False

Achievement of Objectives

The Explanatory Notes (pp 2-3) provide:

• The Bill achieves the objective of increasing the penalty unit value and introducing a nominal administration fee on criminal justice matters by amending the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992.
• The Bill addresses the unintended expiry of the Childrens Court Rules 1997 and the Land Court Rules 2000 by amending the Childrens Court Act 1992 and the Land Court Act 2000 to apply the rules retrospectively from the time they expired and validating anything done or purported to be done under the rules during the time of expiry. The Bill also ensures that rules of courts and tribunals are not subject to provisions in the Statutory Instruments Act 1992 relating to automatic expiry of subordinate legislation or the requirement for a regulatory impact statement.
• The Bill amends the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 to expand the definition of ‘relationship’ to include a ‘registered relationship’, as defined in section 36 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954.
• The Bill facilitates the giving of evidence to commissions of inquiry by amending the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1950.
• The Bill amends the Industrial Relations Act 1999 and the Industrial Relations Regulation 2011, to enable a health employer to make deductions from amounts payable to health employees in relation to their employment to recover any future overpayment (an amount paid to a health employee which they are not entitled to).
• The amendments also permit a health employer to recover, by deduction from a health employee’s final payment, any amount of transition loan that has not been repaid. The transition loan is not required to be paid during the period that an employee is a health employee. Other arrangements in relation to repayment of the transition loan, as agreed between a health employer and health employee, will be provided for in a ruling (directive) under the Public Service Act 2008 to be made by the time the amendments commence.

Call for Submissions

Submissions closed on Tuesday, 17 July 2012.

Consultation

The Explanatory Notes (p 5) provide:

Consultation has occurred with all relevant government departments including the Queensland Audit Office. All departments have supported the proposed policy approach. In addition, consultation has occurred with the heads of jurisdiction in relation to the amendments to the rules of court. The Commission of the Queensland Child Protection Inquiry has been consulted on the amendments to the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1950.

In relation to the amendments contained in the Industrial Relations Act 1999, unions have, through ongoing monthly meetings with QH, provided in-principle support for a recovery process.

There has been no public consultation on the amendments in the Bill.

Objective

The objectives of the Penalties and Sentences and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 (the Bill) are to: 

• Increase the value of a penalty unit from $100 to $110;
• Introduce a nominal administration fee on criminal justice matters in the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts where an offender is found guilty;
• Address the expiry of certain rules of court;
• Expand the definition of ‘relationship’ in section 67(7) of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011;
• Facilitate the recovery of any overpayments and the transition loan paid to employees of Queensland Health or a Hospital or Health Service established under the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011; and
• Streamline the provisions of evidence to commissions of inquiry.

The Bill also makes minor and technical amendments to legislation within the justice portfolio.

Other Information

The Penalties and Sentences and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 and Explanatory Notes are available from the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The Hansard transcript of the explanatory speech for the Bill can be found at: www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/HALnks/120711/Penalties.pdf

Overview

On 11 July 2012 the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Hon Jarrod Bleijie MP, introduced the Penalties and Sentences and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 into the Queensland Parliament. Subsequently, Parliament referred the Bill to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration.

Reasons for the Bill

The Explanatory Notes (pp 1-2) provide the following:

The main purposes of the Bill are to implement the Government’s election commitment by increasing the penalty unit from $100 to $110; and introducing a nominal administration fee on criminal justice matters where an offender is found guilty.

The Bill also specifically addresses issues with payments made by Queensland Health (QH) to its employees since its new payroll and rostering system went live in March 2010. While the majority of systems errors have been rectified, new overpayments due to processing and documentation problems accumulate at an average rate of $1.7 million each fortnight. A moratorium on recovery of overpayments, announced on 10 July 2011, was lifted on 30 May 2012, and QH plans to commence recovery of overpayments as they occur. In addition, to minimise the risk of future overpayments or underpayments, QH proposes to change the pay date of future pay cycles (from 3 to 10 days after the end of the normal pay period), allowing more time for accurate payroll processing. As part of those changes, employees will be given a once-off transition loan to assist them to honour their financial commitments over the time of the transition to the new pay date. These and other arrangements dealing with the repayment of the transition loan by agreement will form part of a public service ruling (directive). The Bill enables a health employer (QH or a Hospital or Health Service established under the Hospital and Health Bards Act 2011) to make deduction from future payments and final payments to health employees to recover overpayments and outstanding transition loan amounts.

Report

On 23 July 2012, the Committee tabled its Report No. 5, Penalties and Sentences and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012. A copy of the report is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Government tabled its response to the Committee's report on 31 July 2012. A copy of the Government Response is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Penalties and Sentences and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 was passed, with amendment, by the Legislative Assembly on1 August 2012 .