Electricity Supply Amendment (Offences) Bill 2007
OBJECTIVES:
The object of the Electricity Supply Amendment (Offences) Bill 2007 is to amend the Electricity Supply Act to strengthen the protection of vital electricity infrastructure. The bill amends the Electricity Supply Act in two important ways.
First, it increases the maximum term of imprisonment for the offence of theft of electricity from two to five years and provides for the offence to be an indictable offence committed by an individual. Second, it creates a new offence of entering, climbing or being on electricity infrastructure or works. Furthermore, the bill makes a consequential amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 to provide for the summary disposal of the offence of electricity.
COMMENTS:
The September 11 and Bali tragedies have reminded us to improve the critical protection of the State’s vital infrastructure. Energy is the lifeblood of our economy, and we must act swiftly to ensure the protection of electricity infrastructure in New South Wales. The proposed amendment ensures the protection and security of electricity infrastructure such as transmission towers, power poles and distribution lines. Security arrangements must be in place to minimise the chance of any unexpected impact on infrastructure.
In recent years and on several occasions, young persons have been caught climbing on high-voltage transmission towers. That extremely dangerous activity has led to quite a number of deaths. Although anti-climbing barriers on some transmission towers have been erected to reduce the incidence of serious fatalities, it is necessary to restrict unauthorised climbing on high-voltage transmission towers.
Currently, no criminal offence exists in New South Wales that prohibits a person from climbing on, or just being on, electricity works. Therefore, that gaps needs to be closed to protect the safety of individuals and the vital electricity works that deliver the reliable supply of electricity in New South Wales.
The bill amends the Electricity Supply Act to create a new offence for those who enter, climb, or be on a network operator’s or retail supplier’s electricity works unless authorised to do so by the network operator or retail supplier concerned. The maximum penalty is a $1,100 fine and imprisonment for up to three months. The new penalties will deter illegal and dangerous conduct involving electricity works, and protect the integrity of the electricity grid.
The maximum penalty is applicable to electricity works as defined in the Electricity Supply Act. The maximum penalty applies to any electricity power lines or associated equipment, or electricity structures that form part of a transmission or distribution system. It is in the best interests of the community that the prohibition extends from transmission towers to distribution lines and poles that deliver electricity to residential and commercial buildings.
Honourable members will note that those who were allowed to do that were the people who had the support of the electricity grid suppliers. Therefore, workers or retail suppliers’ electrical work maintenance people are authorised to do so by the network operator or the retail supplier concerned. In reality that allows certain people access but not others, that is, union members who erect political posters but not others such as non-union members.
The greatest offenders in affixing placards are members of unions who work for electricity supply companies because only people with cherry pickers and other facilities can erect with the agreement of the electricity supply companies. It provides a disproportionate opportunity for people supporting one political party over other political parties. This means, for example, that the Australian Labor Party has access to high poles to which other parties do not have access.
In my local area, for example, posters for the last Federal election are still in place because none of the workers who put them up have removed them. In the United States of America political parties are constricted to ground level placement—which certainly prevents the visual pollution we see in Australia. Political placard placements are not allowed on poles, overpasses, bridges et cetera.
The new offence does not apply to authorised persons such as employees or contractors acting on behalf of electricity businesses, who then privately add their own political thoughts and support to posters. This ensures, however, that the offence will apply only to people of other political parties who could be charged with committing illegal acts because they do not have authority from the owner of the electricity works concerned.
The other object of the bill concerns the theft of electricity. The bill amends section 64 of the Electricity Supply Act to increase the maximum penalty for the offence of theft of electricity from two years to five years imprisonment to align with the maximum penalty for larceny of tangible goods.
The increase in the maximum penalty aligns the penalty for theft of electricity with the penalty for larceny contained in the Crimes Act. That approach is consistent with other jurisdictions such as Victoria and Tasmania. The increase in the maximum term of imprisonment provided for in the bill sends a clear message to offenders that theft of electricity will be taken no less seriously than theft of tangible goods. Electric power systems constitute the fundamental infrastructure of modern society.
CONCLUSION:
A successful terrorist attempt to disrupt electricity supplies or an attack on the electricity grid could have devastating effects on national security, the economy, and every citizen’s life. I thank the Government for introducing the Electricity Supply Amendment (Offences) Bill 2007, which I commend, in general, to the House. However, I will support some of the amendments.
