Page 3994 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 9 November 1994
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Mr De Domenico: I have committed one every week for the past two years.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, Mr De Domenico has confessed to having broken this law over a long period of time. His frankness in acknowledging his criminality is greatly refreshing, Madam Speaker. However, there are many other citizens who are in exactly the same boat.
Mr Connolly: Tragically, we have no gaol, Mr De Domenico; so I cannot throw you in it.
MR HUMPHRIES: Yes; but the Chief Justice and I are working on it. The Attorney-General makes the point that there is a need to examine why this offence is there, and he has undertaken to do that, in his response. By the same token, it seems to me that, before we increase the penalty for this matter, we should actually determine whether it should be an offence at all, rather than doing it the other way round - increasing the penalty and then working out whether it is an offence.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General and Minister for Health) (5.13): You have twisted my arm. I throw in the towel. Madam Speaker, Mr Humphries is quite correct. I have just learnt that in a Bill that Mr Lamont will be introducing tomorrow he will probably be addressing that; so we agree. We accept the amendment.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendments (by Mr Connolly), by leave, proposed:
Schedule -
Page 63, amendment of Nature Conservation Act 1980, proposed amendment of subsection 57(1) (penalty provision), omit "50 penalty units", substitute "5 penalty units".
Page 64, amendment of Nurses Act 1988 -
Proposed amendment of subsection 18(5) (penalty provision), omit the proposed amendment, substitute the following amendment:
"Subsection 28(6A) (penalty provision) -
Omit '$500', substitute '5 penalty units'.".
Proposed amendment of section 25 (penalty provision), omit the proposed amendment, substitute the following amendment:
"Section 29 (penalty provision) -
Omit '$500', substitute '5 penalty units'.".
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