Mr MITCHELL - 1997-11-27
The Northern Territory government's scheme to regulate crowd controllers has now been fully implemented and appears to be working quite well. What plan does the government have for other sections of the industry?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this issue has been of some importance to this Chamber from time to time. People will recall the difficulties that were confronted by bouncers in the clubs and pubs. We now call them 'crowd controllers'. The government introduced the Private Security Act on 29 December 1995 and, since 1 March 1996, crowd controllers have been required to be licensed under that act.
No doubt members have paid some attention to the way this legislation has been working, because it was an issue that both sides of the House were concerned about. I recall participating in various debates. I think all members will concede that thestandard of bouncers or crowd controllers, who now number more than 400 in the Territory, is far higher than it ever was. As local members, we often received complaints from constituents, particularly young constituents, about the unacceptable way in which they were being manhandled outside clubs or in pubs. We were all very determined to fix that. Sadly, we had to do it by way of regulation. The CLP administration does not automatically go down the path of regulation but, quite clearly, it was necessary in this case.
The legislation was, of course, always intended to apply to other aspects of the security industry. I am pleased to advise that, as from 31 December this year, security firms will need to be licensed under the act. From 31 January next year, security officers, such as those people called mobile guards and static guards, will need to be licensed under this act. The reality is that some people work as crowd controllers as well as security guards or static guards. I know that the security industry has been vitally interested to know when and if we would proceed down that path. Whether other sectors of the security industry should be picked up by this legislation will be a matter for the Private Security Licensing Authority to review.
May I revert to the member for Nhulunbuy's earlier question? He held up a newspaper which told only a little of the story. He did not tell us that the person had also been convicted of trespass, and had been warned off the premises on a previous occasion. Once again, the member for Nhulunbuy has been caught out. He told us only a small part of the story. How is the syllabus going?
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ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this issue has been of some importance to this Chamber from time to time. People will recall the difficulties that were confronted by bouncers in the clubs and pubs. We now call them 'crowd controllers'. The government introduced the Private Security Act on 29 December 1995 and, since 1 March 1996, crowd controllers have been required to be licensed under that act.
No doubt members have paid some attention to the way this legislation has been working, because it was an issue that both sides of the House were concerned about. I recall participating in various debates. I think all members will concede that thestandard of bouncers or crowd controllers, who now number more than 400 in the Territory, is far higher than it ever was. As local members, we often received complaints from constituents, particularly young constituents, about the unacceptable way in which they were being manhandled outside clubs or in pubs. We were all very determined to fix that. Sadly, we had to do it by way of regulation. The CLP administration does not automatically go down the path of regulation but, quite clearly, it was necessary in this case.
The legislation was, of course, always intended to apply to other aspects of the security industry. I am pleased to advise that, as from 31 December this year, security firms will need to be licensed under the act. From 31 January next year, security officers, such as those people called mobile guards and static guards, will need to be licensed under this act. The reality is that some people work as crowd controllers as well as security guards or static guards. I know that the security industry has been vitally interested to know when and if we would proceed down that path. Whether other sectors of the security industry should be picked up by this legislation will be a matter for the Private Security Licensing Authority to review.
May I revert to the member for Nhulunbuy's earlier question? He held up a newspaper which told only a little of the story. He did not tell us that the person had also been convicted of trespass, and had been warned off the premises on a previous occasion. Once again, the member for Nhulunbuy has been caught out. He told us only a small part of the story. How is the syllabus going?
Page 31
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016