Page 416 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 March 2014
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Through the Standing Council on Law and Justice, ministers around Australia agreed to consider changes to give effect to best practice change of name process with a specific focus on offenders. The proposed reforms included oversight of name change applications made by people sentenced to imprisonment and parolees and registered child sex offenders. Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales have already introduced similar change of name schemes. The ACT adopted similar restrictions on registered child sex offenders with the passage of the Crimes (Child Sex Offenders) Amendment Act 2012.
The proposed scheme supports law enforcement and community safety by preventing convicted offenders from changing their name for unlawful purposes, such as evading supervision or facilitating the commission of offences. The scheme requires that a person serving a sentence of imprisonment or a parolee must seek the approval of the Director-General of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate before being able to change their name.
The bill makes it an offence for a person serving a sentence of imprisonment or a parolee to apply to change their name in the ACT or in another Australian jurisdiction without first obtaining the approval of the director-general. The bill provides the criteria that the director-general must consider in deciding whether or not to approve a person’s application to change their name.
The change of name must be necessary or reasonable and must not be reasonably likely to be a threat to prison security, to jeopardise a person’s health or safety, to be used to further an unlawful activity or purpose, to be used to evade or hinder the supervision of the person, or to be regarded as offensive to a victim of crime or an appreciable sector of the community.
The scheme will not affect the ability of people sentenced to imprisonment and parolees to change their name for legitimate purposes. The scheme balances the right of the community to safety, protection and effective law enforcement with the right of a sentenced prisoner to change his or her name in accordance with Australian laws. If the director-general does not approve such an application for a change of name for any reason, the applicant has the opportunity to appeal the decision through the ACT’s Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
This bill will also amend corrections legislation to address the situation where an offender is detained under a mental health order at a particular place and therefore cannot perform periodic detention or community service work. In such circumstances it is appropriate to deem the offender to have performed periodic detention or community service work as it is beyond their control that they cannot meet their obligations under a relevant sentence order.
The amendment will not only prevent an offender from unnecessarily being brought before the court or Sentence Administration Board, but will also ensure that the court or board will not have to spend time considering these alleged breaches of sentence obligations only to determine that the offender had a legitimate reason for non-attendance.
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