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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4252 ..

During the most recent overcrowding situation, remandees have had to be accommodated at night in police cells in the City Watch House. This is not a satisfactory situation: the cells are not equipped for this type of custody and the remandees are disrupted in having to be transported to and fro daily so they can return to the Remand Centre for the daily activities and routine. This is only an expedient to which we had to resort in an emergency. The Ombudsman and the police officers themselves are not satisfied with this expedient.

Second, decisions of this type often need to be made and carried out quickly, possibly over a weekend, and any delay may prevent resolution of what may be an emergency or an inflammatory situation.

Third, if a crisis should occur, a government should not be able to blame the outcome on a court decision. It is for a government, in its administrative role, to ensure that order is maintained in its custodial facilities. It is for a government to resolve such problems so that the safety of those in custody, custodial officers and the general public is not jeopardised.

Finally, from a legal - and a budgetary - point of view, if the administrative decision to transfer a remandee is open to challenge in court the question of bail for the remandee may be reopened whenever it is proposed to make a transfer. The question may even be raised when bail is being considered at any time after the person is charged. All of this will result in inordinate court time, legal expenses for the defendants, and costs against the government if the application is refused by the court.

These are the problems which the Bill before you is designed to address.

The Bill amends the Remand Centres Act 1976, the Removal of Prisoners
Act 1968, to provide that if the Court refuses bail, a defendant or witness is remanded into the custody of the Administrator, rather

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