Page 138 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 April 1992
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Under the present law, many are released on bail by a senior police officer. I see no reason for this to change. It is sufficient and convenient for all concerned and frees the court from having to consider routine bail applications for minor offences. But the present law is deficient in not providing the police with full and clear guidance on the criteria for granting bail in all cases. The Bill remedies this. For the first time the criteria for granting bail and permissible conditions which may be attached to bail are set out in ACT legislation. These, of course, apply equally to a court. But the Bill also sets out in some detail the procedures which an authorised officer - which means, in effect, a senior police officer at the relevant station - must follow when granting bail.
The Bail Bill is the most significant criminal law reform ever put before this Assembly. It takes hold of a difficult and abstruse law which directly affects the whole community and remoulds it into a clearer and more easily accessible whole. I believe that it effectively balances the interests of both the accused and the community. It makes extensive provision to ensure that accused persons get all the information they need about bail and that bail decisions are based on information relevant to the underlying objective of ensuring that accused persons stand trial. I commend the Bill to the members of the Assembly, and I present the explanatory memorandum for the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Humphries) adjourned.
BAIL (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1992
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (11.05): Madam Speaker, I present the Bail (Consequential Amendments) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CONNOLLY: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
The Bail (Consequential Amendments) Bill 1992 is cognate with the Bail Bill 1992, which I have just introduced. The same Bill was presented to the last Assembly and was similarly not debated before the Assembly rose. The Bill proposes a series of amendments to other Territory Acts which affect or refer to bail, to ensure that there are no provisions elsewhere which may conflict with the proposed bail legislation. In particular, the amendments insert terminology which is consistent with that proposed in the Bail Bill. For example, the old, arcane word "recognisance" will be replaced by the term "bail undertaking" when used in connection with bail granted to an accused person.
Express references to the proposed Bail Act are inserted where needed. The Bill also repeals bail provisions wherever they occur in other Acts. The proposed Bail Act is intended to be the principal and only source of bail law and will replace all the repealed provisions. The main Acts affected are the Crimes Act 1900 of New South Wales as it applies in the Territory, the Magistrates Court Act 1930, the Domestic Violence Act 1986 and the Children's Services Act 1986, all of which currently contain extensive provisions dealing with bail.
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