Page 2375 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 17 August 1993

ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY QUESTION

QUESTION NO 761

Prosecution Statistics

Mr Humphries: Asked the Attorney General upon notice on 5 June 1993

- In relation to the following ACTS

(a) Animal Welfare Act 1992

(b) Consumer Affairs (Amendment) Act 1992

(d) Fair Trading Act 1992

(e) Food Act 1992

(f) Listening Devices Act 1992

(g) Motor Traffic (Amendment) Act (No 2) 1992

and (h) Prostitution Act 1992

(i) How many prosecutions have been launched?

(ii) How many prosecutions have been dealt with by

the courts?

(iii) How many (A) individuals, and (B) companies or

incorporated associations have been prosecuted?

MR CONNOLLY: The answer to the Member,s question is as

follows:

The Office of the Director of Public

Prosecutions advised that their computer data

base cannot presently segregate the requested

information. To obtain the information it would

be necessary for a manual review to be conducted

and this would take some time. I am not

prepared to utilise resources on this task.

To their knowledge, no prosecutions have been

launched or dealt with in regard to (a), (b),

(d) , (e) , (f) and (h) .

With regard to (g) the amendment refers to

matters such as child restraint, radar detection

and slip lanes. These matters are usually dealt

with by way of on-the-spot fines and do not

proceed to prosecution.

Under (c) there have been persons prosecuted for

fighting in public but the numbers cannot be

ascertained without an extensive manual search.

Because it was intended that self-defence be

available as a defence, a significant level of

acquittals have resulted.

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