Page 4226 - Week 13 - Thursday, 27 November 2014
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thank the Attorney-General for both his support of this initiative and presenting the associated bills.
I believe that the ACT justice system is in a very positive and active phase of progressing towards a more holistic approach to criminal behaviour and judicial responses. The bill that is before us is just part of this work and is an important part of the much broader justice reform strategy that the ACT government has recently commenced.
I, in my role as minister for corrections, in collaboration with my colleague Minister Corbell, have committed to undertaking the research, community engagement and reviews needed to enhance the ACT justice system, and to further build the required evidence base for a range of reforms.
It is my belief that periodic detention is an outdated sentencing option, that it lacks the therapeutic and rehabilitative focus of a modern justice system and that it has not been shown to fully deliver on community expectations of either consequences of breaking the law or addressing criminal behaviour.
I appreciate that there has been some discussion in the legal fraternity and by other interested parties regarding the cessation of the PDC. I would like to acknowledge the genuine interest that has been expressed in these reforms. On 9 May this year I wrote to 18 non-government and government stakeholders such as ACTCOSS, the Human Rights Commission and the ACT Law Society, amongst others, in relation to my announcement that the ACT government will phase out periodic detention as a sentencing option.
In that letter I outlined that, in tandem with ceasing periodic detention from 2016-17, the government will examine alternative sentencing options that will more effectively deliver on our goals of rehabilitation and reducing rates of incarceration. This time frame is needed to ensure that key stakeholders were and are consulted and engaged and have the opportunity to contribute to the development of alternative options.
The government will also, of course, take account of any applicable recommendations of the Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in its report on sentencing. The committee is expected to report in April 2015, which, while later than originally intended, will allow due consideration of the proposed second phase of the required legislative change.
The Attorney-General and I will be carefully considering alternative sentencing options and the necessary legislative reform in coming months. As part of the larger justice reform strategy, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate has also formed an advisory group who will look at this issue, among others, in great depth.
I would also like to note that the ACT is the last jurisdiction in Australia to have periodic detention, as New South Wales ceased the option in 2010. As the New South Wales Law Reform Commission wrote in 2012, the scheme in New South Wales attracted public criticism for high rates of absenteeism and considered that the
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