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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Thursday, 11 March 2004) . . Page.. 1169 ..

instances a case for self-defence could be made out even though the accused is not fit to plead or instruct their lawyer.

I think it would be an unnecessary stress on an accused person for a charge to be hanging indefinitely over their head if they would be able to make out a defence if they were well. I do have concerns about what we are being asked to do in terms of matters a judge should consider at a special hearing of a person who has been assessed by the Mental Health Tribunal as unfit to instruct a legal representative and I cannot support these clauses. I reiterate the point that we have not had a lot of time to consider this very complex piece of legislation. Although I respect the concerns of the community which have caused this piece of legislation to be brought forward, and I can see what the government is trying to achieve with it, I would have liked more time to consider the detail of it so that we do not end up with a situation that goes one step too far.

Clauses 5 to 7 agreed to.

Clause 8 agreed to.

Clauses 9 and 10, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 11 agreed to.

Clauses 12 and 13, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Remainder of bill, by leave, taken as a whole and agreed to.

Adjournment

Motion (by Mr Stanhope) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

Hellenic Club

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (10.34): Mr Speaker I rise in the house tonight to bring to the attention of members the fact that the last week of February saw the 25th anniversary of the Hellenic Club of Canberra. It is the 25th anniversary of the building; the club itself was formed a few years before that.

The club had a week of activities, which started on 21 February with a dinner for the Pallconian Society of the ACT—the Pallaconians are the Spartans of olden days—which was a well-attended function, as most of them are at the Hellenic Club. That heralded a whole week of activities. On Tuesday the 24th there was a foundation members evening which about 900 people attended. They dusted off and brought out the original president and he certainly enjoyed himself with a birthday cake. They were able to honour about 20 of the foundation members who had done five or ten years service in a position on the board of the club. Everybody was very appreciative of those individuals, some of whom had done even more than that; some had done several years as president or treasurer or as a member of one of the committees. They also acknowledged several subcommittees.

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