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1
Criminal Justice Amendment
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AMENDMENT BILL
1994
EXPLANATORY NOTE
GENERAL OUTLINE
Objective of the Legislation
The proposal seeks to amend provisions in the Criminal Justice Act (the
CJ Act) relating to the reappointment of Commissioners (including the
Chairperson) of the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) and the tenure of
office of appointees to enable a Commissioner (including a Chairperson)
who has been previously appointed for a term of between two and five
years, in accordance with s.14(1) of the CJ Act, to have that appointment
extended by an additional period of less than two years.
Under the present s.14(1) of the CJ Act, it is not possible for such a
person to be appointed for an additional term of less than two years. Thus,
the proposed amendments will allow for greater flexibility in the
appointment and reappointment to the office of Commissioner of the CJC.
At the same time, the legislation will ensure that the aggregated term of
appointment of a Chairperson will not exceed five years, in accordance
with the requirements of the present s.14(4) of the CJ Act. This
requirement will be restated in the new s.14(5) inserted by this Act.
The only alternative option to enacting this legislation to allow for the
necessary flexibility in respect of reappointments of incumbents to the
position of Commissioner (including the Chairperson), for example, to
reappoint an office holder for less than two years, was to make acting
appointments under s.13 of the CJ Act. However, such persons would be
designated Acting Commissioner or Acting Chairperson, which
arrangement was not considered appropriate in all the circumstances.
Also, the requirements relating to national advertising as normally
required by s.11(1) of the CJ Act, will be dispensed with in the situation
where it is proposed to extend the term in the manner outlined of an
existing Chairperson. It is considered these provisions would be
unnecessary in the context of a reappointment.
2
Criminal Justice Amendment
Estimated Cost for Government Implementation
There will be no cost for Government.
Details of specific clauses are as follows:
Clause 1 Sets out the citation of the Act.
Clause 2 States that the CJ Act is being amended by this Act.
Clause 3 Deletes the requirement for national advertising in the case of
the reappointment of a person as the Chairperson of the CJC, presently
required by s.11(1) of the CJ Act, and makes provision for the necessary
renumbering of the remaining sub-sections of that section.
Clause 4 Makes amendments of a technical drafting nature to s.12 of
the CJ Act, which amendments relate principally to changes in references
to particular subsections in s.11 of the CJ Act.
Clause 5 Changes particular references to s.11 of the CJ Act contained
in s.13. These changes are consequent upon the restructuring of s.11.
Clause 6 Provides that an incumbent Chairperson may be reappointed
for a term of not more than three years and an incumbent Commissioner
for a term of not more than five years which, in effect, allows for such
persons to be reappointed for a term of less than two years. In this regard,
reference is necessary to the fact that the present s.14(1) of the CJ Act
provides that a "commissioner (which term includes the Chairperson) shall
be appointed for a term not less than 2 years and not more than 5 years".
Under previous arrangements, therefore, an incumbent Commissioner
(including a Chairperson) could be reappointed for a term less than two
years in an acting capacity. The provisions in the present s.14(4) which
impose a maximum aggregate of five years for the terms of a Chairperson
have been retained. The proposed ss.14(5) and (6) inserted by this Act
substantially restate the balance of remaining elements presently contained
in ss.14(4) and (5) respectively.
© The State of Queensland 1994