Page 1685 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020

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The ACT is a proud human rights jurisdiction, and this is reflected in this bill. The bill includes important provisions which address the potential for undue hardship to a defendant and their dependants at the restraint stage and, to a more limited extent, on dependants at the final order stage. The bill amends the existing confiscation regime in a way that ensures that it does not operate in an unduly harsh manner. The scheme established by this bill properly considers the rights of those directly affected, as well as the need for an operationally effective scheme. The bill ensures that ACT law enforcement has the best tools available to effectively target illegal activity.

This is a government commitment that is also evidenced by increased funding to ACT Policing throughout this government’s term and the consistent enactment of evidence-based, effective and targeted legislation in the criminal justice space. The measures in this bill target and disrupt serious and organised crime and support national efforts to take the profit motive out of crime. As a government, we take the responsibility to protect our community very seriously. We will continue to ensure that law-abiding citizens are protected from all kinds of criminal behaviour. We will continue to enact laws that have been shown to work, laws that have been shown to make the business model of organised crime less profitable, laws that are not based on emotion and ideology but make a measurable deference to counter and proactively disrupt organised crime in the territory. I commend the bill to the Assembly.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.

Bill agreed to.

Victims Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2020

Debate resumed from 2 July 2020, on motion by Mr Rattenbury:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (5.42): The Canberra Liberals are very pleased to see this bill finally before the Assembly. At last we will see a charter of victims’ rights in the ACT. The work on the charter of rights was initially started by the former commissioner, John Hinchey. I would like to acknowledge his role in starting this process. That process was continued by the current commissioner, Heidi Yates, who spoke positively about this bill when the bill was tabled. I would also like to recognise the input of the staff of all of the agencies who have worked to bring this to the Assembly.

This is an important bill, and it is a comprehensive bill. Arguably, it is the most extensive of its type in the country. The bill legislates the core elements of the charter of victims’ rights. These include broad statements of principle, including acknowledgement that the victim plays the central role in the criminal justice system. That is a very important recognition.


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