Page 4098 - Week 13 - Thursday, 31 October 2013
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that the amendments to the Coroners Act and the magistrates act come from the recommendation of the chief magistrate.
The Coroners Act is also amended to streamline reporting arrangements such that the Attorney-General may, in certain circumstances, table them and the attorney’s response, through the Speaker, out of session. A coroner also will, in future, be required to provide the relevant minister with a copy of their report. This will ensure that the relevant minister, as well as the attorney, is informed of the court’s findings at the same time as the Attorney-General, thus enabling the minister to consider what policy changes a report might call for.
In relation to the magistrates act, a second amendment tidies up the requirements for sound recordings and transcripts in relation to certain matters involving the commonwealth Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 and the Workers Compensation Act 1951. Once again, these amendments have come about because an officer of courts administration has identified potential efficiencies. Matters such as this and the recommendation of the chief coroner are to be commended. It shows that these people are keeping an eye not only on the processes and the outcome but also on ways to save costs and create efficiencies. They are to be congratulated.
Finally, the Victims of Crime Act is amended to provide that the victims of crime levy payable by a convicted offender will increase from $10 to $30. This levy provides revenue to improve services for victims of crime. My only concern is that it does end up being used for that purpose and not just to bolster this government’s budgetary position.
Madam Speaker, we acknowledge the work of the JACS Directorate in identifying and adjusting these kinds of minor issues and we will support this bill.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.59): I will be supporting the Justice and Community Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 (No 4). This is the fourth bill of this kind for the year, making various relatively minor updates to the legislation administered by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate.
I support this scheme of having regular amendment bills. Members will recall that we recently passed the first TAMS bill of this kind. I expect I will also introduce several more similar TAMS amendment bills. They are a good vehicle for making ongoing minor improvements. Stakeholders often make interesting and worthwhile suggestions for changes, or a particular scenario may reveal an inefficiency in legislation, or one of the many people on the ground in the agency may have a good idea for tweaking the way legislation operates. Regular amendment bills allow these constant improvements. I understand that several of the changes in this JACS bill are improvements that were suggested by stakeholders working under the acts that are to be amended.
The bill makes several changes that improve the operation of the Magistrates Court. It will enable the chief magistrate to arrange for another magistrate to constitute a court in civil matters where the presiding magistrate ceases to hold office or ceases to be available to hear the matter. The bill makes a similar amendment to the Coroners Act
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