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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 2 Hansard (10 March) . . Page.. 476 ..

MR HUMPHRIES

a testing within two hours, the magistrate is going to accept even a plea of guilty without there being evidence before the court that the person was actually tested within two hours.

Mr Speaker, that is not merely my view. It is the view also of other people in this process. I remind members that, during the abortion debate in this place some little while ago, they were very concerned to hear what the views of people like the Community Advocate and the Director of Public Prosecutions were and they berated those people who were supporting that piece of legislation for ignoring the views of people like the DPP. I can advise members in this place that the DPP is concerned; in fact, he opposes the repeal of section 10A because he believes that it would create difficulties in the administration of the criminal justice system. That is what the DPP says.

Mr Berry: Have you got something to table?

MR HUMPHRIES: No, I have not. I have got the view that has been processed internally in considering this particular Bill through the Cabinet process. I do not propose to table the Cabinet minute, but I am prepared to show members - - -

Mr Hargreaves: Verbal advice is not worth the paper it is written on!

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Hargreaves, let me put something to you. The Director of Public Prosecutions is an independent statutory office-holder. He is, I know from past experience, extremely willing to discuss issues of this kind with any member of this Assembly - government, opposition or crossbench. Have you, as the mover of this Bill, discussed the matter with the Director of Public Prosecutions?

Mr Hargreaves: The Attorney-General meets a blank face.

MR HUMPHRIES: I think Mr Hargreaves, by his silence, has answered the question as no.

Mr Hargreaves: I will table the same verbal advice, if you like!

MR HUMPHRIES: Have you got verbal advice from the DPP that is different?

Mr Hargreaves: How can I table it if it is the same as yours?

MR HUMPHRIES: You cannot, obviously. Mr Hargreaves, you are bringing forward to this place a Bill which you say is going to fix a problem, with which I am telling the Assembly the Government has a serious problem, and which the Director of Public Prosecutions has told my department he is concerned about. Those concerns are also, I am told, reflected in the views of the Chief Minister's Department, the Legal Aid Office and my own department. Mr Speaker, I am simply putting this on the table.

My prediction is that the people who have come forward to Mr Hargreaves - the Australian Federal Police Association - and said, "Free us of this burden of the section 10A certificate", are going to come back to him within a few months, even a few

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