Page 4251 - Week 14 - Thursday, 24 October 1991
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There is also provision for community service orders under this legislation. That is a particularly useful order, in terms of young offenders, because it brings home to them the effect of their crime, or crimes, on the community and, indeed, on the victims. There is provision for the incarceration of a child in an institution, either in the ACT or elsewhere. As a result of this Act, children will now be able to be put into Quamby for up to two years, which negates the need for them to go interstate which causes problems in its own right.
The ability is still there for a court to sentence a child to an institution in the State of New South Wales. That is required at times, especially for the more serious offences. It might be necessary, say, if a child murders someone, for a child to spend a number of years in an institution in New South Wales. That is not totally uncommon and is longer than two years. So, there is a wide range of options for the court.
This problem was brought to my attention by a number of practitioners, including practitioners in legal aid, who look after the underprivileged in our society and who are often duty solicitors in the Children's Court, by the court staff themselves, and by a number of other people who are very concerned about the fact that the fines at present imposed by the Children's Court simply are not enforced, cannot be enforced and cost a huge amount of money to enforce when an attempt is made.
The overwhelming view of the practitioners in that area I spoke to, including the staff, who see this regularly and who have to administer it, is that the old provisions of the Child Welfare Ordinance should come back in; that is, that if a child does not pay a fine - I have already read out the various ways in which fines can be extended or varied - then the default provisions apply.
Remember that kids are not fined unless they can afford to be fined, or, in relation to compensation, ordered to pay compensation unless they have the ability to pay that compensation. Indeed, often some arrangement is made between the children and the parents and the courts as to that and it is put in an order. If the order is for it to be paid and it is not paid, a default provision would then apply, a warrant would be issued and the money would be demanded. Invariably, the child would cough up, or should I say "the young person", because when we are talking fines we are talking about 16- and 17-year-olds.
The court realises that kids younger than that often simply do not have the capacity to pay, and other orders are made. But 16- and 17-year-olds, where it was appropriate to fine them, when the court deemed that they had the ability to pay, and when they did not pay, in the old days would certainly pay up when someone went around with a warrant. If they did not, their parents would, rather than have them taken away and perhaps put into Quamby for a few days.
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