Page 727 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 1 April 2008
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that this legislation addresses those issues. There are a broader range of issues at play when it comes to alcohol consumption and the culture of alcohol consumption in our community. The government has announced a major review of the Liquor Act. I have today released a discussion paper that outlines the broad range of issues that should be up for consideration when it comes to the exercise of the rights that governments grant to sell alcohol in public, either in a licensed premise or in an off-licence. Those are the issues that the government looks forward to engaging with the community on as we progress that very important review.
For now, the government commends its legislation to the Assembly. I trust that I have answered the concerns of the scrutiny of bills committee and highlighted the difficulties with the opposition’s proposals on this matter.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail stage
Clauses 1 to 4, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Proposed new clause 4A.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (12.00): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name [see schedule 2 at page 808]. I table a supplementary explanatory statement to the amendment.
This amendment deals with the issue of enforcement of fines as they relate to offenders under the age of 18. Currently, there are provisions in the Children and Young People Bill, which is currently before the Assembly, which would remove the ability of the Magistrates Court to impose a period of imprisonment if someone was effectively in default of paying a fine. This amendment ensures that this legislation is consistent with those foreshadowed provisions of the Children and Young People Bill and makes clear that there is discretion available to the court as to whether or not a young person should be committed for the enforcement of payment of a fine.
The current provisions of the act provide that the court must impose a period of imprisonment on a young person if the court is satisfied that there is no other viable option to ensure the payment of the fine. This provides discretion to the court and simply replaces the word “must” with “may”. So, instead of the existing clause reading, “The registrar must, by warrant, commit a young person,” it reads, “The registrar may, by warrant, commit a young person.” This has been moved to address the concerns raised by advocates of the youth sector here in the ACT and to ensure consistency with the provisions of the Children and Young People Bill.
MR STEFANIAK (Ginninderra) (12.03): I do not know whether the attorney has the right reference there. He talked about page 5, but page 5 of the bill is the tail end of some provisions in relation to young people. Maybe he means page 3? I would ask for a bit of clarity there because I am not exactly certain where this fits in; I might be
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