Page 2209 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 9 May 2012
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significant reduction, in the order of over 30 per cent, that we have seen in motor vehicle theft and other property crime types.
We have also seen this effort ongoing with other strategies such as location and traffic targeting. For example, traffic law enforcement activities are assisting in apprehending people wanted because they are in breach of bail or because there is an outstanding warrant. ACT Policing supports community safety through increased proactive patrols in certain public areas, increased intelligence-gathering efforts, opposition to applications for bail where people are arrested and police believe they pose a risk to the community, and advocating to the courts for strict bail conditions. If a person is found to reoffend whilst on bail, Policing will generally seek to oppose any further grant.
Turning to the role of Corrective Services, the role of Corrective Services is pivotal in making sure that adults subject to supervision requirements under a bail order adhere to these orders. Corrective Services have strong links with the enforcement agencies that I have listed previously, to make sure that orders are adhered to. All offenders subject to bail supervision by Corrective Services are initially given a high level of supervision, requiring that they present themselves to the service at least once a week. Where bail extends beyond approximately eight weeks, a comprehensive risk assessment is conducted to determine the appropriate level of supervision which may result in a reduction in the reporting requirements.
So, as you can see, the government does have a comprehensive regime in place to address breaches of bail and reoffending while on bail. It is not perfect. It is not possible to guarantee in every instance that someone will abide by the bail conditions. But the mechanisms and the processes that are in place to deal with breaches of bail are comprehensive. My amendment to Mrs Dunne’s motion seeks to reflect these circumstances and I commend the amendment to members.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (12.13): Mrs Dunne’s motion starts with the statement that bail is an important element of the criminal justice system, and that is certainly both an accurate statement and one I entirely agree with. It is important because it involves a crucial balancing act between two important justice principles. On the one hand the community has a right to live in peace and free from crime. This will point towards a reluctance to grant bail to people who are charged with crimes. On the other hand, however, there is the right to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. This is also an underlying principle of the justice system that we value very highly. So whenever a court is faced with a decision on bail, there are important decisions to be made and two competing rights to be balanced.
I thank Mrs Dunne for bringing this motion on for debate today because it gives us here in the Assembly some time to reflect on and discuss this very important issue. Bail considerations are not a one-size-fits-all approach, and the provisions of part 2 of the Bail Act are detailed and complex. Expressed at its most simple, the legislation creates a hierarchy of crimes or, more accurately, alleged crimes. There are three tiers to that hierarchy. At the lower end of the scale is section 8 of the act, which are minor offences. Essentially, these are offences that attract six months imprisonment or less. People charged with this kind of offence have an entitlement to bail.
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