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Crimes Amendment (Bullying) Bill 2011
Introduction Print
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
General
The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Crimes Act 1958 in order to make
the offence of stalking apply to situations of bullying, to make consequential
amendments to the Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2008 and the
Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010 and to make minor
amendments of a statute law revision nature.
Clause Notes
Clause 1 sets out the purposes of the Bill.
Clause 2 provides for Part 1 of the Bill to come into operation on the day
on which the Bill receives the Royal Assent.
Clause 5(2) is taken to have come into operation on 12 December
2007. It is necessary for this provision to operate retrospectively.
Clause 5(2) substitutes an existing reference in the Crimes Act
1958 to section 23 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act
1986 with new sections of that Act. The new sections were
introduced by section 95 of the Animals Legislation
Amendment (Animal Care) Act 2007 and are the same in
substance as the previous section 23. As such, under sections 16
and 17 of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984, the effect
of the old reference has continued since the date of the
amendment on 12 December 2007. Therefore, commencement
can be backdated without introducing a retrospective penalty.
Clause 8 is taken to have come into operation on 7 December
2008. It is necessary for this statute law revision amendment to
operate retrospectively from the date of commencement of
section 75(5) of the Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2008.
Currently, section 75(5) of the Act refers to the Firearms Act
571060 1 BILL LA INTRODUCTION 5/4/2011
but omits the date of that Act. Clause 8 inserts the date of that
Act in order to correct this error. Retrospective operation of this
amendment will not adversely affect any person.
The remaining provisions of the Bill come into operation on the
day after the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
Clause 3 amends the offence of stalking in section 21A of the Crimes Act
1958.
Currently, section 21A(2)(a) to (g) provides a list of conduct
capable of constituting a "course of conduct". Subclause (1)
extends this conduct by inserting new paragraphs (da), (db), (dc)
and (dd) into section 21A(2). The new conduct includes
behaviour that is often described as bullying.
Currently, section 21A(2)(g) provides for "acting in any other
way that could reasonably be expected to arouse apprehension or
fear in the victim for his or her own safety or that of any other
person". Subclause (2) substitutes section 21A(2)(g) in order to
broaden the definition of conduct to also include acting in any
other way that could reasonably be expected to cause a victim to
engage in self-harm.
Currently, under section 21A the offender must intend to cause
physical or mental harm to the victim. Subclause (3) amends the
fault element to include the intention to cause a person to engage
in self-harm. This aligns with the expanded description of
relevant conduct in subclause (2).
Subclause (4) is a consequential amendment made necessary by
the changes made in subclause (3).
Currently, "mental harm" is not defined in section 21A.
Subclause (5) inserts a new section 21A(8) which defines mental
harm to include psychological harm and suicidal thoughts.
Clause 4 inserts a new section 617 in the Crimes Act 1958.
This transitional provision states that all amendments made to
section 21A by section 3 of the Act apply only to offences
alleged to have been committed on or after the commencement of
section 3 of that Act.
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The offence of stalking involves a person engaging in a course of
conduct. Such conduct may occur over a number of days. If an
offence is alleged to have been committed between two dates,
one before and one after the commencement of section 3 of the
amending Act, the offence is alleged to have been committed
before that commencement.
Clause 5 makes statute law revision and other minor amendments to the
Crimes Act 1958.
Subclause (1) makes an amendment to section 464ZFA(1A) by
substituting the words "as the case may be,," with "as the case
may be,", that is, it removes the second comma.
Subclause (2) amends item 6 of Schedule 7, relating to summary
offences for which a person may be fingerprinted. The reference
to section "23" of the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Act
1986 is substituted with "24ZQ(3), 24ZR(1), 24ZR(2), 24ZR(3),
24ZS(1), 24ZS(2)" to reference new sections introduced by
section 95 of the Animals Legislation Amendment (Animal
Care) Act 2007. The substituted references are necessary to
refer to new provisions of the Prevention to Cruelty to Animals
Act 1986 that are the same in substance as the previous
section 23.
Clause 6 makes consequential amendments to sections 4(1)(a), 4(1)(b)
and 4(2) of the Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2008, and
inserts a new section 4(3) into that Act. These changes are
necessary to ensure consistency between the offence of stalking
as amended by clause 3 of this Bill and the definition of stalking
in the Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2008.
Clause 7 inserts a new section 62B into the Stalking Intervention Orders
Act 2008.
This transitional provision states that amendments made by the
amending Act apply only to applications for intervention orders
made on or after the commencement of that Act.
Clause 8 makes a statute law revision amendment to section 75(5) of the
Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2008 by inserting "1996"
after the words "Firearms Act" as the year of the Act was
omitted in describing the Act in section 75(5).
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Clause 9 makes consequential amendments to sections 10(1)(a), 10(1)(b)
and 10(2) of the Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010
and inserts a new section 10(3) into that Act. These changes are
necessary to ensure consistency between the offence of stalking
as amended by clause 3 of this Bill and the definition of stalking
in the Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010.
Clause 10 makes statute law revision amendments to the Personal Safety
Intervention Orders Act 2010.
Subclause (1) omits "special" from section 23(2)(b)(i) as the
word is now unnecessary.
Subclause (2) substitutes "2010." for "2010" in item 8.1 of the
Schedule, in proposed item 3.2A of Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the
Police Regulation Act 1958, that is, it inserts a full stop.
Subclause (3) substitutes "a family violence intervention
order" with "a family violence intervention order" and
"an intervention order" with "an intervention order" in item 9.3
of the Schedule, that is, it changes the words to bold as they
appear in a section heading.
Clause 11 provides for the automatic repeal of the amending Act on the
first anniversary of the day on which it receives Royal Assent.
The repeal of the Act does not affect in any way the operation
of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the
Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).
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