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| Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time. The purpose of this bill is to introduce a comprehensive package of amendments to support the government’s new area in corrections framework, and which are designed to contribute to decreasing prison numbers and recidivism in the Territory. It is widely known that the Territory has the highest recidivism rate in Australia and currently at 47.9% compared to a national average of 37.6%. Recidivism means the percentage of prisoners who are released from corrective services and who return within two years following a further sentencing episode. The government is committed to cutting the Territory’s recidivism rate to align with the national average. The Territory’s prison population has also grown steadily over the last 20 years with an imprisonment rate greater than other Australian jurisdictions. The Territory’s prisons are at capacity and the rate of incarceration is unacceptable. To assist in achieving the outcomes in a new era in corrections or reduced imprisonment and re-offending rates, the centrepiece of the bill is the two new tougher sentencing orders targeting offending behaviour. The community based order and the community custody order. The introduction of a new sentencing option called, the Community Based Order, aims to provide supervision in the community and mandate programs, treatment or training with the option for a court to order electronic monitoring and community work. The introduction of a new sentencing option called the Community Custody Order, which is deemed imprisonment in the community for a term of up to twelve months and which mandates intensive supervision by community corrections, community work and programs, treatment or training. Other elements of the bill include the introduction of electronic monitoring and a form of home detention for bail and parole. The new orders also provide for the support and supervision of offenders in the community rather than in actual prison. They are largely modelled on Victorian provisions, although Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia have similar sentencing options. The Community Based Order is a non-custodial sentencing option and is targeted at lower end offenders. The order will be available to the court to impose on offenders for up to two years whether or not a conviction is recorded in relation to the offence. A Community Based Order is not available to impose on offenders convicted of sexual or violent offences. While on a Community Based Order an offender must comply with certain statutory conditions, including been subject to ongoing supervision of probation officers charged with supervising them. The court may additionally order a number of other conditions, including that an offender undertake prescribed programs, undergo assessment and treatment for misuse of alcohol or drugs, physiological and physiatrist treatment, perform community work, or be subject to electronic monitoring. If an offender breeches his or her Community Based Order the court may vary the order, confirm it, or revoke the order and re-sentence the offender while taking into account the extent of the offender’s compliance with the order. The Community Custody Order is a custodial sentencing option available where an offender receives a custodial sentence of up to 12 months and the court orders it to be served by way of community custody order. It is deemed imprisonment and, like the Community Based Order, it is not available to impose on offenders convicted of sexual or violent offences. The Community Custody Order has some similar features to the Community Based Order, but the level of supervision is more intensive. The offender must report to a place for 12 hours per week to perform a minimum of eight hours of community work. The balance of the time is to be spent undergoing counselling or treatment for a specified physiological, physiatrist problem or for misuse of drugs or alcohol. This number of hours can be increased by the Director of Correctional Services to 20 hours per week and can comprise further community work hours, or a combination of community work hours or programs targeting employment skills. The Director may direct that the offender undertake the further hours if it is appropriate to do so in light of the offender’s circumstances such as whether from time to time the offender is employed or not. Under the Community Custody Order, the offender must also report to or receive visits from a probation officer at least twice a week. Another key difference compared to the Community Based Order is the consequences of breach. If the offender breaches the Community Custody Order and the breach was by committing an offence while on the order, the court must revoke the order and unless there are exceptional circumstances which would make it unjust to do so, sentence the offender to imprisonment for the unexpired portion of the term of imprisonment originally ordered. If the offender breaches any other condition of the order, the court may confirm, vary or revoke the order and sentence the offender to imprisonment for the unexpired portion of the term of imprisonment originally ordered. Common to both the Community Based Order and the Community Custody Order is the possibility for the offender to remain in the community and engage in employment or community work. Where an offender is not employed some of the prescribed programs may assist is preparing for and seeking employment. Consideration will be given as to the suitability of an offender for these types of orders, and the suitable conditions of the orders in pre-sentence reports. Electronic monitoring of an offender on one of these orders is also an option to provide for a higher degree of monitoring and supervision. Programs for both orders are being developed by both government and non-government providers and will be prescribed by regulation following passage of the bill. These include: · the drink driver education course; · programs targeting road safety; · alcohol rehabilitation; and · programs addressing anger management and life skills. Approximately 25% of the prison population is made up of driving offenders who serve an average of 75 days. This provides limited opportunity to access treatment or training programs targeting alcohol misuse and bad driving behaviour. Driving offenders are almost always disqualified from obtaining a licence and, when released from prison, are placed at risk of quickly committing a further driving offence, particularly if they are placed in a situation where there is no alternative for them but to drive while disqualified from doing so. This further contributes to the revolving door of recidivism. What this cohort of offender needs is intervention, supportive training, and rehabilitation targeting their offending behaviour such as treatment for alcohol misuse. Under the new era in Corrections, this cohort will be able to be diverted from prisons to an appropriate residential treatment and training centre. To support this, the bill also contains provisions allowing a court order that an offender be given a licence to drive while supervised while undertaking practical training as part of a program targeting the rehabilitation of drink- or drug-driving and road safety. These provisions are necessary to overcome the legal problem that if an offender is driving on a road, even during training, the offender is technically committing the offence of driving whilst disqualified. The provisions also enable the offender to continue to drive while supervised, and on the order, to obtain further practical experience and to meet the requirement in the Motor Vehicles Act that a learner undertake practical training for a continuous period of six months. The bill also contains provisions to enable a court, in its discretion and taking into account a number of factors such as community safety and the rehabilitation of the offender, to remove mandatory licence disqualification or suspensions and demerit points to allow an offender who has completed a community-based order or a community custody order and specified programs to obtain a driver’s licence, alcohol interlock licence, or learner’s licence. Some offenders will have outstanding fines being enforced by the Fine Recovery Unit, or may have had their licence suspended under the regime in the Fines and Penalties Recovery Act. While on the programs as part of their community-based order or community custody order, offenders will be assisted and encouraged through programs to enter into time to pay plans under the act and, thereby, be able to get their licence. The amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act made by this bill will be beneficial to offenders who engage effectively in programs and demonstrate their rehabilitation and willingness to change. It will not permit every driving offender to get their licence back. Not only does the offender need to successfully complete the prescribed program targeting drug or alcohol misuse or road safety, he or she also needs to complete a community-based order or community custody order. If the offender breaches their community-based order or community custody order, the court may revoke the order granting them the ability to apply for a licence and lifting their disqualifications and suspensions. This means that even after the order has expired if it is discovered the offender breached the community-based order or community custody order while it was enforced, the offender’s licence may be revoked, their pre-existing disqualifications reinstated, and their pre-existing demerit points reactivated. If the offender breached his or her community custody order by committing an offence, the court has no choice but to revoke the order. The bill makes a number of other amendments as part of the new era in Corrections package. The introduction of electronic and voice recognition monitoring for bail and parole, and amendments to the monitoring powers for surveillance officers who are probation officers, so they will be able to monitor compliance with the conditions of the new orders. The bill also amends the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act to include in the definition of ‘worker’, adults on community work orders and adults on community-based orders or community custody orders who are subject to a community work condition. The bill also makes a number of amendments to the Youth Justice Act to clarify that the new sentencing options are not available to youths unless they are being tried as adults in the Supreme Court for indictable offences. The development of an alternative approach is required to address juvenile offending, and this will be considered as a separate review of the Youth Justice Act. Finally, the bill also makes a number of minor amendments of a statute law revision nature as listed in the schedules to the bill. The amendments in this bill will be supported by significant government investment in resources for the new era in Corrections, including a significant investment in additional resources for Community Corrections to manage the new orders, provide rigorous assessment to inform court decisions, and to provide enhanced monitoring and supervision functions. The additional officers will be stationed across the Territory in each of the regional centres, the growth towns of Wadeye, Yuendumu and Lajamanu, in Nhulunbuy and on Groote Eylandt. The first 18 Community Corrections officers will be recruited this financial year. There will be an additional 45 beds in supported accommodation for alcohol and drug treatment services in Katherine, Alice Springs and Darwin. Improved integration and post-release support. The introduction of travel and community work crews in Alice Springs and Darwin, and the establishment of an intensive driver offending program, supported by residential treatment and training centres. The new era in Corrections legislation is further supported by new infrastructure, including the construction of a Corrections precinct in Darwin, a prisoner work camp in Tennant Creek, and a prison farm and work camp in Katherine. Madam Speaker, this bill represents a significant part of a comprehensive package of innovations in managing and rehabilitating offenders. The new era in Corrections package also includes non-legislative components, such as post-release from prison reintegration, support and accommodation, and the expansion of the Elders Visiting Program. This bill represents a significant step towards making the Territory a safer community by mandating supervision and support for the rehabilitation of offenders. Without this intervention, the rate of recidivism will continue to rise to unsustainable levels. The government consulted with a number of stakeholders in the criminal justice system, including the legal profession and the judiciary. I would like to thank those stakeholders for their valuable insight and contribution to the development of this bill. I commend the bill to honourable members and table a copy of the explanatory statement. Debate adjourned. |