Checks and Balances needed to make the ‘West the Best’ again

Western Australia is in a unique political position.  We have a Labor Party Government with absolute political control.  It is now evident that the Labor Party intend to use that political control ruthlessly.  They don’t care about propriety or proper Parliamentary process.

This behaviour has been on full display over the past week..  Last week, for example, the WA Labor Party introduced anti-Bikie consorting laws, aimed at reducing known Bikies from interacting in criminal ways.  However, the devil is in the detail.  Labor’s PR spin has been all about the anti-Bikie provisions.  Unmentioned is their watering down of anti-consorting controls over known Child Sex Offenders due to the extra steps imposed on Police under Labor’s new laws. 

Under Labor’s new laws that align Child Sex Offenders and Bikie gangs, known Child Sex Offenders will have to be issued and served with an ‘unlawful consorting notice’ that meets all the new requirements of such a Notice.  This will only be a warning that consorting on two further occasions may lead to being charged with a crime and the Notice will have to be authorised by a Commander or higher-ranking officer.  Also, to be charged, the consorting will have to be interaction with another offender named in the notice.

Currently, a Police Officer can determine and take immediate action by themself and on the spot against what they suspect is consorting conduct by a known Child Sex Offender. Labor’s changes will weaken the strong and quick-action controls for Police in the Criminal Code over Child Sex Offenders. Currently, these controls can also lead to a criminal charge due to repeated consorting by any known child sex offender.

Basically, the difference is that the criminal conduct and behaviour by Bikies tends to be opposite to that of Child Sex Offenders. Bikies use intimidating, menacing and very public outlaw gang behaviour. Whereas, Child Sex Offenders use subterfuge, subtlety and the ‘Dark Web’ to hide their criminal behaviour. Labor should not be putting Bikies and Child Sex Offending behaviour in the same set of laws. I urge you to help me to stop WA Labor’s watering-down of Child Sex Offender laws.

This damaging aspect of the anti-Bikie Bill will inevitably weaken the ability of Police from quickly acting against Child Sex Offenders and must be dropped. I’m sure many of you wonder, as I do, why WA Labor is hiding paedophile-liberating laws in their legislation. Please use my dedicated website, www.stopchildoffenders.com to let the McGowan-Cook Labor Government know the absolute unacceptability of this poor legislation.

Later in the week, WA Labor introduced an Industrial Relations Amendment Bill aimed at refining current legislation such as removing exclusions from the definition of an employee and increasing penalties for employment law breaches. The headline reason for the law is to ensure that WA complies with the requirements to meet the Australian Government’s commitment to end modern slavery. Yet again though, WA Labor is hiding behind the supported amendments in order to include other changes that benefit big unions in the Labor Party.

Labor’s IR Amendment Bill includes laws to allow union officials and Government industrial inspectors to apply to enter your home and take recordings if at any time it doubles as a business with any employees – regardless of whether those employees operate from your home or not. The home is a special place and these attempts by the WA Labor Party at breaking down the home barriers are, quite frankly, distasteful and an invasion of privacy.

WA Labor is also seeking to widen the roles that can be classified as employees and materially boost LSL and other entitlements particularly for casual/part-time workers, domestic/home-duties and domestic service workers. Their laws introduce very onerous and enforceable record keeping requirements for anyone directly employing helpers in their private homes (cleaners, gardeners and the like).

Finally, WA Labor’s hundred-year planned Bill to remove regional representation was pushed through both Houses of Parliament last week. This Bill is a culmination of what WA Labor believes in: the de-regionalisation of voting in Western Australia, plain and simple. Yet, McGowan as WA Labor Leader undertook several times during the State Election that such electoral changes were “not on their agenda”.

However, once Labor’s massive double-majority was won, the Premier changed his tune and announced his intention for so-called “voting equality”. This Bill is anything but fair to remote, regional and rural communities. It further empowers Labor’s metro base while dismantling the potency of regional voters, watering down their say in how they want the State of Western Australia to be run. This follows Labor’s current pattern of behaviour: “say one thing, do another”.

Overall, WA Labor’s sneaky behaviour is all too evident. While they sell their ‘one-trick-pony’ border policy, they simultaneously use their record double majority to push through seemingly normal Bill’s that hide their Union overlords’ directives that will damage our great State.

Given Labor’s massive parliamentary majority, the only possible check and balance on their misuse of this power is community action. I will do my best to keep you informed about current issues so that you can help us to hold the Government to account.

Thank you for reading.

Dr David Honey MLA

WA Liberal Leader & Member for Cottesloe