Page 1492 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 July 2020
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MR HANSON: In that context I think that—
MADAM SPEAKER: Yes, that is fine.
MR HANSON: He ends by saying:
You must be joking.
I agree, Madam Speaker; if only this were a joke. It is not a joke for the accused who have had their fundamental rights removed, which is what the Attorney-General actually did. The question is: in the face of such consistent, overwhelming concern and criticism, why did the government proceed, anyway? Why did you do this? If they were not listening to the ACT Bar Association, the Law Society, the Human Rights Commission, the Legal Aid Commission, the Law Council of Australia and the High Court, who were they listening to?
Therefore, while we support the repeal of this bill, it raises some serious questions about the fundamental soundness of the advice being provided to the Attorney-General. When the entire legal profession and every other commentator raise the same concerns, why were those concerns all ignored by this Labor-Greens government? Why?
When the removal of fundamental rights is not seen for what it is by this government, when the government capitulates, is that government, and is this Attorney-General, fit for the role? Those questions have been raised by this process. Those questions have been asked broadly across the legal fraternity, not just in the ACT but across Australia, and the government have not provided adequate answers to explain why they removed such a fundamental tenet of our legal system.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (12.05), in reply: I am pleased to close the debate today on this important piece of legislation, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (No 2), which includes important amendments to support engagement and equal opportunity for participation in the territory’s upcoming election. The bill also repeals the COVID-19 response measure that was inserted into the Supreme Court Act 1933 relating to trials by judge alone in criminal proceedings.
In these extraordinary times the government is continuing to respond adaptively to the needs of the ACT community, including through measured changes to our laws. As I stated on presentation of the bill, it will introduce amendments to enable the Electoral Commissioner to implement protective measures and facilitate voter participation in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which will be in place only for the 2020 ACT election. This will be achieved through making early voting available to all electors who are eligible to vote in the ACT election, and through the deployment of an electronic overseas voting system and telephone voting for certain electors.
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