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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4586 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

There are complex issues here, but I commend this legislation to the house. It is important that we provide a system that is flexible enough to meet these problems. We are sometimes dealing with a quite explosive situation where violence is imminent or indeed has occurred. We must be able to manage this sensibly and quickly. That entails having people running the system who are capable of exercising judgment in appropriate circumstances. I believe we have such people at the moment. We also have to make sure that their judgment can be exercised quickly and appropriately. That is what this legislation essentially does.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Clauses 1 to 3, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.

Clause 4

MS FOLLETT (11.28): I move:

Page 2, lines 4 to 7, proposed subsection 7(2), omit the proposed subsection, substitute the following subsection:

"(2) The Administrator may -

(a) if he or she considers it appropriate to do so - arrange for the transfer of a person remanded into the Administrator's custody from a remand centre or other institution within the Territory to another remand centre or institution within the Territory; or

(b) if a person remanded into the Administrator's custody cannot be reasonably accommodated in a remand centre or other institution in the Territory - arrange for the transfer of the person to a remand centre or institution outside the Territory.".

Mr Speaker, in moving this amendment, I want to make it very clear to the Government that I expect and the Opposition expects that the step of removing remandees from Canberra to Goulburn will be taken only in extreme circumstances and only as an absolutely last resort. I do not accept a great deal of what Mr Humphries has just said about the need to remove a troublemaker or to defuse an explosive situation. I think that we must expect that the Belconnen Remand Centre will deal with difficult issues within its own centre as best it can, without resort to sending people interstate. It is my greatest

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