Page 222 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 December 2004
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An issue has been raised in relation to the use of the word “indictment” in the act. It has been suggested that the use of indictment in the act is not synonymous with an information. The Legislation Act 2001 and the Crimes Act 1900 define an information and indictment synonymously. The bill removes any doubt that in the context of the Confiscation of Criminal Assets Act 2003 indictment also means an information.
Drugs of Dependence Act 1989
The bill makes minor amendments to the Drugs of Dependence Act to allow the regulations developed for the Criminal Code (Serious Drugs Offences) Amendment Act 2004, chapter 6, to be the regulations for both the DDA and the Criminal Code. This will ensure that the same list applies for the drugs of dependence that may be prescribed by doctors and dispensed by pharmacists and those drugs and plants for which an illicit market exists. It is proposed to substitute the specific references to the drugs of dependence regulations in the Drugs of Dependence Act with the Criminal Code regulations that will be made early in 2005.
Legislation Act 2001
Section 192 of the Legislation Act 2001 deals with the question of when a prosecution may begin and provides at paragraph (1) (d) that a prosecution for an offence against section 90—minor theft—of the Crimes Act 1900 may begin at any time. The provision is no longer required, given the provisions of section 321 of the Criminal Code 2002 and the 2002 decision of the full Federal Court in Lawson v Gault.
Paragraph 192 (1) (d) was inserted into the Legislation Act before the Federal Court decision in Lawson v Gault. At that time there was no offence for which a person who had stolen less than $1,000 and whose theft was not discovered for a year or more could be charged. Both Lawson v Gault and subsection 321 (3) of the Criminal Code resolved this anomaly and, accordingly, paragraph 192 (1) (d) is now redundant. The provision being repealed will continue to apply to offences committed prior to the commencement of the Criminal Code provisions.
As a consequence of the amendment of the word “indictment” in the Confiscation of Criminal Assets Act 2003, amendments to the Legislation Act 2001 have also been prepared to clarify that an indictment presenting a charge of an indictable criminal offence against an accused in the Supreme Court also contemplates an information about any offence against an accused presented to the Magistrates Court.
An amendment was recently made to section 192 of the Legislation Act which intended to place the three categories covered by the section on an equal footing. However, it is still the case after the amendment that a prosecution at any time of an offence with a penalty of 100 penalty units is statute barred against a corporation and an individual who aids and abets a corporation, but not against an individual. To ensure that each category under the section is treated equally, section 192 is being amended by substituting “more than 100 penalty units” with “100 penalty units or more” at paragraphs (1) (b) and (1) (c).
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