The WA government will introduce knife laws it says will be "the toughest in the country", effectively allowing officers to scan people in any public place even if they are not suspected of carrying a weapon.
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00:00 High profile knife crimes across the nation spurring a government crackdown.
00:07 From Carousel to Bondi, the images have been confronting.
00:11 And that's why my government is doing something about it.
00:15 Under the proposed laws, police could search people in designated areas
00:19 with hand-held metal detectors, known as WANDs,
00:22 without needing reasonable suspicion of an offence.
00:25 Western Australians who are doing the right thing have nothing to worry about.
00:29 On top of permanent search areas in entertainment precincts,
00:32 temporary knife-wanding areas could be declared in any public space with no notice.
00:38 You will not know when or where the police have declared a knife-wanding area.
00:43 They could be anywhere, anytime.
00:45 The laws are modelled on Queensland's Jack's Law, named after 17-year-old Jack Beasley,
00:50 who was fatally stabbed in 2019 on the Gold Coast.
00:54 But knife crime is trending down in WA.
00:57 So in 2006 there were 13.2 knife crimes per 100,000 population.
01:02 Last year was 7.5, so we're nearly 50% down on knife crimes in WA.
01:07 That is a good thing.
01:08 That's backed by WA health data showing a decrease in patients admitted to public hospitals
01:13 for knife assaults per capita over the last decade,
01:16 prompting the question why the new laws are needed.
01:20 There's a diminishing number per capita, but what you've seen is high profile incidents.
01:25 That's not, in my experience or view, a sound basis for the introduction of a criminal law.
01:33 Concerns some groups will be targeted disproportionately.
01:37 Such as homeless people, First Nations people, people living with mental illness.
01:43 Police say they will only target people who pose a potential threat
01:47 and will not discriminate based on race or other factors.
01:50 But anyone who refuses a WAND scan could be jailed for a year or fined $12,000.
01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]