Page 350 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 7 March 2006
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The government has, regardless of what it says, introduced this legislation ahead of the rest of the chapter. I do not think it would have done that if it had not been pressed by the opposition and pressed by Mr Pratt in particular. I hardly think it is a touch too egotistical to say that. I have known Mr Pratt for many years and he is certainly not an egotistical person. He is doing his job and he has brought his bill forward on two occasions.
The government has introduced its bill well forward of its proposed time frame for the rest of the code. Obviously it feels that there is a community concern and need; that there is an abhorrence of violence against pregnant women, against actions that might, if not kill the pregnant woman, kill the unborn child in that woman’s womb or cause serious harm both to the woman and, indeed, to the child within the womb. It is a particularly nasty type of offence and the opposition does not shy away from the fact that we are pleased that the government has responded. But we think it could have done it a better way. We think it perhaps could well have just supported the legislation put forward by Mr Pratt after a lot of lengthy discussion and a lot of advice from parliamentary counsel and other persons to try to get this difficult issue right.
The Chief Minister referred to section 10 of the Crimes Act. He noted also that Queensland has stepped away and introduced a separate provision, as Mr Pratt has done. There is a real logic for section 10. I think it is important to put section 10 on the record because it probably gives people some idea of why it has been in the act for many years. It states:
When child born alive
For this part, a child shall be taken to have been born alive if he or she has breathed and has been wholly born, whether or not he or she has had an independent circulation.
To assist members, I have just found a couple of references in the Crimes Act to offences against children who have either just been born or around the time of birth. Section 42 states:
Child destruction
A person who unlawfully and, either intentionally or recklessly, by any act or omission occurring in relation to a childbirth and before the child is born alive—
(a) prevents the child from being born alive; or
(b) contributes to the child’s death;
is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 15 years.
Section 43 states:
Childbirth—grievous bodily harm
A person who unlawfully and, either intentionally or recklessly, by any act or omission occurring in relation to a childbirth and before the child is born alive, inflicts grievous bodily harm on the child, is guilty of an offence punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment for 10 years.
Section 47 (1) states:
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