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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-28 Daily Xml
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STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Food Marketing) (15:35): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 and the Statutes Amendment (Victims of Crime) Act 2009. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Food Marketing) (15:35): I move:

That this bill now be red a second time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: In 2009, the parliament passed the Statutes Amendment (Victims of Crime) Act 2009, which made miscellaneous amendments to laws relating to victims, including the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988. The amending act by section 14 amended section 70L with the intention that when a youth applies to convert a pecuniary sum to a community service order, the part of the sum that represents the victims of crime levy cannot be converted.

All but section 14 of that act has already come into operation. Section 14 will come into force by operation of the Acts Interpretation Act, section 7(5) on 10 December 2011, unless it is sooner repealed. An error has, however, been found in the expression of section 14, with the result that it is not clear how the section is intended to operate. This is because the amendment is not specific about whether the change it makes applies to the phrase, 'pecuniary sum', only the first time it is used in the section, or whether it applies to each time it is used in the section.

Accordingly, it is necessary to make a minor amendment to that section so as to spell out what is intended. What is intended is that the first time 'pecuniary sum' is used, it includes the levy, but on the subsequent occasions when it is used in that section, it does not. That is to say, the ground for application is that the youth is unable to pay the whole of the amount that is owing, but the conversion of dollars into hours does not apply to such part of the amount as represents the victims of crime levy. This is what was always intended when the parliament passed the bill, and this amendment seeks to correct a minor drafting error before the new provision comes into force. I commend the bill to the house, and I seek leave to insert 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 Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988

3—Amendment of section 70L—Community service orders

Section 70L deals with the enforcement of pecuniary sums against youths by means of a community service order. An authorised officer is empowered to make a community service order if the youth does not have, and is not likely within a reasonable time to have, the means to satisfy a pecuniary sum without the debtor or his or her dependants suffering hardship. The section goes on to set out various rules relating to the conversion of a pecuniary sum to a number of hours of community service. The new subsection (6a) is designed to ensure that the amount of a victims of crime levy is not to be counted for the purposes of those conversion rules. The levy has to be paid up front.

Part 3—Amendment of Statutes Amendment (Victims of Crime) Act 2009

4—Repeal of section 14

This clause repeals the section of the amendment Act that contains the error.

Debate adjourned on motion of Ms Chapman.

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