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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-07 Daily Xml
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Bail

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing questions to the Attorney-General regarding bail.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It was reported recently that an alleged drug dealer was found to be in possession of methamphetamine and prohibited weapons after being pulled over by police for driving erratically on the wrong side of the road. The driver, who allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine, was charged with numerous offences, including reckless and dangerous driving, drug trafficking and possessing a prohibited weapon. The accused was subsequently granted bail in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court. My questions for the minister are:

1. What is the Attorney-General's response to the fact that an alleged criminal who tested positive to methamphetamine use and allegedly placed other road users at significant risk was promptly allowed back into the community?

2. How often does the Attorney-General discuss bail and its outcomes with the Chief Justice and other judicial officers?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:58): I thank the honourable member for her question. As I have said in this chamber quite a number of times, there are often quite legitimate questions from the Hon. Dennis Hood concerned about community safety. What we do as a parliament is we set down the parameters in which the judiciary make decisions about sentencing and about things like bail. It is up to the court then to decide, based on what we have written down as a parliament, what to apply.

Certainly, if a decision either about sentencing or about the granting of bail is something that is that far outside what ought to be expected either in terms of the potential severity or the potential leniency of it, it is generally open to either party to appeal that decision, whether it be about sentencing or whether it be about granting bail or not.

Although I have been invited a number of times by a number of members to make commentary on specific decisions, I have not accepted those invitations and I don't propose to do so now. Certainly, it's not something I raise with the Chief Justice, the Chief Judge or the Chief Magistrate, let alone any individual judges, about their decisions.

Occasionally, if there are matters that need to be discussed, I have regular meetings with the Director of Public Prosecutions and with the Commissioner of Police, and we occasionally talk about the specific issues. In terms of raising it with the judiciary, I don't think that is the proper function, but raising it with the authorities who prosecute certainly is.

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