Page 2105 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 May 2013

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The committee accepts that these are matters entirely within the purview of the courts, but through this recommendation asks the government to put a moral weight behind these proposals given the gravity of problems which arise when justice is delayed.

In recommendation 3, the committee again takes up this issue, urging the government to continue to address the delays in justice of which the committee was advised in public hearings. It was also told of the human cost of these delays, which it considers significant.

I would like to thank my fellow committee members, Mr Gentleman, Mrs Jones and Ms Berry, for their input and contribution to this report. In particular, and on behalf of all the committee members, I wish to express our sincere thanks to the committee secretary, Dr Brian Lloyd, for his much appreciated support and valuable contribution to the drafting of this report. I would also like to express the committee’s thanks to Ms Lydia Chung for her contribution to our work.

I ask the government to give due consideration to the recommendations, and I commend the report to the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Official Visitor Amendment Bill 2013

Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.

Title read by Clerk.

MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (10.15): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

I am pleased to present the Official Visitor Amendment Bill 2013. The bill makes technical and other amendments to the Official Visitor Act 2012 to ensure that the official visitor scheme will operate effectively when it commences.

Official visitors have operated in three environments in the territory: youth justice rehabilitation facilities, secure mental health facilities and adult correctional facilities. The Official Visitor Act 2012 added two new environments to this scheme: disability services and crisis accommodation services.

The Official Visitor Act was passed with some deficiencies, which were acknowledged at the time. Members expressed the expectation in the last Assembly that these problems would be resolved before the act’s commencement. This bill represents the government’s agreement with that expectation and that responsibility.


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