name or address as stated in
response to a requirement under
subsection (1)(a)
is false, he or she may require the person making the statement to produce
evidence of the correctness of the name or address as stated.
(5) A person who—
(a) refuses or fails to comply with a requirement under
subsection (1)(a)
or
(4); or
(b) in response to a requirement under
subsection (1)(a)
or
(4)—
(i) states a name or address that is false; or
(ii) produces false evidence of his or her name or address,
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $1 250 or imprisonment for 3 months.
(6) A person who
refuses or fails to comply with a direction under
subsection (1)(b)
is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $1 250.
(7) A person who
has been issued with a direction under
subsection (1)(b)
must not, during the period of 6 months after the issue of the direction,
use a public address system in the area identified in the direction without the
relevant authorisation.
Maximum penalty: $1 250.
(8) A police
officer may seize and retain any public address system which is reasonably
suspected of being used in the commission of an offence against
subsection (6)
or
(7).
(9) If a person
claiming to be the owner of a public address system seized under
subsection (8)—
(a) applies to the Commissioner, in the manner determined by the
Commissioner, during ordinary business hours on a day no sooner than the next
business day following the day on which the seizure occurred; and
(b) pays to the Commissioner the fee prescribed by the
regulations,
the Commissioner must make the system available for collection by the
person at a time and from a place determined by the Commissioner.
(10) If no application is made in accordance with
subsection (9)
within 30 days after the day on which the seizure occurred, the public
address system is forfeited to the Crown and may be sold, destroyed or otherwise
disposed of as the Minister or the Commissioner directs.
(11) For the purposes of this section, a person has the relevant
authorisation to use a public address system in an area if the public
address system is used—
(a) with the consent of—
(i) the owner or occupier of the area; or
(ii) the Commissioner; or
(iii) the relevant council; or
(b) in the course of participating in an assembly—
(i) that conforms with approved proposals within the meaning of the Public
Assemblies Act 1972; or
(ii) that is taking place in a designated public place, within the meaning
of the Public
Assemblies Act 1972, in conformity with any conditions specified in
a notice under section 5A of that Act in relation to the conduct of
assemblies within that designated public place.
(12) In this section—
council means a council within the meaning of the Local
Government Act 1999.