Page 5658 - Week 17 - Thursday, 5 December 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR DUBY: I have a supplementary question on that, Mr Speaker. Given the fact that my office has been contacted by people who have received, in effect, notification that they are surplus officers and that they have a certain time either to find alternative employment or to take a package, I fail to understand why the Chief Minister cannot provide this Assembly with a list of the number of people who have received such notification as at the close of business today. That, to me, is a perfectly reasonable request. Can you please explain to me why you cannot provide me with definitive lists of the numbers of people who have been identified as surplus to requirements and who have received notification to that effect?
MS FOLLETT: Mr Duby has asked a different question in his supplementary. If he wants the figures as at today, then of course I will take the question on notice and provide what information it is possible to provide.
Jury Service
DR KINLOCH: My question is addressed to Mr Connolly as Attorney-General. I am not entirely sure whether the premises of my question are correct. What is the present and what will be the future legal status of Canberra citizens aged over 60 in connection with the jury system in the ACT courts? I ask this because I am assuming - am I assuming wrongly? - that somehow or other people over 60 are to be given too easy a way out of jury service, when of course they are the people who are best qualified to be jurors.
MR CONNOLLY: I would not say that they are best qualified to be jurors. I would say that people over 60 are as qualified as any other members of the community to be jurors. There is a problem in relation to juries at the moment, because under the Juries Ordinance persons over 60 have an automatic exemption. The power to make laws with relation to juries will pass to us when we have responsibility for the courts. Juries operate only in relation to the Supreme Court. You cannot have a jury in a magistrates court. At the moment we do not have legislative power in relation to the courts and, therefore, juries. I would expect this Assembly to look at that next year.
Dr Kinloch would be aware that, during debate on the human rights package, the Government indicated that it did think age discrimination was an issue that needed to be addressed. Obviously, a law of this Territory which discriminates by saying that a person over 60 is to be treated differently to any other person in relation to jury service is inappropriate. So, it is something that I think this Assembly will be looking at next year when we have power to make laws with relation to juries.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .