Page 1535 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 18 May 1993
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a list of possible offences which might be covered by the proposal put forward by Mr Moore should be compiled by the Attorney-General's Department and referred again to the Legal Affairs Committee for further consideration. We would look at that list of possible offences, both at the time of introduction of the Bill and also at the time of the review of the Act pursuant to the sunset clause.
Madam Speaker, I mention briefly a couple of other matters which have been recommended by the committee. It recommends that the indecent exposure offence be withdrawn from the ambit of the Bill. This is because people who regularly commit offences under this particular provision would need to be carefully monitored by the legal system and by the police. The concern is that we do not have the range of coverage to monitor offenders because infringements would be laid by individual policemen rather than by a central authority. I understand that Mr Moore has agreed to withdraw that provision in any case. It was recommended by the committee that there be a power in police to demand the name and address of persons suspected of having committed offences. (Extension of time granted) I thank members, Madam Speaker. The power to demand name and address would be necessary in a system which depends on being able to issue a notice in the name of a person who has committed an offence. Clearly that power will have to be considered in conjunction with this legislation.
It is recommended that there be a review of the number of offences being committed each year in each category. An analysis would be done over the last five years so that we have information of a less rudimentary kind than that available presently to the committee. We recommended that a separate list of infringement notice offences against individuals be kept - a sort of a sub-criminal record - which would not constitute part of the criminal record of individuals but which would be available for the use of courts in circumstances where a person was appearing in court charged with an offence which had some relationship to previous infringement notices that person had paid. In other words, it would be a tool to be used by the police, and to be judged and weighed by courts. It was also recommended that the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Territory consider the application of the Crimes Bill to young people below the age of 18, and it was further recommended that a system of standardised infringement notices be developed.
Madam Speaker, to conclude, this is a fairly interesting piece of law reform. I believe that all members of the committee saw very quickly the advantages that the proposed system would bring in saving our police and our courts considerable time. The extent of that saving could not be determined with the information available to the committee, but I personally believe, Madam Speaker, that it could be quite considerable. Providing we are able to develop a system which prevents abuses and which maintains a relatively high standard in respect of its application, particularly as far as police are concerned, there is, on the part of the committee, a feeling that this proposal can provide a considerable saving and considerable benefit to the citizens of the ACT. We trust that the Government will accept the recommendations dealing with its own processing of some of the issues here, and will come back to the Assembly and allow the passage of this legislation with suitable amendments in the relatively near future, although I expect, Madam Speaker, that that will not be long before the end of this year, if at all. I commend the report to the Assembly.
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