Page 358 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
due to expire on 8 April. The bill includes an amendment to extend the expiry date by six months, to 8 October this year. The six-month extension will give sufficient time for associations to amend their rules to cater for special meeting arrangements that will be needed in the future.
Similarly, the bill includes an amendment for a six-month extension of another measure in the Associations Incorporation Act, giving power to the Registrar-General to allow extensions of prescribed periods of time for compliance with certain requirements under the act, such as the timing for the review or audit of an association’s accounts. This recognises the potential for the usual compliance time frames to be disrupted by the impact of COVID-19.
The bill includes an amendment to extend the expiry period of a measure in the Bail Act, which allows a person to give an undertaking to appear in court by audiovisual link. This measure is due to expire on 8 April this year and will be extended to expire 12 months after a COVID-19 declaration ends. This amendment will continue to support court operations by allowing the court to limit the number of people at the court, where possible. This will assist the court to maintain appropriate numbers of people at the courthouse, supporting its safe and effective operation during the pandemic.
A COVID-19 measure in the Crimes Act allows sworn warrants to be applied for and transmitted electronically. This measure will expire when the COVID-19 declaration ends, currently 17 February this year. The bill will extend the expiry period to 12 months after a COVID-19 declaration, as extended, ends. This amendment will continue to support ACT Policing operations by implementing an alternative COVID-19 safe procedure.
The bill includes amendments to extend the expiry period of two measures in the Crimes (Sentencing) Act, both of which are due to expire on 8 April 2021. The first allows an offender to give an undertaking before the court as an alternative to signing an undertaking to comply with the offender’s good behaviour obligations. This amendment will also be extended to expire 12 months after a COVID-19 declaration ends so that it can continue to support court operations, again by allowing the court to limit the number of people at the court, where possible. The second measure allows the court to request an intensive correction order assessment report as part of a pre-sentence report. This amendment will be extended to expire 12 months after a COVID-19 declaration ends, to limit the unnecessary exposure of offenders to court and corrections staff.
A measure in the Evidence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act is due to expire when the COVID-19 declaration ends, which is currently 17 February. This measure allows the executive to make a regulation to permit the use of pre-recorded evidence for all witnesses during the pandemic. In the event of significant disruption to court operations as a result of the pandemic, this measure will support court operations. The bill will extend the expiry of the provision for this measure to 12 months after a COVID-19 declaration ends.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video