Page 3525 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 September 2015

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The national ice action strategy will focus on improving support in law enforcement, prevention, early intervention, treatment and support, front-line workers, local community, and research and data. COAG will consider the final version of the national strategy at its scheduled meeting in November. The ACT government is also developing a new alcohol and other drugs strategy that will frame our ongoing response to ice. I commend the update on the national ice task force and the ACT government consultation forum summary that I have tabled this afternoon.

ACT Magistrates Court bail process—report

Paper and statements by ministers

MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro): For the information of members, I present the following paper:

ACT Magistrates Court bail process—Report of the internal review, dated 18 September 2015, prepared by Philip Kellow, Principal Registrar, ACT Law Courts and Tribunal.

I ask leave to make a statement in relation to the paper.

Leave granted.

MR CORBELL: I present a report of the internal review into the Magistrates Court bail process. On 4 September I announced an internal review in response to the release on bail of Mr Scott Alan Insull from the ACT Magistrates Court prior to the precondition of his granted bail being met. I requested a review be completed within two weeks. The review was undertaken by the Principal Registrar of the ACT Law Courts and Tribunal. The Minister for Justice and I received a copy of the review from the Chief Magistrate on 18 September this year.

Under the terms of reference, the review examined and made recommendations around the administrative processes that led to the release of Mr Insull on court bail before certain preconditions for that bail had been satisfied. The review examined the arrangements for the custody of persons charged with a criminal offence and before the court in relation to whether they should be granted bail and the administrative processes involved where a court makes an order granting bail subject to the giving of an undertaking or security, making a deposit or satisfying a precondition.

The process adopted for the review included careful review of key documents and interviews with staff involved in the bail process on the day of the incident. The purpose of the interviews was to obtain information about the processes that staff follow in their role and how those processes operated in Mr Insull’s matter. The documents, interviews and other information were used to summarise the bail and custody process and to plot a time line of the events leading to Mr Insull’s premature release on bail.


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