Bills

Criminal Law Consolidation (Human Remains) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:24): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:26): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Criminal Law Consolidation (Human Remains) Amendment Bill 2022 introduces four new offences into the Criminal Law Consolidation Act. The offences introduced by the bill are as follows: an offence of concealing, mutilating or otherwise interfering with human remains where the intended or actual outcome is that the remains are more difficult to find or to conceal the commission of an offence.

Where the offence under the section is committed by the person who caused the death of a victim the penalty of this offence will be served cumulatively on top of any other sentence the offender has received for causing the death of the victim, aside from where they have already received a sentence of life imprisonment. The cumulative nature of the penalty for this offence, which was introduced into a private member's bill during the last term of sitting, is retained in this bill following that amendment.

It should be noted that, in accordance with the Sentencing Act 2017, a cumulative sentence cannot be imposed on a person who has received a sentence of life imprisonment. Instead, the additional offending would be taken into account by the court in setting an appropriate non-parole period that must be served by the offender. For example, if a person was serving a life sentence for murder and the concealed body was discovered later, and the offender was subsequently charged with the section 177 offence, section 47 of the Sentencing Act provides that the existing non-parole period can be extended as the court thinks fit.

A more general offence of concealing, mutilating or otherwise interfering with human remains with a maximum penalty of 15 years is provided for in the bill, and it is now an offence if a person finds human remains, or what they suspect to be human remains, and fails to report this to the authorities. There is a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

Lastly, an offence of finding human remains and then acting to conceal those remains has been introduced with a maximum of five years' imprisonment. These new offences will ensure that offenders who deliberately add to the pain and suffering of families by taking steps to conceal the body of their victim will be able to be charged with a specific offence which will go some way to acknowledging the additional suffering of victims' families.

I 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—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935

3—Insertion of Part 6D

This clause inserts new Part 6D into the principal Act as follows:

Part 6D—Offences relating to human remains

175—Interpretation

This section defines terms used in the new Part.

176—Application of Part

This section sets out the relationship between the new Part and other Acts and laws.

177—Offence to destroy etc human remains to pervert course of justice

This section creates an offence for a person to knowingly take the actions referred to in subsection (1)(a) and (b) for a purpose referred to in the remainder of the subsection, with those purposes essentially amounting to perverting the course of justice. The maximum penalty for an offence is 15 years imprisonment. The proposed section also makes procedural provisions in relation to the new offence.

178—Offence to defile etc human remains

This section creates an offence for a person to take specified actions amounting to unlawful interference with human remains, including destroying, removing or engaging in sexual activity with the remains. The maximum penalty for an offence is 15 years imprisonment.

179—Offence to fail to report find of or conceal human remains

This section creates an offence for a person who finds human remains, or remains that the person suspects are human remains, to fail to report that fact to police. The maximum penalty for an offence is 5 years imprisonment. Proposed subsection (2) sets out circumstances in which such a report is not necessary. The clause also requires police to notify the State Coroner on receipt of such a report.

180—Alternative verdicts

This section sets out a scheme for alternative verdicts where a charge of a particular offence under the proposed Part is not made out, but a lesser offence is.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.S. Lee.