Hansard - ACT Legislative Assembly

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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 11 Hansard (14 December) . . Page.. 3155 ..

These amendments provide for a 3 step procedure to be available to bring a witness to give evidence in the Magistrates Court. A witness may be asked to appear by the informant, or, if it seems that a person will not willingly appear he or she may be summonsed by the Court, or, if the witness will not or does not then appear, the Court may issue a warrant for the arrest of the person to be brought to the Court to give evidence.

The penalty of a fine of $40 which could have been imposed by the Court on a person who did not answer a summons to appear as a witness has been omitted from the Act and the Bill inserts a provision into the Act entitling a person to claim the reasonable expenses of his or her appearance as a witness.

These amendments will have the effect of providing a wider range of procedural options and a more cost-efficient use of resources.

I commend the Magistrates Court (Amendment) Bill (No 2) 1995 to the Assembly.

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