SPENT CONVICTIONS (DECRIMINALISED OFFENCES) AMENDMENT BILL

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. Clause 4, page 2, lines 20 and 21—Delete paragraph (b) and substitute:

(b) an offence where—

(i) the offence is constituted by consenting persons of the same sex engaging in sexual intercourse, or another form of sexual activity; and

(ii) at least 1 of them is 16 or 17 years of age (and none of them is younger); and

(iii) their actions would not have constituted an offence if they were not of the same sex; and

(iv) no person engaged in the activity was in a position of authority in relation to another person engaged in the activity;

No. 2. Clause 4, page 3, lines 8 to 12—Delete subsection (8) and substitute:

(8) For the purposes of the definition of designated sex-related offence—

(a) a person will not be taken to have engaged in an activity with his or her consent if the person would not be taken to have freely and voluntarily agreed to the activity under section 46 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935; and

(b) a person is in a position of authority in relation to another person if they would be in a position of authority in relation to the person under section 49(5a) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935.

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments be agreed to.

This has been a matter of interest to most members, particularly to the member for Fisher, who regularly raises issues about this. I wish to indicate that, again, because we have important members here who wish to speak at the closing of the parliament today, I do not want to take up too much time, because that would not be appropriate. For that reason and that reason alone, I am not going to object to what the Legislative Council has done to our pristine bill.

But can I say also just briefly that I do particularly want to thank all of my staff in my office, the people in legislative services, the people in parliamentary counsel, and can I also particularly thank the government representatives in the upper house, ministers Gago and Hunter, who have had to carry an enormous burden over the course of the last year in getting all of these pieces of legislation through what, to me, is a perplexing place. At latest count today, our office alone has had 44 bills that have gone through the parliament this year which is, by anyone's measure, a lot of work, and that would not have been possible without all of the people working so well together. So I want to place on the record my thanks to all of my staff. Libby has worked fantastically managing everything that goes on in the parliament. Libby, you have done a fabulous job, and it would have been impossible without you.

Also, as I said, I want to say something about the people in the Legislative Council who seem to manage very difficult tasks up there. I know that they have had great support from my staff, and I again thank my staff for the work they have done. I could not miss the opportunity to thank all of those people because, by any measure, they have had an extraordinarily busy year and they deserve to be acknowledged.

Motion carried.