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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (26 September) . . Page.. 3644 ..

Accordingly the structure of the Witness Protection Bill is designed to satisfy the requirements of the Commonwealth legislation and is drafted so that the Territory can formally participate in the National Witness Protection Program. The Bill also mirrors witness protection legislation in other jurisdictions in providing for a range of offences concerning the disclosure of information about a protected witness.

There are several aspects of the Bill which deserve particular mention.

The Bill will:

. satisfy the requirements of s 24 of the Commonwealth Witness Protection Act (1994) (C'th), in the absence of satisfactory arrangements for which the issue of Commonwealth identity documents is restricted;

. confer certain powers to the ACT Chief Police Officer to enable him or her to determine whether to include an ACT witness (and specified dependents) in the National Witness Protection Program and the level of protection and assistance that is appropriate for a witness;

. provide legislative authority for the ACT Registrar-General to issue (and revoke) birth and marriage certificates for use in the Program;

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