Playing to the gallery: the invocation of human rights, legal actors, and outside audiences in debates on roadside drug testing in the Australian Capital Territory

ABSTRACT

Roadside drug testing (‘RDT’) was introduced in the Australian Capital Territory (‘ACT’) through a private member’s Bill that was fiercely debated in the ACT parliament. It was the first RDT scheme in Australia subject to human rights scrutiny, and thus parliamentarians had to weigh road safety arguments against human rights considerations in determining whether the proposed measures were proportionate. This paper focuses on the debate over RDT in the ACT parliament, how human rights and safety concerns figure, and how legal actors and ‘outside audiences’ are invoked. The debate was marked by frequent appeals to family members present in the public gallery and legal actors such as the Chief Police Officer, the Human Rights Commissioner, and socio-legal experts outside the chamber. Drawing from cultural legal studies scholarship on legal insiders and outside audiences in legal proceedings, this paper analyses how these stakeholders figure in human rights debates on RDT, and with what effects. The paper argues that the invocation of outside audiences reflects what Crawley and Tranter term ‘a need to bring the human back’ but cautions that this humanising process only brings some humans in, and therefore connects human rights to only certain human lives in certain ways.

Disclosure statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and ethical obligations as researchers, Sean Mulcahy reports a personal relationship with a person included in the research reported in this paper. Kate Seear has no relevant competing interests to report.

Notes

1 Armstrong, Watling and Davey (2018) 139.

2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017).

3 Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 182.

4 Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny Act) 2011 (Cth); Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic); and Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld).

5 McDonald (2009) 40.

6 Evans and Evans (2006a) 568.

7 Grenfell and Debeljak (2020) 806.

8 See, e.g., Grenfell (2020); Mackie and Hilkemeijer (2020); Debeljak (2020); Rajanayagam (2020).

9 In doing so, we adopt a different approach to Bruno Latour, who collapses the distinction between the two. See Latour (1996) 369.

10 Evans and Evans (2006a) 553.

11 Crawley and Tranter (2019).

12 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 621.

13 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 621.

14 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 622.

15 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 622.

16 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 622.

17 Sharp and Leiboff (2016).

18 ACT Government (2018) 30.

19 Grenfell and Debeljak (2020).

20 Fraser, valentine and Seear (2018).

21 Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) (Random Drug Testing) Amendment Bill 2005; Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) (Random Drug Testing) Amendment Bill 2008 referenced in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2880 (Jeremy Hanson).

22 Lakes Amendment Bill 2017. For a history of the Bill, see Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (2022).

23 ACT Government (2008) 11.

24 ACT Government (2008) 1.

25 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2005).

26 Cashmere (2007).

27 Mallick et al (2007).

28 Mallick et al (2007) 41.

29 Drummer et al (2004).

30 ACT Government (2008) 10.

31 Jones (2005).

32 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2875 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

33 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2876 (Shane Rattenbury).

34 Lenne, Triggs and Regan (2004).

35 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2870 (Shane Rattenbury).

36 See further Follett (1997).

37 Riordan (2014).

38 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2849 (Jeremy Hanson). Stage directions added from viewing the debate on the ACT Legislative Assembly on Demand website <https://aod.parliament.act.gov.au/>.

39 valentine et al (2020) 192.

40 valentine et al (2020) 194 (emphasis in original).

41 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2880 (Jeremy Hanson).

42 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 622.

43 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 622.

44 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 626.

45 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 637.

46 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 623.

47 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 624.

48 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 625.

49 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2846 (Jeremy Hanson).

50 Mulcahy (2020) 76–77.

51 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2882 (Jeremy Hanson).

52 Riordan (2014).

53 Tuggeranong Community Council (2014).

54 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 631.

55 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2846 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

56 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2858 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

57 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2877 (Shane Rattenbury).

58 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2879 (Amanda Bresnan).

59 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2863 (Amanda Bresnan).

60 Hughes et al (2017) 60–61.

61 See Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (Cth) ss 8(1)(a), 8(1A); ACT Government and Australian Federal Police (2017).

62 ACT Government and Australian Federal Police (2017) cl 5.1.

63 ACT Government and Australian Federal Police (2017) cl 5.3.

64 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2845–2846 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

65 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2847 (Jeremy Hanson).

66 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2845–2846 (Simon Corbell, Minister for Police).

67 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2850 (Jeremy Hanson).

68 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2880 (Jeremy Hanson).

69 ‘Commissioner warns drug tests risk breaching law’ ABC News (30 June 2010).

70 Cited in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2851 (Jeremy Hanson). See further ‘Roman wants tougher drug driving laws’, Riotact (30 June 2010) <https://the-riotact.com/roman-wants-tougher-drug-driving-laws/23689>.

71 Cited in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2847 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister). See further Heanue (2010).

72 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2857–2858. See Human Rights Act 2004 ss 21–22.

73 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2856.

74 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2872–2873.

75 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2881 (Jeremy Hanson).

76 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 3 May 2011, 1685 (Jeremy Hanson).

77 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 3 May 2011, 1693 (Jeremy Hanson). 

78 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 3 May 2011, 1690 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

79 Hughes et al (2017) 65.

80 White and Richards (1992) 158; Fleming (1997).

81 Cited in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2851 (Jeremy Hanson). See further ‘Roman wants tougher drug driving laws’, Riotact (30 June 2010) <https://the-riotact.com/roman-wants-tougher-drug-driving-laws/23689>.

82 Fleming (1997) 59.

83 See further Finnane (2000).

84 Seear and Mulcahy (forthcoming).

85 Hughes et al (2017) 64 citing Jenkins-Smith (2014) 197.

86 Hughes et al (2017) 63. See also Fleming (2004).

87 Bassingthwaite (1997) 29.

88 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2847 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

89 Human Rights Commission Act 2005 s 27(2)(b).

90 Human Rights Act 2004 s 41(1).

91 Human Rights Act 2004 s 38(1).

92 Human Rights Act 2004 s 28(1).

93 Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 195.

94 ACT Human Rights Commission (2021) 5.

95 Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 196.

96 Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 197.

97 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2847–2848 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister). See further ‘Commissioner warns drug tests risk breaching law’ ABC News (30 June 2010).

98 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2861 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

99 Watchirs (2008) cited in Tregoning (2014).

100 Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory (2010) 13.

101 Watchirs (2008) cited in McDonald (2009) 40.

102 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2849 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

103 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2864 (Jeremy Hanson).

104 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2847–2848.

105 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2864 (Jeremy Hanson).

106 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2869 (Zed Seselja, Leader of the Opposition).

107 Cited in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2864 (Jeremy Hanson) (emphasis added).

108 Cited in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2863 (Amanda Bresnan).

109 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2869 (Zed Seselja, Leader of the Opposition).

110 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2864 (Jeremy Hanson) (emphasis added).

111 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2882 (Jeremy Hanson).

112 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2881 (Jeremy Hanson) (emphasis added).

113 Bilkova (2018).

114 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 624–625.

115 McDonald (2009) 40.

116 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2865 (Jeremy Hanson).

117 Human Rights Act 2004 s 28(2)(b).

118 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2865 (Jeremy Hanson).

119 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2881 (Jeremy Hanson).

120 Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT) s 37(1).

121 Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory (2011) 2.

122 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 626.

123 McKinnon (2007) 202.

124 Seear and Mulcahy (forthcoming).

125 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2865 (Jeremy Hanson).

126 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2864 (Jeremy Hanson).

127 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2865 (Jeremy Hanson).

128 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2881 (Jeremy Hanson). See Human Rights Act 2004 s 28(2).

129 ACT Government (2008) 10.

130 Human Rights Act 2004 s 28(2)(d).

131 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2865 (Jeremy Hanson).

132 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2880 (Jeremy Hanson).

133 ACT Government (2008) 6.

134 ACT Government (2008) 10.

135 ACT Government (2008) 11.

136 Cited in Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2877 (Shane Rattenbury).

137 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2877 (Shane Rattenbury).

138 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2852 (Amanda Bresnan) (emphasis added).

139 R v Momcilovic [2010] VSCA 50 [143]-[146] referenced in Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory (2011) 6–7.

140 Cicchini, Lee and Cullerton (2021) 2.

141 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2852 (Amanda Bresnan).

142 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2863 (Amanda Bresnan).

143 Grenfell and Debeljak (2020) 790.

144 Grenfell and Debeljak (2020) 791.

145 Seear (2020) 255.

146 Evans and Evans (2006a) 560.

147 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2865 (Jeremy Hanson).

148 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2866 (Jeremy Hanson).

149 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2869 (Zed Seselja, Leader of the Opposition).

150 Australian Capital Territory, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 30 June 2010, 2875 (Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister).

151 Hughes et al (2017) 61.

152 Evans and Evans (2006a) 550.

153 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 622.

154 Laster and O’Malley (1996).

155 Evans and Evans (2006b) 787.

156 Refshauge (2005) 9.

157 Williams and Reynolds (2015) 505 citing Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner (2014) 13.

158 See, e.g., McDonald (2009); Prichard et al (2010).

159 See, e.g., Hughes et al (2017).

160 Collier (2001).

161 Crawley and Tranter (2019).

162 Crawley and Tranter (2019) 621.

163 Richard Daly has also pointed to the way in which legal actors’, most particularly judges’, ears can be ‘hermetically sealed’ against hearing outside voices: Daly (2005) 51.

164 ACT Government (2018) 30.

165 Brown (2021).

166 Prichard et al (2010) 345.

167 Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner (2014) 14; Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 189.

168 Williams and Reynolds (2015) 506.

169 Grenfell and Debeljak (2020) 804. For further discussion, see Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 195–197.

170 Watchirs, Costello and Thilagaratnam (2020) 205.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Research Council: [Grant Number FT200100099].

Notes on contributors

Sean Mulcahy

Sean Mulcahy is a Research officer at The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.

Kate Seear

Kate Seear is an Associate Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.