Legalise Cannabis WA MP Dr Brian Walker has condemned the state government, describing its failure to reform confiscation laws as an "almost criminal lack of action."
Under WA's Misuse of Drugs Act 1981, a court is required — following an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions or a police prosecutor — to declare a person a drug trafficker if they are found in possession of a specified quantity of drugs, whether measured by total weight or the number of plants cultivated.
Courts have no discretion in the matter and must issue a Drug Trafficker Declaration as requested, which can result in significantly harsher sentencing and the seizure of the person's assets, including their home.
A 2019 review of the Criminal Property Confiscation Act 2000 (WA), conducted by former chief justice Wayne Martin and tabled that year, found the 1981 act "has the undeniable potential to inflict injustice, and to operate arbitrarily and unfairly," citing the absence of any judicial discretion.
Martin's review recommended "courts be given a discretion to decline to declare a person to be a drug trafficker if satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the person has not engaged in the trafficking of significant quantities of drugs for commercial reward."
Dr Walker spoke out after his private members bill aimed at addressing the deficiency was talked out — effectively filibustered — by Labor MPs, criticising what he described as "five years' worth of government inaction in this space."
"Former chief justice Wayne Martin was appointed to review the Criminal Property Confiscation Act in 2018, at a cost of many thousands of dollars, yet neither the McGowan nor the Cook governments have acted on the damning report he handed down," he said.
Dr Walker said his bill would have closed a loophole in the confiscation laws that Martin had labelled "incoherent," "inconsistent," and "unjust," causing "undue hardship" to innocent parties.
He added: "Why the Labor members in the chamber have chosen to conflate the bill's clear intent with the broader issue of cannabis legalisation is frankly baffling, and I can only presume that they were instructed to filibuster until our parliamentary time expired out of a sense of embarrassment at their own government's failings."
"Justice Martin called this 'the most significant issue' in his review of the act, concluding that the reintroduction of some form of judicial discretion was 'overwhelmingly supported'.
"But the current attorney general, who commissioned that report, has done nothing to solve a woeful situation which sees ordinary West Australians, often innocent of any crime, losing their homes and other legally purchased property on a regular basis.
"The current situation is unconscionable, the government has known that for close-on five years now, and its continued inaction… speaks volumes.
"It amounts to an almost criminal lack of action, and should be of concern to every right-thinking citizen of this state."
