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1999
THE
PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
CRIMINAL
CODE AMENDMENT
(APPLICATION) BILL
1999
EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by
authority of the Minister for Justice and Customs,
Senator The Honourable Amanda Vanstone)
ISBN 0 642 42482 9
CRIMINAL CODE
AMENDMENT
(APPLICATION) BILL
1999
GENERAL OUTLINE
The Bill
repeals and replaces subsection 2.2(2) of the Criminal Code Act 1995.
Section 2.2(2) provides for the application of Chapter 2 to all criminal
offences under Commonwealth law on the day occurring 5 years after the day on
which the Criminal Code Act 1995 receives Royal Assent. Royal
Assent was given on 15 March 1995, and accordingly Chapter 2 will apply to all
offences under Commonwealth law on 16 March 2000. Chapter 2 contains the
Criminal Code general principles of criminal
responsibility.
The effect of the Bill is to alter
the date on which Chapter 2 will apply to all Commonwealth offences. The Bill
stipulates that such application will occur on and after 15 December
2001.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
STATEMENT
The Bill is expected to have no impact on
Commonwealth expenditure or revenue. Failure to enact the Bill could increase
the cost of prosecuting offences.
NOTES ON
CLAUSES
Clause
1
This contains the short title to the
Bill.
Clause
2
This clause would allow the amendment to
commence on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Clause
3
The Criminal Code is in a schedule
of the Criminal Code Act 1995. Clause 3 contains a schedule which would
amend the Criminal Code.
Item 1 of the
schedule would repeal subsection 2.2(2) of the Criminal Code and replace
it with a provision that provides on and after 15 December 2001, Chapter 2 of
the Criminal Code will apply to all other
offences.
Subsection 2.2(2) provides that on and
after the day occurring 5 years after the day on which the Criminal Code Act
1995 receives Royal Assent, Chapter 2 (which contains the general principles
of criminal responsibility) will apply to all other offences. This means that
under this subsection Chapter 2 would apply to all offences on 16 March,
2000.
The replacement provision will provide a 20
month extension which would allow further adjustments to be made to offences to
enable them to operate appropriately once the Criminal Code applies to
them. If the Criminal Code applied to all offences on 16 March 2000, many
would be harder to prosecute because it will not be possible to adjust all of
them before that date.