YES to cautions, not arrests for possession

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Rachel presented a motion on police cautions instead of arrests for cannabis personal use possession. After listening to the evidence presented, the Legislative Council debated and ultimately agreed to the motion. Enshrining cautions for small quantities of cannabis in legislation will provide a fairer and more transparent application of the existing policy, which was originally added to the Victoria Police Manual in 2024.

Wednesday the 13th of May 2026,
Victorian Legislative Council

Rachel responded to points made during the debate, and summed up before the Legislative Council voted in support of the motion.

Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):

 First and foremost, I just want to thank everybody who made a contribution today. Everyone made very thoughtful and considered contributions. Ms Watt, Dr Heath, Ms Copsey, Mr Batchelor, my colleague Mr Ettershank, Mr Galea, Mr Limbrick and Ms Ermacora, thank you all for your valuable contributions.

At the outset it is really important that we do bring our personal experiences to what we debate in this place. With all due respect, I think it is really important to note that, be they experiences of loved ones or those that are dear to us, both positive and negative, those experiences are always are going to have weight in how we debate in this place, including, as Ms Ermacora said, from regional perspectives through to inner-city living or suburban perspectives.

Not a matter of impairment

I would like to point out, in relation to Dr Heath’s contribution around measuring impairment – and I think we have all reiterated this throughout this debate – that is not what this motion is trying to debate. When it comes to impairment, though, police do have the ability to test impairment. But what is happening currently, particularly with the roadside drug testing, is that police are measuring presence, not impairment. They have the option to test impairment, but they do not use that. I guess it does also highlight, while we are here today talking about cannabis cautions, that police have the option to use the caution but they may not be privy to that information or may not know that it is accessible. We are calling for this for that clarity – no more grey areas for police. They want to get on and do their job, and they want to do it well. They want to serve their community. As Ms Ermacora pointed out, many police officers are valuable members of their community, particularly in regional Victoria. This is about taking the pressure off police.

Police resources directed where they’re needed most

They have finite resources that need to be utilised elsewhere, particularly while these brazen attacks are going on all over this state. Picking a kid up for cannabis is not high on their priority list, and we want to take that pressure off them. Mr Batchelor, I thank you for your comments in relation to where the law should direct police. I think we are all in agreeance here that legislating policy, good policy that police are already using, is a step in the right direction to providing that clarity, providing that guidance and removing that grey area.

Another point I just wanted to make, and these are conversations I have had in and outside of this chamber, is when I make reference to roughly 4000 Victorians being arrested each year I want to make it very clear that I am talking about Crime Statistics Agency data, and I am talking about individual, unique offences. That is someone actually just being picked up for cannabis possession only. And when we do say that there are roughly 4000 a year, that is us keeping track of data over the last five years, including those unique offences. We do also have the data for offences where there may be cannabis as part of other convictions. But when I do specifically talk about individual arrests, I am talking about individuals.

I think this is a fairly easy step in the right direction because, as my colleague Mr Ettershank pointed out, 80 per cent of Victorians think that cannabis use should not be a criminal offence. So let us legislate. Let us let the police get on with their jobs. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion agreed to.

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