Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2019 Introduced Into Tasmanian Parliament
Friday 27 September 2019 @ 11.57 a.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research
The Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2019 (Tas) (the “Bill”) was introduced to Tasmania’s House of Assembly on 24 September 2019 by the Hon Elise Archer, the Minister for Justice ("the Minister"). It proposes to amend the Criminal Code Act 1924; the Criminal Law (Detention and Interrogation) Act 1995; and the Sentencing Act 1997.
The Bill underwent a public consultation process (which closed on 30 August 2019) where submissions were received from interested stake-holders.
About the Bill
Outlined in the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum (“EM”), the Bill:
Overview of the Proposed Changes
The proposed amendments include:
- amending s 401(3)(a) to Schedule 1 of the Criminal Code Act 1924 to widen the definition of “sentence” to enable an order deferring the sentencing of a person to be appealed by the Crown;
- amending s 4 to the Criminal Law (Detention and Interrogation) Act 1995 to specify “that the requirement under s 4, for a person taken into custody to be brought before a justice or magistrate, does not apply to a person arrested under a Supreme Court warrant issued by a judge”; and
- various amendments to Sentencing Act 1997 – including amendments to s 42AL to “provide a single justice with the power to remand or bail a person subject to a home detention order made by a magistrate, if the person has been arrested and clarify the arrest provision in relation to a person who is subject to a home detention order” and amendments to s 44 to “provide a default period of 28 days within which fines are to be paid, in the event that a court does not specify a payment deadline in an order and amendments to”.
In her speech introducing the Bill, the Minister said:
Submission to the Consultation
A submission received from the Tasmanian Women Lawyer Committee during the Bill's consultation stage expressed some concerns about the changes:
The submission highlighted the "background which has prompted these changes", linking to a Media Release of March 2016 which indicated the Government at the time was considering phasing out the use of suspended sentences and introducing new sentencing options. Commenting in the 2016 Media Release Vanessa Goodwin (Attorney-General) said:
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Sources:
Justice Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2019 (Tas) - Bill and supporting information available from TimeBase LawOne Service