Page 1348 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 2012
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MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.31): The Greens will also be supporting this bill today. The bill makes 45 amendments to 11 separate acts and regulations. The common theme running through each amendment is that they are relatively straightforward updates and amendments that are designed to make the ACT statute book more consistent and more workable. The presentation speech by the attorney and the explanatory statement set out in a good level of detail each of the particular changes and I will not add to that detailed information further.
I would like to touch on just one example of the practical way that amendment bills such as this can make worthwhile changes to how the territory functions on a day-to-day basis. The example comes from the amendments to the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act. As the act is currently written, when an accused person is remanded in custody to await trial, the judge or magistrate is required to make an order setting out the date on which they are required to be returned to court to face trial.
This requirement causes difficulties when the Magistrates Court deals with the initial procedural aspects of a case which is then set down in the Supreme Court for trial. In these instances, the current law requires the magistrate to do something they are unable to do. It requires the magistrate to estimate the time and date when the Supreme Court will be ready to hear the matter. It is the registrar who is best placed to determine the timing, not the magistrate.
What this leads to is the potential for dates to be listed which are incorrect or unworkable. This then raises the potential for remandees to be transferred from the AMC into the Supreme Court on the listed date, only for a new date to be set and for them to be returned back to the AMC. The amendment today removes the potential for that frustrating waste of resources. The amendment specifically allows the judicial officer or the registrar to set the time and place for the remandee to be returned to court. That is a sensible amendment that the Greens would obviously support.
In conclusion, the Greens support the remainder of the bill on the basis that the amendments are relatively straightforward and make sensible updates and improvements to the laws of the ACT.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (4.33), in reply: I simply rise to thank members for their support of this bill. Can I also express my thanks to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and officers of my directorate for the detailed work they put into these bills that allow the statute book to remain relevant and up to date.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
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