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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 204 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Finally, in clause 8, the Bill makes a minor amendment to one of the sentencing principles in section 429A of the Act. Paragraph 1(u) of that section presently provides that a court, in determining a sentence, may take account of whether the person has pleaded guilty. The proposed amendment expands that provision to enable the time at which a guilty plea was made, as well as the fact of a guilty plea, to be taken into account. That restates the common law, and most Australian jurisdictions have similar provisions. The rationale is that guilty pleas, especially early guilty pleas, benefit the criminal justice system by saving costs and shortening court lists. Courts are prepared, in appropriate circumstances, to encourage early guilty pleas by way of a sentence discount. The proposed amendment will make explicit what is already an implicit element of the sentencing process. I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Wood) adjourned.

MR SPEAKER: I present a report of the Standing Committee on Administration and Procedure entitled "Standing Order 207".

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (11.55): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to move, on behalf of a member of the committee, that the report be noted.

Leave granted.

MR HUMPHRIES: I move:

That the report be noted.

MR BERRY (11.56): Mr Speaker, this is a matter that came to the attention of the Assembly as a result of a motion moved by Ms McRae which arose in the wake of what I may call a disturbance in the Assembly some time ago. Ms McRae, in her motion, posed a series of questions which were as follows: How should a Speaker react to noise in the public gallery? What are the requirements that ought to apply? Who does in fact control the gallery? What are the requirements of the general public, and are there different measures that perhaps we should put in place?

The report deals with the history of the authority of the Speaker and the authority of the Speaker in other parliaments in Australia. One thing is certain - that the ultimate authority falls well and truly in the lap of the Speaker. At the same time, there are difficulties in how these issues are dealt with, and I suppose it is a matter for the Assembly to decide whether or not the Speaker has acted appropriately in relation to dealing with a disturbance in the Assembly.

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