Page 2596 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 August 2019
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The government aims to ensure that all ACT legislation is up to date and consistent. To this end the bill will amend the Crimes (Child Sex Offenders) Act to clarify that warrants are issued by a magistrate rather than the court to eliminate inconsistencies. This amendment responds to an issue raised by a member of our judiciary about the construction of the warrant regime in the ACT. The act falls within my portfolio responsibility.
Sexual crimes committed against children have profound consequences for the victim, their family and our community. These crimes warrant the specific monitoring and reporting measures imposed by the child sex offenders register, which requires offenders to keep police informed of personal information. An important measure under the act is the ability for the policy to apply for a warrant to enter and search premises occupied by a registered child sex offender. The warrant may be applied for in circumstances where the registered offender has incorrectly reported their personal details or has breached an order prohibiting particular conduct, such as being a certain distance from a school zone or living at a particular place with a child.
The concern which led to this amendment being proposed is that this warrant process differs from other warrant schemes created under other ACT legislation as it empowers the Magistrates Court to issue a warrant rather than a magistrate or issuing officer in their personal capacity as a designated person. That may trigger the unusual procedural requirements in respect of applications, such as filing and serving the application and conducting the proceedings in open court.
This has the potential to jeopardise the safety of children and the protection of the community as it may delay the time for the warrant to be issued or may provide time for an offender to destroy any evidence. While I am advised that it appears that this has not arisen as a practical issue in an application for a warrant to date, addressing it in this bill will prevent it becoming a live issue in the future.
For these reasons an amendment to change the language in the act is critical to ensure that police are able to seamlessly apply for warrants in time-critical circumstances. This amendment will also ensure consistency with other warrant regimes, and I commend the amendment to the Assembly.
The bill also provides powers to an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court to issue warrants under a range of acts. This measure will enhance administrative efficiency as it will increase the pool of judges able to issue warrants and perform duty functions over weekend and holiday periods. It will improve the efficiencies of the Supreme Court and assist the court to flexibly manage its case load. It will also improve timeliness for law enforcement agencies applying for warrants. This is a commonsense approach aligned with recent amendments widening the role of an associate judge.
We also see minor and technical amendments contained in the bill to extend existing mechanisms for transferring backup and related charges with an indictable matter committed to the Supreme Court. Under the Magistrates Court Act a magistrate is able to commit an accused person charged with an indictable offence for trial on an application by the person and with the consent of the prosecution.
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