Does SCAN threaten fundamental rights?
SCAN legislation sets up a quasi-judicial process without key safeguards that exist within our judicial system and are intended to ensure fairness and due process. For example, the initial complaints’ process and investigation as set out in the Bill lacks checks and balances to ensure accountability on the part of the Director and fairness to the individual who is the target of the complaint. In deciding whether to investigate a complaint, in the actual investigation or in the decision to apply for a Community Safety Order, the Director is not required to provide any reasons or even an evidentiary basis for his/her decisions. This puts a property owner at a great disadvantage when attempting to respond or defend the allegations made in the complaint process. Further, the Director is under no obligation to inform the individual(s) at the centre of a complaint that a complaint has been made against him/her and that he/she is under investigation until an application to the Superior Court
