Page 2789 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 1993
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The Bill eliminates redundant provisions in the existing evidence legislation and it applies some modern drafting standards. It shuffles some legislation from one place to another to make it easier to read and I suppose that in that sense it is deserving of some support. It also significantly repeals the Evidence (Laws and Instruments) Act 1989 - one of the pieces of legislation made, I think, at the very early stages of self-government. It might have been made just prior to self-government.
Madam Speaker, there is not much to say about this legislation, except that it does take a number of small steps to making legislation slightly more comprehensible and fixes up a few glitches. Until now, curiously, there has been no mechanism under self-government which permits our courts to take judicial notice of the making of laws and of instruments made under laws in the ACT. The courts of the Territory presumably have taken that judicial notice. I suppose that as a matter of course they have had to do so. I suppose that this issue would be capable of being ventilated by a party in proceedings before a court and would put the Government Law Office or some other party to those proceedings to the trouble and expense of proving that a particular law was, indeed, made by the ACT Legislative Assembly, or was an ordinance that became a law under the ACT self-government regime. This now avoids that by creating an environment where courts can take notice of laws made in this Assembly.
There is also a rather curious anomaly which is being fixed up by this Bill, Madam Speaker. Until now, courts of the Territory have not been capable of taking judicial notice of the signature of Mr Berry. The old Evidence (Laws and Instruments) Act of 1989, which I referred to a moment ago, says that the courts shall take notice of:
... ... ...
(a) the signature of each person who holds, or has held, any of the following offices:
... ... ...
(iii) the Chief Minister;
(iv) Minister (other than the Chief Minister or the Deputy Chief Minister);
... ... ...
So Ms Follett's signature can be taken judicial notice of, Mr Connolly's signature can be taken judicial notice of, and Mr Wood's signature, similarly; but not Mr Berry's. Madam Speaker, I must say that I do not take much notice of Mr Berry and I do not suppose that the courts should either, but at this point perhaps it is appropriate to fix up an anomaly whereby Mr Berry is being shamefully judicially ignored. I am sure that we will all be much happier knowing that Mr Berry's signature will not in future be questioned in the courts of our Territory. Madam Speaker, as I said, this is a Bill which provides for a number of fairly mechanical measures, and it has the support of the Liberal Party.
Debate interrupted.
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