Overnight, WA Police have been given extraordinary new powers to exclude people from five major parts of Perth, Fremantle, and Mandurah for up to six months for anti-social and threatening behaviour.
An amendment to the Liquor Control Act, which passed WA parliament, last month has come into effect, establishing five Protected Entertainment Precincts (PEPs).
The abbreviation was designed to honour Giuseppe "Pep" Raco, a nightclub manager who was killed in an unprovoked one-punch attack in Northbridge in 2020.
Anyone convicted of a serious violent or sexual crime inside one of the zones will also be banned from setting foot in any of those areas for five years.
The zones were chosen in consultation with police, based on the prevalence of hospitality venues and nightlife, along with the risk of violent and anti-social behaviour occurring there.
So where are the zones?
- Perth and Northbridge
- Fremantle
- Mandurah
- Hillarys
- Scarborough
Who can be banned?
The short-term bans of up to six months can be given to anyone.
The ban automatically includes all Protected Entertainment Precincts.
So, anti-social behaviour committed in the Hillarys zone would see someone excluded from Hillarys and Perth, Northbridge, Fremantle, and Scarborough.
The five-year bans are reserved for anyone who is convicted after December 24, 2022 of a serious violent or sexual crime which was committed inside one of the PEP zones.
The clock does not start on the five years until that person is released from custody.
Anyone already in prison who was convicted of such an offence prior to December 24, 2022 will not automatically be banned, but an application can be made to have it applied to them.
What crimes result in the five-year ban?
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- Unlawful assault causing death
- Stupefying in order to commit indictable offence
- Act intended to cause grievous bodily harm or prevent arrest
- Grievous bodily harm
- Wounding and similar acts
- Intoxication by deception
- Sexual penetration without consent
- Aggravated sexual penetration without consent
- Planning to commit any of the above or inciting another person to do so.
How can you get a short-term ban?
A police officer can issue anyone with a ban from entering PEPs for up to six months if three conditions are met:
1. The person must be in a public place within a Protected Entertainment Precinct.
2. In that public place the person must have engaged in any of the following behaviour:
- Unlawful
- Anti-social
- Violent
- Disorderly
- Offensive
- Indecent
- Threatening
What classifies as the above behaviour is set out in internal police guidelines written by the commissioner, but police have declined to publish those guidelines for "operational reasons".
3. If a ban is not issued, that person will cause violence or public disorder, or there will be an adverse effect on the safety or welfare of others.
The officer issuing the ban must also first get approval from a member of the police force ranked inspector or higher. This can be done verbally or over the phone and should be confirmed in writing later but still applies even if that's not done.
The officer is also required to explain, in a language likely to be understood by the person, how long they are being banned for, what the consequences of breaching a ban are, and the right of the person to apply for a review of their ban.
What are the consequences of breaching a PEP ban?
Breaching a short-term ban carries a maximum fine of $12,000, or can land someone in prison for up to two years.
Breaching a long-term ban carries the same fine, but carries a potential five-year prison sentence (two-years for juveniles).
How do you appeal a PEP ban?
You can apply to have a short-term ban varied or revoked by writing to the commissioner of police.
What happens next is at the discretion of Commissioner Col Blanch.
Unsatisfied with the result? The next step is to take it up with the Liquor Licensing Commission.
After that, the Supreme Court.
For a long-term ban, the first port of call is the Liquor Licensing Commission.
Are there exemptions allowing a banned person to enter a PEP?
There are some legal excuses that allow a banned person to enter a PEP zone. They include:
- The person lives there
- They are the sole carer of someone who lives inside a PEP zone
- They have to work inside the zone
- The person attends school, TAFE or university inside the zone and cannot study elsewhere
- They need to receive health care or a social welfare service inside the zone
- The person is receiving legal advice
- They are in custody
- Appearing in court
- The person is an Aboriginal person or a Torres Strait Islander fulfilling a cultural practice of obligation of the customary laws or traditions of the accused's community and it was necessary in the circumstances for the accused to be in the protected entertainment precinct in order to fulfil the practice or obligation
In most cases the banned person is required to take the "most direct route through the protected entertainment precinct" to do that exempt activity, and must not stop unnecessarily.
