Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

That is clear as far as it goes. The proposed new section 319(2) certainly does limit the capacity of courts to stay Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings. I have heard a few times that one of the government's intents here is to ensure that someone just cannot claim a general need to stay proceedings; they need to be more precise about arguing their reasons. I accept that to a degree, but I have to point out that a person could argue detail on one of the grounds contained in the proposed new section 319(2) till the cows come home and the courts still would not be able to stay the proceedings, no matter how much detail was provided. That section is explicit. If that is not the case, Minister, please stand up and say so, so that we can move on to other matters in this legislation. But we have not yet had an answer to the very simple question: if a court formed a reasonable view that in the interests of justice it should stay Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings on one of the grounds in proposed subsection (2), could it stay the proceedings or not? It is actually a 'yes' or 'no' question.