Page 2825 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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The amendment will also ensure that in order to be eligible for the holiday exclusion an offender must attend or be taken to have attended periodic detention the week prior to and the week following the prescribed holiday. In circumstances where the offender’s last term of periodic detention will fall on a prescribed holiday, the offender will only be required to attend the week prior to the holiday.
The third amendment clarifies the board’s powers to manage an offender’s absence from periodic detention where an offender’s health or unexpected circumstances justify the absence. The board currently has the power to give the offender approval not to perform periodic detention for up to eight detention periods because of the offender’s health or any exceptional circumstances. The amendments clarify the Sentence Administration Board’s existing power to give retrospective approval not to perform periodic detention.
The amendment also ensures that for each period of leave granted to the offender, the offender’s periodic detention period and sentence of imprisonment will be automatically extended by one week. This amendment allows the board to manage each individual case in line with the goals of sentencing.
The fourth amendment clarifies the board’s power to cancel a periodic detention order where an offender is convicted of a further offence. The amendment is made following a decision of the ACT Supreme Court that said that periodic detention orders should only be cancelled by the board under section 70 where the relevant offence was committed during the periodic detention period.
The amendment will ensure that the section 70 cancellation applies in circumstances where, during a periodic detention period, an offender commits and is convicted or found guilty of a further offence, in the ACT or within Australia that is punishable by imprisonment.
The fifth and final amendment will provide for the chair of the board to organise the business of the board with greater efficiency.
In summary, the amendments are made in direct response to the recommendations made to the government in the Knowledge Consulting review. The amendments retain and improve review mechanisms for disciplinary decisions.
The amendments in the bill will give clarity for the management of periodic detention and provide for more efficient outcomes by allowing the Sentence Administration Board to reorganise divisions according to the needs of the board. I believe these amendments will strengthen our corrections system and provide improved outcomes for the territory. I commend this bill to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
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