Bills Digest 101 1996-97
Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 1996
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 1996
Date Introduced: 4 December 1996
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Attorney-General
Commencement: Royal Assent with the exception of Items 21, 22,
23 and 27 of
The Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 1996 (the Bill) is an
omnibus Bill which will make a number of largely non-contentious amendments
to Acts administered by the Attorney-General'sportfolio. Theamendments
:
correct anomalies in the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 and
Crimes
- (Superannuation Benefits) Act 1989 in relation to the cancellation
of employer funded superannuation benefits;
- increase the value of a penalty unit in the Crimes Act 1914;
- permit cost recovery in relation to storage and maintenance
of confiscated narcotic-related goods under the Customs Act 1901;
- correct technical deficiencies in the bail and custody provisions
of the Extradition Act 1988;
- change the requirements for property restrained under the
Proceeds of Crime Act1987;
- introduce a defence ofreasonable corporate precaution for bodies corporate
under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987 and
- remove the requirement to obtain Ministerial consent to prosecute
in several Commonwealth Acts
As there is no central theme to this Bill, a brief background to each
major amendment will be outlined below.
Amendments to the Australian Federal Police Act 1979
Part VA of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 provides for
the cancellation of superannuation benefits for AFP members and staff
who have been convicted of corruption offencesand sentenced to imprisonment
for terms exceeding 12 months. Under the current provisions persons serving
concurrent or aggregate sentences which individually do not exceed twelve
months cannot lose their superannuation benefits. According to the Minister's
Second Reading Speech, the proposed amendments will make a technical amendment
to align Part VA of the Act with current sentencing practice.(1) Under
proposed section 45(1) a superannuation order may be made if the
single sentence or the aggregate sentence in respect of corruption offences
exceeds twelve months. Sentences under subsection 20AB(1) of the Crimes
Act 1914 which are an alternative to full time incarceration are excluded
from these superannuation orders. (Item 1 - Schedule 1).
Amendments to the Crimes (Superannuation Benefits) Act 1989
The purpose of the Crimes (Superannuation Benefits) Act 1989
is to allow courts to order that employer superannuation contributions
are not payable to federal employees, judges and members of parliament
convicted of corruption offences
Items 10-17 of the Bill amend the Crimes (Superannuation Benefits)
Act 1989 and mirror the amendments to the Australian Federal Police
Act 1979 discussed above.
Amendments to the Crimes Act 1914
On the recommendation of the Gibbs Committee's Review of Commonwealth
Criminal Law, section 4AA was included in the Crimes Act 1914
in 1992 so that the value of all pecuniary penalty provisions in Commonwealth
legislation could be expressed in penalty units and therefore adjusted
from time to time to reflect current money value. The stated intention
of the Review in making the above recommendation was '...by amendment
of one Act the value of the penalty units specified in any Commonwealth
Act or regulation in respect of an offence under that Act or regulation
could be varied'.(2)
Item9 amends section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914 to increase
the value of a penalty unit from $100 to $110. The increase corresponds
to the Consumer Price Index figure of 9.6% for the period between June
1992 and September 1995.(3)
Amendments to the Customs Act 1901
Item 18 inserts new subsection 208DA(3A)
into the Customs Act to enable the Commonwealth to recover costs incurred
in relation to the transportation and storage of confiscated narcotic-related
goods prior to their transfer to the Official Trustee. Narcotic-related
goods are defined in section 4 of the Customs Act. They include vehicles
and vessels used in drug trafficking. The Official Trustee is responsible
for their disposal andalready recovers similar costs under current section
208DA(3).
Amendments to the Extradition Act 1988
Item 19 which amends subsection 15(3) of the Extradition Act
aims to correct a deficiency in relation to applications for bail by a
person during remand. The proposed section would allow a person who has
had a bail application rejected to make a further application if there
is evidence of a change in circumstances that might justify bail being
granted.
Proposed section 49(2) inserted by Item 20 requires that
persons who are believed to have escaped custody must be brought before
a magistrate by the arresting police officer. The magistrate must be satisfied
that the person has escaped from custody before authorising their return
to custody.
Amendments to the Proceeds of Crime Act 1987
The Proceeds of Crime Act 1984 provides for the confiscation
and forfeiture of property of defendants charged with serious offences.
Property that remains confiscated or restrained six months after conviction
is forfeited automatically to the Commonwealth.
The bill makes two amendments to the Principal Act:
1. If a defendant makes an application for a variation of a restraining
or confiscationorder within the statutory six month period, then the proposed
section 30A will stay the forfeiture of the restrained property until
that application has been determined by the court.
2. Under section 65(1) of the Proceeds
of Crime Act a body corporate is vicariously liable for the criminal conduct
of its directors, servants or agents. Proposed section 65(2) prevents
the criminal conduct of directors, servants or agents from being imputed
to a body corporate where the body corporate can demonstrate that it took
reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence. Similar provisions
are found in other Commonwealth legislation.
- Second Reading Speech, Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment Bill
1996, House of Representatives, 4 December 1996: 7712.
- Attorney-General's Department, Review of Commonwealth Criminal Law,
Fifth Interim Report, June 1991: 195.
- Second Reading Speech, Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment Bill
1996, House of Representatives, 4 December 1996: 7712.
Mary Anne Neilsen
12 February 1997
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other sources should
be consulted to determine whether the Bill has been enacted and, if so,
whether the subsequent Act reflects further amendments.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents with Senators
and Members and their staff but not with members of the public.
ISSN 1323-9031
Commonwealth of Australia 1996
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1997.
This page was prepared by the Parliamentary Library, Commonwealth of
Australia
Last updated: 24 March 1997
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