Adelaide Advertiser: Laws on hold - for two years

Major laws on child sex crimes, suppression orders and criminal justice reform are yet to come into effect up to two years after they were passed by Parliament. (Want to post a comment on this story? AdelaideNow would like to hear what you have to say. So scroll to the comment box below and post your point of view.)

The Opposition and independent MP Nick Xenophon have labelled the delays unacceptable and claim the State Government has not acted according to the will of the Parliament. Six laws passed since 2005 are not in place and regulations needed to make some laws operational have taken up to 26 months to be introduced.

A further 11 laws have been only partially put in place. Opposition Legal Affairs spokeswoman Isobel Redmond said she was surprised by the delays, particularly for laws passed in 2005. “Most people would be surprised to find that legislation has been passed by both houses of Parliament, but not actually commenced,” she said. “It’s almost like the Government deciding to defy the will of Parliament. “It raises the idea that there is at least the possibility the Government is thwarting the clear intentions of the Parliament.” Mr Xenophon said he was shocked by the delays.

“The Government trumpeted a lot of these Bills as key parts of their platform,” he said. “A lot of South Australians would need a ‘please explain’ as to why these Bills have not been put up. “The Parliament has done its job by passing these Bills. It is the Government’s obligation to let us know why there has been a delay.”

Among the uncommenced laws is the Statutes Amendment (Criminal Procedure) Act 2005, which incorporates many changes recommended by the Kapunda Road Royal Commission into the hit-run death of cyclist Ian Humphrey in 2005. The Act, passed that year, was designed to make major reforms to the way in which the criminal justice system could deal with such serious offences.

The Transplantation and Anatomy (Post-Mortem Examinations) Amendment Act 2005 was designed to ensure that the family of a deceased person had the opportunity of being appropriately involved in the process of authorising a post-mortem examination. The Child Sex Offenders Act, Evidence (Suppression Orders) Amendment Act, Statutes Amendment (Electricity and Gas) Act, and ANZAC Day Commemoration Act also have not been proclaimed.

Since 2004, regulations that have taken more than 12 months to be introduced relate to such issues as the environment, dust diseases, professional standards and criminal asset confiscation. A spokesman for Attorney-General Michael Atkinson yesterday said “it is better to have a good law than rushed law” and that “we are following an established procedure that governments in this state have always followed”. “We don’t believe that the delay between assent and when the law comes into force can be criticised for any of the laws . . . raised,” he said.

The Government says the delays are a result of consultation with industries affected by the changes. Mr Xenophon said this was no excuse. “You would have thought they would have consulted before legislation was passed,” he said.