Tolley Anne: Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tolley Anne: Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 08 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2038. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 I move  
That the Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate that the Administration of Community Sentences and Orders Bill be referred to the Law and Order Committee. I would like to acknowledge at the outset the work of my predecessor the Hon Judith Collins in developing and introducing this bill. Overall the legislation governing the administration of the corrections system is working well. However some provisions have been identified as barriers to effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its statutory purpose. Two bills have been introduced to remove such barriers: the current bill before us which aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the administration of sentences and orders in the community and the Corrections Amendment Bill which aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of prisons. It has recently received its first reading and is with the Law and Order Committee.  
The Sentencing Act 2002 the Parole Act 2002 and to a lesser extent the Bail Act 2000 play a central role in governing the corrections system as it relates to the management of offenders serving sentences in the community and of prisoners who have been released from prison. Major reform of the Sentencing Act and the Parole Act was undertaken in 2007. Since then a number of problems have been identified in administering the changes introduced by the reforms particularly in relation to the administration of community sentences and orders. This bill makes minor drafting amendments to these Acts to clarify operational procedure where an Act is silent or unclear and where its interpretation has led to unintended consequences. The bill also introduces a number of minor policy changes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of home detention community-based sentences and the electronic monitoring regime.  
I will briefly outline some of the more significant changes. Currently a home detention sentence is suspended when an appeal is lodged. The bill provides instead that the sentence will continue to run unless the appellant is granted bail. This recognises that some home detainees who appeal may pose a risk to public safety if released into the community without restrictions. Secondly sometimes offenders who abscond from community-based sentences are not located until the sentence has ended. The bill provides that the time will cease to run on a sentence of supervision intensive supervision or community detention if an application is made to the court to vary or cancel that sentence because the offender is not complying with it. This will help to ensure that offenders who do not comply with their sentences will still be held to account. Thirdly enforcement problems can arise because the boundaries of an offender’s address do not align with the boundaries of electronic monitoring equipment. Under the bill where electronic monitoring is a release condition or a condition of community sentence the offender will be required to remain within an area defined by a probation officer.  
Fourthly under current law even a sentence of say 2 weeks’ imprisonment automatically cancels a home detention sentence. Yet in some circumstances the completion of the home detention sentence may be in the interests of the community. The bill will give the court a discretion to allow a home detention sentence to resume after a short sentence of imprisonment. Finally administrative problems can arise if a court imposes a non-custodial sentence that is incompatible with another non-custodial sentence already being served. The bill contains provisions to prevent this. Other adjustments cover a range of matters including eliminating gaps in extended supervision order provisions that can result in short periods when offenders are not subject to appropriate conditions.  
In conclusion the measures in this bill will contribute to public safety and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the management of offenders in the community. I commend this bill to the House.