Page 4215 - Week 13 - Thursday, 19 November 2015

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The explanatory statement analyses the human rights issues in detail, and I would encourage all members to consider it closely along with the bill itself. I commend the bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Hanson) adjourned to the next sitting.

Crimes (Sentencing and Restorative Justice) Amendment Bill 2015

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—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (10.54): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

I am pleased to present the Crimes (Sentencing and Restorative Justice) Amendment Bill 2015 today. This bill has two purposes. First, it will introduce a new community-based sentencing option into the territory’s sentencing framework. And second, it will allow the restorative justice program to be expanded in a further two stages.

The new sentence, which will be called an intensive correction order, has been formulated through a process of consultation and research as part of the government’s work on a justice reform strategy. In its first year this strategy has focused on the move away from periodic detention as a sentencing option and the development of a new sentence.

The move away from periodic detention was started by the Crimes (Sentencing) Amendment Act 2014 which commenced in December last year. The act limited the courts’ ability to impose a sentence of periodic detention in preparation for the introduction of the new sentence. This bill, in introducing that new sentence, is a significant milestone in the work of the justice reform strategy.

The new intensive correction order has been developed with the assistance of the advisory group for the justice reform strategy. The group, made up of academics, the legal profession and representatives from both key government directorates and groups with an interest in the justice system, has provided invaluable knowledge and expertise. I take this opportunity to thank members of the advisory group for their contributions to the work of the strategy to date and for their work in informing the development of this bill.

The approach to create the new order involved academic research, research undertaken by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate and a workshop looking at intensive correction orders. This was then used by the advisory group to formulate advice to the government. The government also carefully considered the evidence


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