Director of Public Prosecutions (Pension Entitlements) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Received from the House of Assembly and read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:26): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

In doing so, I propose to read the second reading explanation. I am subject to responses this afternoon from the opposition and crossbenchers that there has been agreement that this bill is not going to be opposed and can be passed this afternoon, but I am open, of course, to any contrary view that a member might indicate. If there is a contrary view, the bill will not proceed, from the government's viewpoint. I have made it quite clear to my lower house colleagues that it would only be on the express agreement of all members that this would proceed.

Last Friday, the Attorney-General announced that Justice Martin Hinton, a current justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, would be appointed to the position of Director of Public Prosecutions. Justice Hinton will resign his commission as a justice of the Supreme Court to become the first ever former Supreme Court justice to take on this important role, once this bill has passed through the parliament.

The Attorney-General takes this opportunity to place on the parliamentary record that Justice Hinton is a highly respected member of the judiciary and has vast experience in the criminal law. Prior to his appointment to the bench in 2016, he held the role of Solicitor-General for nearly a decade. His proposed appointment has been universally welcomed.

The government's wish to appoint Justice Martin Hinton to the role of Director of Public Prosecutions has resulted in the need to reconsider the terms and conditions upon which a director can be appointed. In order to attract high-calibre candidates such as Justice Hinton to the role both now and in the future, the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1991 must be amended so that, where the person to be appointed is already entitled to a pension under the Judges' Pensions Act 1971, the terms and conditions upon which the director is appointed can include the application of the Judges' Pensions Act 1971, as if the director were a judge. This approach is consistent with the Attorney-General's desire to elevate the position of director to a higher standing and is a similar approach to that taken in New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (Pension Entitlements) Amendment Bill 2019 amends the Director of Public Prosecutions Act to insert new provisions allowing the instrument of appointment for the director to apply the Judges' Pensions Act to, or in relation to, the director, as if service as the director is judicial service under that act, provided the director is or has been a judge as defined in the Judges' Pensions Act, or has held an office that is treated as if it were judicial service under the Judges' Pensions Act. In the case of the appointment of a sitting Supreme Court judge or a Solicitor-General to the role of director, it is entirely appropriate to apply the Judges' Pensions Act.

For a person appointed as director who is a current Supreme Court judge, such as Justice Hinton, the bill means that the terms and conditions of his appointment remain the same and that service as director will be treated as judicial service under the Judges' Pensions Act. Not all persons appointed as director will have the benefit of the application of the Judges' Pensions Act to them. A director who has never been a judge and never held a position that is treated as judicial service will not be eligible.

Therefore, only a person who has been a judge as defined by the Judges' Pensions Act, or who has had a role such as Solicitor-General where the Judges' Pensions Act is applied to their service, will be entitled to include in their instrument of appointment a clause stating that the Judges' Pensions Act applies to them.

The Attorney-General thanks the opposition spokesperson, the Hon. Mr Maher, for indicating his support for the appointment when the Attorney spoke with him last week. The position of the Director of Public Prosecutions is an important one and one that is and should be beyond party politics. By passing this bill, as we trust we will next month, South Australians will be well served by a director of Justice Hinton's calibre and well served by others of his calibre in the future.

Before I commend the bill to members and insert into Hansard a copy of the explanation of clauses, can I indicate that I propose to have the debate adjourned at this stage to resume the very important Landscape South Australia Bill. It will at least give some members an hour or two to consider the legislation, and then we will return to it after the landscape bill.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: I think you might find that everyone is ready to go. We can do it now.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: I am happy to, but I feel uncomfortable about not having distributed an explanation of clauses or anything like that to members prior to passage through this parliament. In the absence of any other issue, we still have 2½ hours this afternoon. If the landscape bill has not been concluded by 5 o'clock-ish, we will adjourn the debate then and resume this. We also have the opportunity to hear from the Hon. Mr Pangallo on another bill that he wants to do this afternoon. We hope we will complete the landscape bill. With that, I commend the bill to members and seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1991

3—Insertion of section 4A

This clause inserts a new section as follows:

4A—Pension entitlements

This clause allows the Governor, in appointing a person with previous judicial service (or service that is equated with judicial service for the purposes of the Judges' Pensions Act 1971) as the Director of Public Prosecutions, to apply the Judges' Pensions Act 1971 to the appointment, so that service as the Director would be equated with a period of judicial service under that Act.

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