Page 911 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 27 March 1990
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MR SPEAKER: Mr Duby, please get to the point.
Mrs Grassby: We are debating the amendment, Mr Duby.
MR DUBY: We certainly are, and we are trying to set the stage for this theatrical amendment, something which is clearly - - -
Ms Follett: On a point of order, Mr Speaker; I notice that the clock is not on, as he has run out of time.
MR SPEAKER: There is no time laid down for the member in charge of the Bill, Ms Follett.
MR DUBY: As the Deputy Leader of the Opposition likes to point out to us time and time again, learn your standing orders.
Mr Berry: That is not relevant either.
Mr Moore: 62.
MR DUBY: Is that a point of order?
MR SPEAKER: Keep going, Mr Duby.
MR DUBY: Come in, spinner. Do I have one? I think we have finally worked out where this proposed amendment is coming from, and I think we have put paid to that. This proposed amendment is to remove clause 5 from this Bill. Clause 5 states simply that the Crown is not liable to prosecution. The statement in question is:
Nothing in this Bill renders the Crown liable to be prosecuted for an offence.
This is an extraordinarily common provision in legislation. There is nothing untoward about it; it is nothing out of the ordinary. You will find it throughout all pieces of reasonable legislation which have been passed in many - - -
Mr Collaery: By Labor governments.
MR DUBY: By Labor governments, Liberal governments and National Party governments throughout the length and breadth of this Commonwealth. There is nothing particularly strange about this. It is an extraordinarily common provision in legislation, that the Crown should be bound. There is no problem because it follows on from clause 4 - this Act binds the Crown, but nothing in the Act renders the Crown liable to prosecution. Frankly, it would be absolutely absurd for the Crown to attempt to prosecute itself in relation to any particular breaches of this provision.
I think the point was made in the erudite speech of the Attorney-General that the Crown must be bound so that
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