Dear Editor,
It is of concern that the CLP Government is implementing a trial of pepper spray for use by the general public with minimal restrictions.
With the additional closure of all public bus interchanges, it would suggest that potential violenct hot-spots will pop up in multiple locations that no longer have security present.
A small amount of summary investigation across Australia is as follows.
In South Australia it can only be possessed by those with explicit permission from the South Australian Police Commissioner.
Tasmania has a similar rule, except that the legislation states that it requires police permission as opposed to permission from the commissioner level.
In New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory it can only be carried by police.
In Queensland it can be carried by authorised security personnel.
In Victoria it requires a prohibited weapons permit which is not granted for self defence purposes.
Western Australia has the most relaxed legislation, which states that pepper spray is legal for self defence.
The Northern Territory currently treats pepper spray as a controlled weapon under the Weapons Control Act 2001, and it requires permission from the Police Commissioner – much the same as South Australia.
Currently there are no tabled amendments to the act which would be required to change this, but I’ll definitely keep my eyes across it.
Craig Hubbard, Stuart Park
Frank Baarda, a 50year+ resident of Yuendumu, and this quote is from his article published in the Alice Springs News online:
“Good news! The NT Government is legislating to make pepper (oleoresin capsicum) spray available to the public to make us safer. They’re proposing a 12-month trial. If successful, and it will be interesting to see how they’ll measure success (number of people sprayed?), they may upgrade us to tear gas.
You never know, in some future to look forward to, we may be allowed to possess stun grenades. We’d feel safer still. They may even be able to cut back on the number of police.
Meanwhile the NT prison population keeps breaking new records. Yesterday it reached 2,834 including 70 accommodated in watch houses and 55 in youth detention. ”
I’m certain he will be pleased if the article gets wider coverage.
How many attempted rapes in the paper this week?
See the offences in the daily court listings this week alone?
Let the pepper spray flow like a river of grog.
The biggest question is when you pick up your pepper spray are they going to make people undertake training on the justification, the proper deployment and the “aftercare” that is required like they do with police and other security /law enforcement mobs……