DRONES
277. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the minister representing the
Minister for Police:
I refer to the article titled ''It's the
attack of the drones'' in The West Australian of Monday, 18 March,
which highlights the challenges that police, local governments and ordinary
citizens deal with in response to illegal or intimidating drone surveillance.
(1) What steps
will the minister be taking to ensure that police are able to respond
effectively to incidents of drone harassment?
(2) Has the
minister raised the issue of addressing intimidating or harassing drone
activity with the federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional
Development and will the minister please table this correspondence?
(3) Will the
minister commit to reviewing drone legislation in Western Australia to prevent
these kinds of incidents?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON
replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question. The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for
Police.
(1) Drones are covered by commonwealth legislation. It
has been identified that this legislation requires review and amendment
if police are to have the legal powers to respond to drone incidents. A commonwealth
government–driven review of this legislation has commenced and all
Australian policing jurisdictions are expected to be consulted and engaged. The
Western Australia Police Force is working in concert with federal bodies to
develop a counter-drone capability based on detection, identification and
isolation of the offending drone. This working group is investigating a number
of legislative impediments primarily relating
to the legislation regulated by the Australian Communications and Media
Authority and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
(2) No.
(3) Under the
Constitution of Australia, all legislation relating to air space is owned by
the commonwealth and drones fall within this scope.