Committee
Resumed from 20 February. The Deputy Chair of Committees (Hon Martin Aldridge) in the chair; Hon Sue Ellery (Leader of the House) in charge of the bill.
Clause 29: Limitation on power to make or amend supervision order —
Progress was reported on the following amendment moved by Hon Michael Mischin —
Page 21, line 1 — To delete “standard”.
Comments and speeches from various members
Hon ALISON XAMON: I thank the minister for that explanation. It is precisely the provisions she pointed to that make it untenable for me to support this proposed amendment. I am aware that the sorts of things in an order may be that someone is expected to attend a particular service to be able to get some sort of rehabilitation or some sort of therapeutic service, but that service may end up losing funding and may not exist anymore. If we were to include the provisions as outlined, as I read it the court would not be able to then amend that to take into account those renewed circumstances. It is important that we are clear about not wanting to do anything that will harm the capacity for someone who may engage in offending behaviours to be able to effectively address those behaviours and also to be able to live safely within the community, bearing in mind that part of community safety is also about helping people who have problems to be able to stop engaging in offending behaviours. I appreciate that the amendment has been put forward in order to effect, apparently, an election promise that was given by Labor. I suggest that perhaps that should not have been put forward as an election promise, if indeed that was the case. I maintain the position that we are talking about people who have done their time. Nevertheless, we are talking about imposing a very serious restriction on personal liberty. While trying to balance that with the safety of the community, it is also important that we balance it with the capacity to ensure that supervision orders are fit for purpose.
Comments and speeches from various members
Progress reported and leave granted to sit again, on motion by Hon Sue Ellery (Leader of the House).