Page 552 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 19 May 1992
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Mr Humphries: Whom do you mean?
MR CONNOLLY: Whom could we mean? He was a former holder of my current office. It was one of those Bills which inadvertently duplicated the numbering of section 152, or it would have that effect when it comes into force next week. The joint effect of the laws, if not corrected, will be that, from 11 June 1992, escape and computer offences will have the same section numbers. This will lead to confusion as to the effect and structure of the Crimes Act and, I might add, could lead to some particular confusion in the preparation of indictments or prosecutions where a person is charged pursuant to section 152 if there are two sections to choose from.
The Statute Law Revision (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 1992 avoids this inconsistency by relocating the new sections inserted by the earlier 1990 amendments - that is, the computer sections - so that they will not conflict with the amendments made by the Crimes (Amendment) Act (No. 2) 1991 when it commences operation on 11 June 1992. While these amendments are of a purely technical nature, the Bill should be passed urgently in order to avoid a potential confusion in the criminal law of the Territory.
There are other changes. The present Bill is too lengthy to discuss in detail; but I commend to members the explanatory memorandum for this Bill, as it sets out in schedule form many of the particular minor amendments. The reasons behind these provisions are often self-evident. An example is references to years, months and days. "The fourteenth day of May in the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six" will be changed to 14 May 1956. Dollars and sections of Acts have traditionally been expressed at some length in words. The Bill expresses the same in numbers, to shorten and simplify the text. Most of the Bill concerns the correction of grammatical or printing errors or the removal of sexist language. Schedule 2 of the Bill repeals Acts which are now redundant, and obsolete sections or references to obsolete sections are similarly deleted from various Acts.
The Bill also removes unnecessary verbiage from Acts; for example, words that are much beloved of lawyers, such as "subject to this section", are removed where such a qualification is self-evident. Words such as "the last preceding subsection" are shortened to, for example, "subsection (1)". The Bill also makes corrections in relation to the process of self-government. A reference to the Governor-General as the authority for making regulations under the Removal of Prisoners (Australian Capital Territory) Act 1968 is clearly meant to be a reference to the ACT Executive; the Bill corrects this oversight.
Finally, the Bill makes clearer and more consistent various provisions relating to acting appointments to statutory positions and spells out some of the rules which apply by force of the Interpretation Act 1967. These amendments are further examples of how the Bill makes the law clearer and more accessible. I commend the Bill to the Assembly and present the explanatory memorandum for the Bill.
Debate (on motion by Mr Humphries) adjourned.
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