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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 187 asked in the Legislative Council on 17 March 2022 by Hon Dr Brian Walker

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT — DRUG TRAFFICKER DECLARATIONS

187. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General:

I refer the Attorney General to section 32A(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981, which repeatedly employs the word ''may'' when referring to drug trafficker declarations—that is, an application may be made.

(1) Am I right in assuming that the Director of Public Prosecutions has a discretion not granted to our judges insofar as she can choose whether or not a declaration is sought in the first place?

(2) Has the DPP delegated responsibility for making such decisions in regard to drug trafficker declarations to any staff member subordinate to her; and, if so, which DPP employees are authorised to make such decisions, under what circumstances, and is such delegation absolute or does the DPP maintain a level of practical oversight?

Hon KYLE McGINN replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. On behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General, the following answer has been provided to me by the Attorney General.

(1) Pursuant to appendix 2 of the DPP Statement on prosecution policy and guidelines 2018, if a person is convicted of a serious drug offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 and section 32A, ''Drug trafficking'', is applicable, the Director of Public Prosecutions will make an application for an order that the person be declared a drug trafficker at the time of conviction or within six months of the date of the conviction. However, if a person is declared a drug trafficker pursuant to section 32A but the cost of recovering the property exceeds the likely return to the state, in the absence of other public interest factors, it may not be in the state's interest to seek recovery of particular property. It is important to note that a drug trafficker declaration does not automatically mean there will be a further application under the Criminal Property Confiscation Act 2000 for the confiscation of property.

(2) No.