Armchair Critic,

Thanks again. You are not giving anything away, so the moderator need not be concerned either. From the Police site,

<Can I carry a knife for work purposes?
It is a reasonable excuse to physically possess a knife to perform a lawful activity, duty or employment; to participate in a lawful entertainment, recreation or sport, for exhibiting the knife or for use for a lawful purpose. Examples as quoted in Section 51 of the Weapons Act 1990 are:

A person may carry a knife on his or her belt for performing work in primary production
A scout may carry a knife on his or her belt as part of the scout uniform
A person may carry a knife as an accessory while playing in a pipe band
A fisher may carry a knife for use while fishing
A person who collects knives may exhibit them at a fete or another public gathering
A person may use a knife to prepare or cut food at a restaurant in a public place or when having a picnic in a park; or
A person may carry a pen knife or swiss army knife for use for its normal utility purpose>

However, most practical knives and all rescue knives (apart from the toys) are designed to be opened by one hand. For example, a Gerber which is one of the best and reasonably priced rescue knives, has an enlarged hole in the short blade for that purpose. Others may have a bent section or push area to assist. These are not 'flick' knives or nasties. They are in very common use with fire fighters, ambos and so on elsewhere.
tbc..

continued..

That means the Gerber and the others fall under a different provision. This one,

<7A Category M weapons
Each of the following is a category M weapon—
...
(b) any knife so designed or constructed so as to be used as
a weapon that while the knife is held in 1 hand, the blade
may be released by that hand;>

That is the relevant clause. Your car is now deemed to be a 'public place'.
Remembering Murphey's Law, what if the traffic constable conducting (say) a random check believes it can be left to a Court to sort out whether you are possessing a Category M weapon you should have sought prior approval for (and as such it should be locked up)?

As said earlier, why risk the inconvenience and cost of visits to court? Or put employment or other licences at risk? Add the additional risk that the magistrate may find a wrinkle through his literal interpretation.

Problems caused by knee-jerk regulation. Politicians 'solving' problems with more redundant laws and stuffing it up. Both sides of Parliament are guilty of that.

OTB...bingo ! " Problems caused by knee-jerk regulation. Politicians 'solving' problems with more redundant laws and stuffing it up. Both sides of Parliament are guilty of that."

Problem is that: we the electorate, are equally to blame for putting these buggers in there before they pass bills and legislate.

I stopped voting after the Kevin '07 thing...there simply isn't any person, man or woman on any platform that has integrity, brains and common sense. It is indeed a sad commentary on ourselves primarily.

Hi there ARM CHAIR CRITIC and TONI LAVIS...

What you said TONI is completely correct ! Irrespective of what an individual is carrying, even something as innocuous as a tooth brush, it's the 'intent' with which they're carrying the article, that will cause them bother, and may get 'em into trouble.

Without appearing to lecture anyone herein - there are two important elements of a crime;

(i) the mens rea (criminal 'intent') and,

(ii)the actus reus (the criminal 'act')

Without these two vital elements of a crime, police cannot prosecute their case. Believe it or not, (theoretically at least) murder is one of the easiest of all crimes to prove - The hardest being, the old 'Common law larceny' ?

(i)The five common proofs;

(ii)A dead human being; and lastly

(iii)malice aforethought.

Including the presence of those two vital elements as mentioned above. The difficulty with most homicide matters is identifying the perpetrator and assembling all the necessary evidence (incl. motive) to prove 'malice'? Hope this helps a little gentlemen ?

Hi there BAZZ...

In my time with the Task Force most of those we arrested were of Lebanese origins, and when charged, describing themselves as being Muslim. Or if utterly uncooperative told us, among other things, to get 'laid' if you get my drift ? Whether there were any Christian 'players' among them, I couldn't say, though I hardly think so, they were a really tough, ruthless lot, who were very much a closed shop !

In my time, they had no such nomenclature as 'Middle Eastern Crime Squads', that came later - I and my squad, were actually deployed from the CIB as supernumerary to the original Task Force, that operated both in the Bankstown/Punchbowl areas and prior to that, under the aegis of D/Sgt T.P. at Cabramatta, interdicting Asian Drug Gangs. I hope this answers your queries ?

Another aspect is reckless indifference such as tossing bricks off a high-rise without looking or pointing a laser at drivers in general or plane pilots landing. Maybe this torch could be abused that way.
Even a bike rider would be in strife at speed on a roadway.

Actually NICKNAMENICK...

This 'reckless indifference' an American term similarly meaning, what is described in Australian law as; 'foresight of consequences' an element of the crime of recklessness in some Motor Traffic legislation in most States.