Page 74 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 14 February 2012
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The Corrections and Sentencing Legislation Amendment Bill will introduce amendments to further improve delivery of corrective services in the ACT. As part of a rolling program of review and improvement in practices and procedures, the courts and ACT Corrective Services, including the Sentence Administration Board, have recognised a number of issues relating to the functions of the Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005, the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 and the Corrections Management Act 2007. Issues to be addressed in this bill relate primarily to periodic detention and parole.
The government will also continue to pursue reforms in our courts. Last year the government funded a short-term blitz of criminal and civil cases in the Supreme Court, to clear as many cases as possible before the Supreme Court introduces a new docket case management system. Through the Court Procedures Administration Bill 2012, the government will seek to enhance the court’s new case management approach.
As part of the 2012 legislation program, the government will also be introducing a number of bills which fulfil the ACT’s commitment to a number of national reforms, perhaps the largest of these reforms being the establishment of the national health funding pool as agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments in August 2011. The national health funding pool and administration bill 2012 will establish the national health funding pool, the administrator of that pool and a territory-managed fund or account for the purposes of receiving funding for block grants. The bill will also establish a department under the Financial Management Act 1996 to sit within the ACT Health Directorate to ensure appropriate accountability and transparency of funds received by the local hospital network from the territory-managed fund and from the national health funding pool.
Another of these national reforms is under the national affordable housing agreement, in which the government will introduce the Housing Assistance (National Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill 2012 to adopt the community housing providers national law, giving effect to the national regulatory system for community housing organisations.
The National Energy Retail Law (ACT) Bill 2012, with consequential changes through the Utilities and Related Energy Legislation Amendment Bill, will bring into effect national energy market legislation.
The Classifications (Publications, Films and Computer Games) (Enforcement) Amendment Bill will give effect to the commonwealth government’s introduction of an R18+ classification category for computer games in Australia. The introduction of an R18+ category will ensure that computer games are appropriately classified and that children and young people do not have access to cut-down versions of otherwise inappropriate games. The bill represents an extension to computer games of this government’s policy on the sale and distribution of adult material and reflects a long-awaited agreement between states and territories to introduce this classification across jurisdictions.
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