Little AndrewCRIMINAL RECORDS (EXPUNGEMENT OF CONVICTIONS FOR HISTORICAL HOMOSEXUAL OFFENCES) BILLSecond ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Justice): I move That the Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill be now read a second time.This bill demonstrates the Government's ongoing commitment to right the wrongs of the past for those who were convicted of historical homosexual offences prior to the Homosexual Law Reform Act of 1986. I'd like to particularly acknowledge the work of my predecessor as Minister of Justice the Hon Amy Adams who introduced this bill originally to Parliament and initially shepherded it through the House.I want to also thank members of the Justice Committee for their consideration of the bill. The committee received 37 submissions and has recommended that the bill proceed with some amendments. Almost every submission expressed clear support for the intent of the bill. The committee heard 10 oral submissions and I'd like to thank those submitters for sharing their stories. Many submitters commended the bill for introducing a novel scheme and were positive about the change that this bill will bring. The committee has recommended a small number of changes which will ensure that the bill will achieve its intended purpose.The Homosexual Law Reform Act of 1986 decriminalised sexual conduct between consenting males aged 16 years and over. The right to be free from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was later recognised in the Human Rights Act of 1993. Allowing historical convictions for homosexual offences to remain on a person's criminal history perpetuates the stigma that those convictions carry and it should never be beyond this House to recognise that laws passed in earlier generations when different values and mores applied can have consequences which it is in the power of this House to provide redress for.The purpose of this bill is to address the ongoing stigma prejudice and other negative effects arising from a conviction for a historical homosexual offence by creating a statutory scheme for a convicted person or a representative on their behalf if that person is deceased to apply for the conviction to be expunged. If the application is successful the conviction will not appear on a criminal history check and the person will not be required to disclose information about the expunged conviction for any purpose and indeed anybody who then discloses that conviction when not authorised to do so commits an offence under the Act.The scheme applies to Crimes Act 1961 offences that were repealed by the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986 and their predecessor offences under the Crimes Act 1908. The bill provides for the Secretary of Justice to consider whether applications for expungement meet the statutory test. The test is that the behaviour would no longer constitute an offence under today's law. That takes account of the possibility that some of those convictions related to genuinely criminal conduct in the nature of predatory offences or assaults that went beyond merely consensual conduct between men.The committee recommended changes to improve offence provisions to better align with other legislation and to ensure that people are not put under pressure to disclose their expunged convictions. A further change is the inclusion of a provision which makes it explicit that expungement of a conviction doesn't authorise or require the destruction of criminal records of expunged convictions. Other changes are relatively minor and technical. Some small amendments to wording have been recommended to align the bill with the language used in the Public Records Act 2005.This bill's purpose is to provide for an expungement scheme to reduce prejudice stigma and other negative effects arising from a conviction for a historical homosexual offence. The bill empowers those convicted and their representatives by providing a simple low-cost and effective way to right the wrongs of the past. With the committee's recommended changes I'm confident that the bill will more effectively achieve these objectives.I conclude by addressing one other point that was commonly raised in the submissions and that is the issue of compensation. The committee necessarily considered that issue of compensation and in the end concluded that it was not possible to consider or to recommend a scheme that would provide compensation that would be easy to apply or streamlined and would take account of the variety of different circumstances in which the original offences were committed and that would now be expunged. So the Government at least will not be providing or will not be entertaining a compensation regime as a consequence of this bill. On that basis and with those comments I commend this bill to the House.