Page 5257 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 November 2011
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are relatively minor, taken in isolation. However, they are important in the larger context of transferring to a stand-alone ACT Evidence Act and the Greens support this bill as part of our support for the overall reform package.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (10.26): The Liberal opposition will be supporting the Evidence (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011. This bill amends a large number of laws in the ACT as a result of the passing of the last of the series of evidence bills earlier today. Together, these evidence bills give the ACT its own evidence laws, but in concert with other jurisdictions, all of whom are following a uniform approach.
The amendments in this bill are largely technical in nature. The bill also repeals the Evidence Act 1971. I note that a number of provisions that will continue to apply in the ACT have been transferred to the Evidence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1991 and elsewhere. It also updates provisions relating to interpreters when they are used in court proceedings.
This bill also repeals chapter 6 of the Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002, which relates to the way in which expert medical evidence is received and treated in court. The repeal will take effect when these procedural matters are taken up in the Court Procedures Rules 2006. A subcommittee of the court rules-making committee currently is working on this.
The opposition will be supporting this bill.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.28), in reply: I thank members for their support of this bill. The passage of this bill will conclude the government’s reform of the law of evidence in the territory. As members would know, earlier this year legislation was passed to establish the ACT’s own Evidence Act.
The purpose of this bill is to make minor and technical amendments as a result of the establishment of the ACT’s new Evidence Act. The bulk of the amendments in this bill are necessary to recognise the establishment of the ACT’s Evidence Act and the cessation of commonwealth evidence law in the territory. For example, amendments have been included to update references to the commonwealth Evidence Act with references to the new ACT act. Notes have also been removed from provisions across the ACT statute book which refer to the operation of the commonwealth Evidence Act. The bill also removes redundant provisions from the statute book which are no longer necessary because of the broad operation of the new Evidence Act.
The bill includes a minor amendment to the new Evidence Act to further clarify its operation. Two examples have been inserted into section 8 referring to parts of existing ACT legislation which are not impliedly repealed by the establishment of the new act. The examples have been inserted to remove any doubt about the intended operation of this section which provides that the territory’s new Evidence Act does not affect the operation of provisions of other acts.
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