Criminal Law (High Risk Offenders) (Psychologists) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (16:15): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Today I introduce a Bill to amend the Criminal Law (High Risk Offenders) Act 2015.

The Bill is intended to assist to alleviate some of the delays currently being experienced in providing forensic psychiatrist reports to the Supreme Court under the High Risk Offenders Act and the Sentencing Act 2017.

High risk offenders are those imprisoned in respect of a serious sexual offence or a serious offence of violence. In this State, high risk offenders also include persons with a history of terrorist offences.

The High Risk Offenders Act allows the Attorney-General to make application to the Supreme Court for a high risk offender to be subject to an extended supervision order on their release into the community from a term of imprisonment. On breach of such an order, the high risk offender may be liable to a continuing detention order being made against them by the Court.

The Supreme Court requires a report from a 'legally qualified medical practitioner' before it can make an extended supervision order, for example, a forensic psychiatrist with appropriate expertise.

Similarly, under the Sentencing Act 2017, the Supreme Court must be provided with at least two reports from legally qualified medical practitioners on whether an offender is unable or unwilling to control their sexual instincts before the Court can order that the person be detained in custody indefinitely under that Act.

Within South Australia there is a small pool of psychiatrists who specialise in criminal matters, and are qualified to undertake these forensic assessments for the courts. These psychiatrists work in the Forensic Mental Health Service within SA Health, and undertake these assessments in addition to their full-time clinical workload. In addition, these same psychiatrists also prepare reports for the Courts in South Australia about whether a person is mentally incompetent to commit an offence or mentally unfit to stand trial. Given the various demands on these psychiatrists, it can lead to delays in these assessments being prepared for the Court.

Since the Government became aware of this issue, we have been working with both the Courts and Forensic Mental Health Services to better understand the reasons for these delays and develop solutions that may help to address the issue.

I will now turn to the key aspects of the Bill, this Bill amends the High Risk Offenders Act to enable registered psychologists to provide the reports required under that Act.

The change sought to the High Risk Offenders Act will assist to alleviate the long delays currently experienced in the provision of reports under that Act in respect of high risk offenders and also under the Sentencing Act 2017 when reports are required to be provided to the Supreme Court in respect of persons alleged to be unable or unwilling to control their sexual instincts. However, this Bill does not propose to amend the Sentencing Act 2017 to permit registered psychologists to provide reports under that Act in respect of persons alleged to be unable or unwilling to control their sexual instincts.

Although the Sentencing Act 2017 is not proposed to be amended to permit the use of registered psychologists to provide such reports, the changes proposed to the high risk offenders legislation are likely to have a beneficial indirect effect in respect of reports from psychiatrists under the Sentencing Act 2017. The use of registered psychologists under the higher-volume high risk offenders legislation will reduce reliance on psychiatrists for those purposes and allow psychiatrists to focus more on the preparation of reports under the Sentencing Act 2017 in respect of persons alleged to be unable or unwilling to control their sexual instincts. It is important to note that these forensic psychologists will be doing this work under the supervision of a Consultant Psychiatrist to ensure the integrity of these reports is maintained.

Beyond these legislative measures, and soon after hearing of the potential delays in this pool of professionals, the Attorney-General began working on a range of measures designed to streamline the psychiatric court assessment process. This reform includes the establishment of a diversion service in the Magistrates Court. This service will consist of registered nurses also overseen by a Consultant Psychiatrist. These registered nurses will be responsible for providing advice to the court on potential matters that could be dealt with without requiring a forensic assessment from a psychiatrist, such as those where the defendant has a documented mental health condition.

Based on work the Attorney-General has undertaken with Forensic Mental Health Services, we will introduce a new, more competitive remuneration rate for forensic psychiatrists. The Clinical Director has indicated that this will attract a greater number of suitably qualified professionals to undertake assessments for the court, including those from interstate.

It is anticipated that these measures, coupled with the legislative reform, will lessen the workload for forensic psychiatrists—freeing them up to dedicate more time to those matters that require specialist attention, thereby addressing the delays in these assessments being prepared for the courts.

Agencies are working toward a March 2019 implementation date for the diversion service in the Magistrates Court and the new remuneration rate for psychiatrists.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Criminal Law (High Risk Offenders) Act 2015

3—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

This clause defines a prescribed health professional for the purposes of the Act, which will include both medical practitioners and psychologists (definitions of which are also included).

4—Amendment of section 7—Proceedings

This clause amends section 7 to refer to prescribed health professionals (rather than just medical practitioners).

5—Amendment of section 21—Inquiries by health professionals

This clause amends section 21 to refer to prescribed health professionals (rather than just medical practitioners).

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. E.S. Bourke.