Page 3326 - Week 09 - Thursday, 24 August 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
particularly concerned with making the statute book more coherent and concise and therefore more accessible. An example of this is the amendment to a reference to “by-law” in the definition of “subordinate law” in section 8 of the Legislation Act.
In the ACT, regulations are the most common type of subordinate law and generally refer to laws made by the executive that set out the detail of a legislative scheme. By-laws typically operate in local governments outside the ACT. In the ACT, no by-laws have been made since self-government. This change will avoid confusion about whether by-laws exist in the territory.
Schedule 3 includes amendments of acts and regulations that have been reviewed as part of an ongoing program of updating and improving the language and the form of legislation. These amendments are explained in the explanatory notes. They include the correction of minor errors, improving syntax and omitting redundant provisions.
Finally, in addition to the explanatory notes in the bill, the Parliamentary Counsel is available to provide any further explanation or information that any members would like about any of the amendments that have been made by the bill. The bill, while minor and technical in nature, is another important building block in the development of a modern and accessible ACT statute book that is at the forefront in Australia.
I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Hanson) adjourned to the next sitting.
Monitoring of Places of Detention (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) Bill 2017
Mr Rattenbury, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety, Minister for Corrections and Minister for Mental Health) (11.24): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am pleased to present the Monitoring of Places of Detention (Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture) Bill 2017. The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment requires two levels of monitoring oversight: the UN subcommittee and a national preventative mechanism, or NPM.
This bill provides a clear and flexible legal framework for the ACT to meet its obligations for the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture to visit under OPCAT once it is ratified. Recent events across Australia have emphasised the human, financial and other costs of mistreatment in detention. On 9 February this year the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video