Questions without Notice 14 April 1987 COUNCIL 863 Tuesday, 14 April 1987 The PRESIDENT (the Hon. R. A. Mackenzie) took the chair at 3.3 p.m. and read the prayer. LAND (MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS) BILL This Bill was received from the Assembly and, on the motion of the Hon. J. E. KIRNER (Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands), was read a first time. ABSENCE OF MINISTER The Hon. E. H. WALKER (Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs) (By leave)-I advise honourable members that the Minister for Health is attending a health Ministers' conference in Western Australia and will not be present for question time or for the remainder of the sitting today. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE INTERSTATE MILK SALES The Hon. N. B. REID (Bendigo Province)-My question without notice is directed to the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs and also to the honourable gentleman in his capacity as Leader of the Government. What action does the Government intend to take to protect the Victorian dairy industry, which the Minister has admitted will be the victim of interstate retaliation following the Government's special deal with Midland Milk Pty Ltd? The Hon. E. H. WALKER (Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs)-I made a statement to the House last week in response to a question. In response to Mr Reid's question, I should like to bring the House up to date on the question of the interstate marketing of milk. I make it clear that I did not indicate or predict a market milk war, and I hope that will not occur. It is true to say that the New South Wales Government and its dairy industry authority were upset about the initiative taken by the company in question to again endeavour to sell market milk in the Sydney area. In fact, the company has been able to put some loads of milk into the Jewel stores in Sydney in the past few days. More importantly, in response to Mr Reid's question, I indicate that, rather than take the action that it suggested it might take, the New South Wales Government has come back to Victoria with a suggestion that we should negotiate the possibility of an authority­ to-authority transfer of Victorian milk into the Sydney market on a trial basis for approximately three months. That is a positive move on the part of the New South Wales Government and its dairy industry authority. The Victorian Dairy Industry Authority is currently having discussions with its New South Wales counterpart, and certain negotiations are under way. I should like to think that a regular and orderly transfer of Victorian market milk into New South Wales was now possible; it is something that the Victorian Government has always wanted. I am in favour, and I think most honourable members would be, of an eastern seaboard market milk pool, which would be beneficial to Victorian dairy farmers and to the industry at large. We are not yet in that position, but the initiative taken by the company has 864 COUNCIL 14 April 1987 Questions without Notice precipitated a positive response, and discussions are proceeding with New South Wales on the possibility of an authority-to-authority milk transfer. I had begun discussions along those lines last November. Those discussions have been brought forward because of the actions of the company. I am certainly hopeful that we will not become involved in what the honourable member refers to as a milk war. I should like to think that all honourable members and all sides of politics in this State would support moves that would benefit Victorian dairy farmers in the long run. OPERATORS OF CHILD-CARE CENTRES The Hon. R. M. HALLAM (Western Province)-I refer the Minister for Community Services to press reports that a convicted paedophIle, who has skipped bail while awaiting further charges of sexual abuse, had in fact been conducting a child minding operation in a country town in this State for some time. I recognise that there is no formal requirement for a child minding operation to be registered where fewer than five children are in care at any given time, and I am not advocating any change in the law in that respect. Is the Minister's department contemplating any other action to restrict the opportunity for such people to gain a position of responsibility for young children? The Hon. C. J. HOGG (Minister for Community Services)-I thank Mr Hallam for his question. My department conducts police checks on its own employees who are involved in institutions where children are cared for and similar checks are run on prospective adoptive parents and people seeking to foster children. I am seriously considering introducing a similar check when a proprietor applies to conduct a registered commercial child-c'are operation. I point out that this underlines what Mr Hallam has had to say: that there are hundreds of informal child-care operations throughout this State. There are, for example, informal baby-sitting arran~ements made between neighbours; there are various babY-SItting clubs­ almost as many Informal arrangements as one can imagine, in both CIty and country Victoria. I take Mr Hallam's point, which has been made in the House before, that it is impossible to register those situations. However, it is possible to ensure that anyone applying for a registered centre is checked. I shall certainly be looking closely at that. When the child minding recommendations come before Parliament during the next sessional period, that will be discussed and the ramifications of those decisions will have been considered. It is important to say that the better the range of services provided, the less likely, perhaps, situations will occur. Obviously there has been an increase in centre-based care, in the number of family day care schemes and in the number of places in existing schemes. The Federal Government is also making a move towards setting up occasional care. I do not wish to cast a moment's doubt on what already exists in the community, because formal arrangements are secure and hundreds of informal arrangements are very good. One cannot, however, emphasise enough the care that parents have to take when leaving their children, even with people with whom they are quite close. SECTION 460 OF THE CRIMES ACT The Hon. D. E. HENSHAW (Geelong Province)-I direct the attention of the Attorney­ General to a public meeting which was held in Geelong last night and which was organised by the Victoria Police Association on the topic of police powers. I outlined to the meeting my understanding of the situation of the recommendations of the Coldrey committee on section 460 of the Crimes Act. Subsequently, at the meeting senior officers of the association claimed that the recommendations of the committee had been on the Premier's desk since last August. Can the Attorney-General outline the present situation of the committee's recommendations? Questions without Notice 14 April 1987 COUNCIL 865 The Hon. J. H. KENNAN (Attorney-General)-The position is as follows: I am sorry that there seems to be a misunderstanding in some quarters. The Government introduced section 460 at the request of the Victoria Police Force following some interpretations of the old legislative provisions that created uncertainty as to whether, at common law, a judge at the trial might ultimately hold that a person had not been brought before a judge or a magistrate as soon as practicable. F or reasons of greater certainty, a committee, which was chaired by the former Director of Public Prosecutions, now Mr Justice Phillips, and a senior policeman, unanimously recommended the 6-hour rule in the terms introduced by the Government. As I promised, a review by a committee chaired by the present Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr John Coldrey, QC, recommended flexibility in the use of section 460 but only as part of a package. The package was to address a number of interrogation issues that included suitable warnings being given to suspects. An integral part of the recommendations, without which part the rest of the recommendations could not be implemented, was that in all serious crimes admissions should be tape-recorded. The Government adopted the tape-recording recommendations and has deferred consideration of the rest of the recommendations because, until tape-recording can be done practically on the ground, there is no point in further considering the report. The Government had the choice oflegislating immediately before a proper trial was undertaken, in which police were able to get used to using tape-recorders, or having a trial implementation of the tape-recorders. The Government set about arranging this set-up, which involves additional resource funding for a trial period of tape-recording by the Police Force so that a report from them could be presented on any practical issue that must be resolved. The Government could then decide the shape of the proposed legislation, and introduce to Parliament a package based on consideration of the Coldrey committee recommendations. It is not correct to say that it has been on the Premier's desk at any time, let alone since before Christmas 1986. The Government approved funding for the Police Force to introduce a trial period of tape-recording approximately last August. Unfortunately, due to certain problems, the police have not implemented that trial procedure. Following discussions with the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, I understand that the police are on the verge of implementing the trial procedure in the next few weeks. Once that has happened and the pilot scheme has been conducted, the Government will be in a position to consider legislation relating to the tape-recording of inverviews, as well as dealing with the remainder of the recommendations of the Coldrey committee.