Page 2321 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 16 September 1992
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Wednesday, 16 September 1992
____________________________
MADAM SPEAKER (Ms McRae) took the chair at 10.30 am and read the prayer.
CRIMES (OFFENCES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT) (AMENDMENT)
BILL 1992
MR MOORE (10.31): I present the Crimes (Offences Against the Government) (Amendment) Bill 1992.
Title read by Acting Clerk.
MR MOORE: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Speaker, the important thing in considering this amendment to the Crimes (Offences Against the Government) Act 1989 is first to take in the background and then to look at the concept of open government. The Act I seek to amend, the Crimes (Offences Against the Government) Act 1989, became law on 11 May 1989. In other words, it was part of the package of laws that were put together at the beginning of self-government. As such, it has received less scrutiny than many other Acts that have come before this Assembly. In fact, it is one of those Acts that effectively were put together by bureaucrats with the intention of looking after themselves and their power structures. That may be a good thing at certain times and, should members argue that it is a good thing, I would accept that they had a point.
In striving for open government, we should look very carefully, issue by issue, at the laws we have provided and have around us that are designed to do just the opposite - to close government. One of those laws is section 10 of the Crimes (Offences Against the Government) Act 1989, disclosure of information by officers of the Territory. Subsections (1) and (2) provide that a person who publishes or communicates any document that comes to his knowledge, for which he has a responsibility and which it is his duty not to disclose is guilty of an offence punishable by up to two years' imprisonment. There are no financial penalties; simply two years' imprisonment.
It is important that this issue should come before the Assembly at this time. It is the Liberals in particular who have kept the issue alive, following what they referred to initially as police raids - a term with which I concur. They continued to refer to things such as paranoid witch-hunts, to quote Mr De Domenico in yesterday's question time. Granted, there is some politicking involved in such terms. Nevertheless, the issue raised is very important.
Mr Lamont: Just politicking.
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