Senate debates
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill 2007; Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007; Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007; Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008; Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 2) 2007-2008
In Committee
4:00 pm
Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source
No. If you follow this through, it says:
(4) If a person fails to give assistance as required under subsection (2), the Federal Court may, on the application of the Secretary, order the person to comply with the requirement as specified in the order.
(5) If a person fails to give assistance as required under subsection (2), the person commits an offence against this subsection.
Penalty: 30 penalty units.
That is talking about assistance that is required to be provided to the secretary under subsection (2). I am sure that the minister is right; it is intended to go to court. What we have here is at best clumsy, badly written law which has been written in haste by the government and which will be regretted at length by the citizens. The minister ought to look at the clumsy, unsatisfactory way in which this section is constructed and correct it to make sure that it is clearly understood by anybody reading this section that charges have to be laid and that the courts have to be brought in to the matter—and not just for subsection (4) but for the whole of the clause.
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