Page 44 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
suspicious circumstances. If a person dies as a result of a medical, surgical or dental operation or an invasive medical or diagnostic procedure, a coronial inquiry will still be required.
The bill also changes the requirement for an inquest to be held into the death of a person who dies not having been attended by a doctor at any time within a period commencing three months before the death. This period will increase to six months, which again reduces the amount of coronial investigations and allows for circumstances where a person suffered from a potentially life-threatening disease which would adequately account for the death. The changes to the Coroners Act are consistent with recent recommendations from a review of ACT coronial and post-mortem processes and practice.
Lastly, I note that the bill repeals sections 291C(3) and (4) of the Magistrates Court Act. The sections purported to limit the grounds of review of a Magistrates Court decision. These types of “privative clauses” are likely to be invalid and I welcome the fact that the government is removing them.
In conclusion, I am happy to support the passage of this bill.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (12.09), in reply: I thank members for their support of this bill. Before I proceed with my concluding comments, I table a revised explanatory statement to this bill.
This bill makes a number of sensible and practical changes to several pieces of ACT legislation to improve the efficiency of the Magistrates Court, the ACAT and our coronial system. Following representations from a number of key justice stakeholders including the DPP, the Government Solicitor, and the President of the ACAT, as well as plaintiff lawyers, the government has proposed this bill to amend the Magistrates Court Act, the Supreme Court Act, the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act, the Coroners Act and the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act.
I will briefly take the opportunity to highlight again a number of key amendments in the bill. The first, which includes a mechanism for summary criminal matters related to serious indictable matters to be referred to the Supreme Court, will reduce double handling in our court system and improve the overall operation of the justice system. Often an accused person charged with an indictable offence is also charged with related summary offences or simple backup charges arising from the same facts. When this happens, the backup or related charges remain in the Magistrates Court pending resolution of the indictable matters in the Supreme Court.
Related summary offences as a result of this bill will now be able to travel with the indictable matters to the Supreme Court. They will then be dealt with on the basis of the evidence presented in that court in relation to the indictable offence and any additional evidence given with the leave of the court. This, I think, is an important reform. It will reduce double handling, provide for a simple transfer of matters, and will improve the utilisation of court time.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video