JUSTICES AMENDMENT BILL 2000 Second Reading Speech

Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

JUSTICES AMENDMENT BILL 2000

(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)

The purpose of these bills is to amend the Justice Act and the Juvenile Justice Act and their regulations to clarify parliament’s intention to apply the Territory infringement notices enforcement scheme and the juvenile infringement notices enforcement scheme, all prescribed infringement notices issued under a law of the Territory.

The Territory Infringement Notices Enforcement Scheme, or TINES to which it is often abbreviated, is established under provision 2(a) of part 4 of the Justices Act. This is the procedure that can be used to enforce any unpaid infringement notice issued under a Territory law, as long as the infringement notice is prescribed either under regulation 2(a) of the Justices Territory Infringement Notices Enforcement Scheme regulations or otherwise prescribed. When infringement notice penalty is not paid, the agency issuing the notice has 2 options. Firstly, it may choose to enforce the payment of the penalty through the TINES system. Secondly, it could prosecute for the offence alleged an infringement notice. Either of these procedures can be used by an agency issuing infringement notices as long as the intended procedure is made clear to the alleged offender at the time he or she receives the infringement notice. This has always been the way the infringement notice and TINE scheme was intended to operate.

Recent judgement of Chief Justice Martin of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, in Gulmar v Moore and Ors has brought the application of the TINES into question. The case dealt with infringement notices issued by the Darwin City Council for an offence against its by-law prohibiting sleeping in a public place at night. His Honour found the specific infringement notices to be invalid due to a lack of procedural fairness as they failed to clearly inform the alleged offender of his or her rights and options, including the method for enforcement of the penalty if unpaid. His Honour also found that the enforcement certificates issued by the council, did not contain the necessary facts to make out the elements of the offence alleged.

The Darwin City Council has subsequently reviewed its infringement notices, to ensure that they contain the necessary information. It is also reviewing the procedure for issuing enforcement certificates to ensure that the Clerk of the Court will be satisfied that all the elements of each offence are properly made out.

Although the decision in Gulmer was confined to a particular infringement notices issued by the Darwin City Council, and did not impugn the TINES scheme as a whole, His Honour did raise concerns about section 60B(1) of the Justice Act. Section 60B(1) states that the procedures set out under the TINES provisions may be used in substitution for any other procedure under a law of the Territory, to enforce an infringement notice. His Honour’s interpretation of section 60B, means that TINES can only be used to enforce an unpaid infringement notice where, under the parent act, creating the offence in a relevant infringement notice regime, there is clear provision for enforcement of the notice, rather than an intention to proceed by way of prosecution for the offence alleged in the notice.

Chief Justice Martin found that TINES could not be used to enforce infringement notices issued by Darwin City Council, because section 194 of the Local Government Act, under which the infringement notice by-law was made, only envisaged prosecution, rather than enforcement under TINES, where an alleged offender failed to pay an infringement notice penalty.

His Honour’s interpretation of section 60B is narrower than was intended. It has always been intended that TINES can be used to enforce any infringement notice issued validly under a Territory law, as long as the law is prescribed either under regulation 2A of the Justices (Territory Infringement Notices Enforcement) Scheme, regulation or otherwise, and so long as the alleged offender has not opted to be dealt with by a court in relation to the alleged offence.

This is regardless of whether the act or regulation giving power to issue the infringement notice envisages prosecution or enforcement of the notice through TINES when the infringement notice penalty is unpaid. In other words, TINES is intended to be applied in substitution for or, as an alternative to, prosecution of the offence alleged in the infringement notice. As long as the intention to enforce payment of the infringement penalty, through TINES, is made clear to the alleged offender at the time he or she receives the infringement notice, TINES can be utilised.

The bill also includes various minor amendments, correcting cross references to the old traffic regulations that were overlooked when the regulations were repealed and replaced with new traffic regulations on 1 December 1999.

Amendments have also been made to the Justices Territory Infringement Notices Enforcement Scheme regulations. Regulation 2A of the regulations being amended to prescribe Katherine Town Council by-laws and Nhulunbuy Animal Control by-laws. These by-laws came into operation in 1998 and it was always the intention that they adopted the TINES system. Therefore, the prescription of these by-laws has been made retrospective to their commencement.

Other amendments have been made to the forms and the schedule to the Justice Territories Infringement Notices Enforcement Scheme regulations to ensure that agencies issuing these forms will be prompted to provide all the information necessary to afford procedural fairness.

The amendment to the Justice Act has also led to an amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act. That act establishes that the Juveniles Infringement Notices Scheme, or JINES as it is also known, which is similar to TINES, but relates only to the enforcement of infringement notices issued to juveniles. This system commenced late last year and is intended to give juveniles more chances to pay their infringement notice fines and includes an option of undergoing community service rather than imprisonment.

The TINES system and the JINES system are administratively similar and therefore it is necessary to amend the Juvenile Justice Act along the same lines as the Justice Act. The Juvenile Justice Act also included some incorrect cross reference to the traffic regulations which have been amended in the bill.

The amendments to these 2 acts will ensure smooth operation of the TINES and the JINES system and reflect was has always been the intended application of the scheme.

I commend the bills to honourable members.

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