Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, an electronic device that emits a high-frequency sound, which causes physical harm to children and young adults, is being imported into Australia and marketed as an anti-loitering device. It is called The Mosquito. The tone these devices emit can only be heard by people who are less than 25 years of age, including babies and children, because of their ears and the hairs in their ears. It irritates and can cause pain and other symptoms such as dizziness, headache, nausea and impairment. It can have even more serious effects on children who have autism.

These devices are being purchased for the purpose of dispelling groups of adolescents through the emission of the high-frequency sound, even though the young people have done no wrong and have a legal right to assemble. One of these devices was installed in a shopping centre in Hervey Bay in Queensland, but it was recently taken down after the community legal centre advocated on behalf of the young workers and visitors to the shopping centre. These young people were perhaps saving up in their jobs to pay for their houses or perhaps their avocado breakfasts.

Has the minister given permission for the importation of these devices as an acoustic anti-personnel device under item (5) in part 2 of schedule 13 of the Customs Prohibited Imports Regulations Act 1956? Will the minister look into how this device was ever imported? Can the minister inform the community, particularly young people, about this? I should note, Minister, that I notified your advisers beforehand because this is a pretty precise piece of information.

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