Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3417 ..

APPENDIX 1: Incorporated in Hansard on 25 September 1997 at page 3261

SPEAKING NOTES

Mr Speaker,

This short Bill has a simple purpose: it is to clarify that the Statutory Appointments Act 1994 does not apply, and has never been intended to apply, to the appointment of Justices of the Peace in the ACT.

Justices of the Peace were historically appointed by the Crown to be justices for the conservation of the peace and for the execution of other duties both administrative and quasi judicial. While the functions of Justices of the Peace in modern times have been restricted by statute, these office-holders still have an important role in the administration of justice. They assist the courts and the community with some of the basic legal procedures required by the law particularly in relation to the execution of evidentiary documents. Their connection with the courts is signified by provisions of the Justices of the Peace Act which require that Justices of the Peace be sworn in by a Supreme Court Judge and that the Court keep a register of Justices of the Peace.

There has been an assumption that, as with other judicial and quasi judicial appointees, the appointments of Justices of the Peace are not subject to the provisions of the Statutory Appointments Act. However, while this may be an appropriate assumption in relation to the intention of the Act, the assumption is not supported by a literal reading of the Act.

Without this amendment, the validity of appointments of Justices of the Peace made since the commencement of the Statutory Appointments Act in 1994 is open to question. The same uncertainty attaches to the official acts of those Justices of the Peace, and to the validity of documents which they have witnessed. While this uncertainty may be capable of being remedied administratively, it is preferable to amend the Statutory Appointments Act to put the matter beyond doubt.

The Bill therefore provides that the Act does not, and is taken never to have, applied to the appointment of Justices of the Peace.

I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .