Page 2823 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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on this from the minister’s office in the department, and I thank the minister’s office and the directorate for that. These amendments seem sensible, and the Canberra Liberals will be supporting them.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.59): The Greens will be supporting the Corrections and Sentencing Legislation Amendment Bill 2012. The bill seeks to improve detainee disciplinary processes at the AMC to ensure matters are heard in a swift and fair manner. This is an issue looked into by the Hamburger review. Detainees should have allegations of misconduct heard against them in a timely manner and have access to natural justice. The Greens agree that the detainee disciplinary processes provided in the initial Corrections Management Act, while having good intentions, were overly burdensome.
The removal of the administrator’s role seems appropriate, as does the use of the investigator on an as-needs basis only. Detainees will continue to be able to have a disciplinary decision independently reviewed by adjudication by a magistrate which is, of course, important, and we are pleased to see that that is maintained.
One matter that has been raised by the Human Rights Commission in response to this bill is whether ACT Corrective Services should be provided with timelines within which it must conduct disciplinary processes. At the moment, detainees are provided with seven days to make an appeal about a disciplinary decision, but there are no time periods governing the time within which Corrective Services must make a decision in response. I understand this matter is to be discussed via the regulations, which are yet to come, by a notifiable instrument later this year, and we hope this concern can be addressed at that point in time.
The remainder of the bill makes changes to the laws that govern periodic detention. These changes are relatively straightforward. The changes either review ambiguities in the existing provisions or make minor changes to allow existing policy to be implemented more smoothly. On that basis, and in conclusion, the Greens will be supporting this bill today.
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (12.01), in reply: Today marks an important day in the government’s implementation of a key recommendation outlined in the 2011 independent review of operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, ACT Corrective Services prepared by Knowledge Consulting, known as the Hamburger review. On 29 March 2012 the government tabled a report on progress with implementing the recommendations of the 2011 Knowledge Consulting report. The Corrections and Sentencing Legislative Amendment Bill 2012 fulfils a government priority to provide ongoing review and improvement of corrective services in the territory.
The bill contains a number of legislative amendments that will ensure ACT Corrective Services can provide services more efficiently and effectively. The bill amends the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act and the Corrections Management Act in five areas and provides for the streamlining of the detainee discipline scheme to allow for greater transparency and administrative procedural fairness and timeliness, the
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