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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4250 ..

The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Remand Centres Act 1976 to clarify that the Administrator of the Remand Centre has the authority not only to make decisions about interstate removal of persons remanded into custody, but also to carry out the decisions made. Amendments will also need to be made to the Magistrates Court Act 1930 (see this associated Bill).

Members of the Legislative Assembly will be aware that in recent months the Belconnen Remand Centre has suffered from overcrowding. Overcrowding can, of course, bring with it a number of problems, most obviously the potential for disruption in a custodial facility.

In October this year, in order to alleviate the situation, the Administrator directed the Sheriff to issue a warrant so that several remandees could be transferred to a NSW institution until the overcrowding problem had been resolved. The power to do so was thought to be provided for in the Remand Centres Act.

The Administrator also acted in the light of the long history of the Territory in utilising the facilities available in NSW. There have never been a full range of correctional facilities in the ACT and so the ACT has always used NSW as an extension of our system.

The remandees who were selected for transfer appealed to the Supreme Court in an attempt to stay the warrant and quash the decision made by the Administrator. In considering the matter, the Supreme Court interpreted the Remand Centres Act

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