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Other Parliamentary Speeches

This page is dedicated to Peter's speeches during parliament that do not fall under Questions or Questions without notice. They range from debating legislation, reporting on events or issues in his seat of Southport and his Ministerial Statements.

Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Oct 28 2003
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Mr LAWLOR (Southport-ALP) (2.58 p.m.): I rise to speak in support of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2003, which contains minor amendments to over 20 acts-correcting errors, omitting obsolete references and generally improving the efficiency of the acts. I will refer briefly to only a few of the acts, the first of which is the Civil Liability Act 2003. This amendment is a response to the High Court decision in the case of Cattanach and Melchior. In that case, the High Court ruled that a medical practitioner may be liable for the costs of raising a healthy child which was born as a result of a negligently performed sterilisation procedure. As the previous speaker has already mentioned, that has exposed medical practitioners who perform those types of operations to liability in relation to the costs associated with raising any resulting children.

This High Court ruling would have undone a lot of the good contained in the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act and also the Civil Liability Act and, generally, the medical profession may eventually have had to stop conducting medical sterilisations. The amendments we are making to the Civil Liability Act will restore certainty in that claims would not be successful for the costs of raising a healthy child resulting from a sterilisation procedure that was ineffective. This particular amendment will ensure the continued availability of sterilisation services and also family planning advice.

In relation to the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002, this legislation will clarify that the notification period in relation to the provision of notice of a claim runs from when a person instructs the lawyer on their behalf and not from when they first discuss the case with that lawyer. It is only when they actually instruct the lawyer to act on their behalf. The Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 will be amended, and the amendment will improve the operational efficiency of the Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland and also the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal. The act will be amended to allow the tribunal registrar to make directions in noncontentious
matters. That will avoid delay and therefore the expense of simple directions hearings. At the moment only a tribunal member can give those directions, and the amendments will, as I have mentioned, ensure greater cost efficiency, especially with these procedural-type matters. It will apply only to matters where the parties consent to the directions being made.

In relation to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2003, it will also be amended and a provision will be inserted so that in cases where there is dispute over the name of a child the
registrar is required to give notice to the applicants if the registrar chooses a name for a child. Amendments to the Supreme Court Act of Queensland 1991 expand the rule-making ability of
the Governor in Council to make rules concerning expert evidence. Any rule that is so made must be approved by the Rules Committee prior to it being made. The Chief Justice has requested that amendment, which will enable the making of modern rules that govern the receipt of expert evidence in civil matters.

In relation to the Bail Act, the bill inserts a new section 33D into that act to clarify that where a court has power to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person who has failed to appear before the court
the court may delay the issue or execution of the warrant to allow the person further opportunity to appear before the court. My understanding of the existing process is that the magistrate or whoever the judicial officer is would order the issuing of the warrant, which would then lie upon the table of the registry. But, of course, that creates extra and unnecessary work for the registry. Under this amendment there will be the ability to simply delay the issuing of the warrant to enable the person to appear, explain the non-appearance and avoid that additional work for the registry, as I have already mentioned.

In relation to the District Court of Queensland Act, this bill amends the act to confirm that a Supreme Court judge may in some circumstances act in the position of a District Court judge in District Court proceedings. This is an amendment made at the suggestion of the Chief Justice of Queensland and arose from a recent problem in the District Court at Townsville where a matter within that court's jurisdiction had to be dealt with at once but unfortunately no District Court judge was available. I suppose at the moment it is a bit unfortunate that that particular amendment will not apply to the Southport District Court, because we do not happen to have a Supreme Court down there. In general, this is a bill which tidies up a number of acts. I commend it to the House.

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