ATTORNEY GENERAL — LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
1243. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
I refer to the following projects
promised by the Attorney General and ask, in respect of each, its status and
that of any legislation necessary for its establishment, including whether such
legislation has received approval to draft or approval to print, and the date
of that approval.
(1) Asbestos
diseases compensation legislation, for which the Attorney General received
economic and financial analysis and associated advice on 15 August 2018.
(2) The justice
pipeline planning and assessment model, for which $850 000 was budgeted in 2017–18
and which was subject to peer review in June 2019.
(3) The remaining
reforms to the Coroner's Court, which were under consideration in June
2019.
(4) Amendments to
the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 1996, which were being drafted
in June 2019.
(5) The Western Australian
Office of Crime Statistics and Research, which was established in June 2019.
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The government is considering the options for
reform arising out of the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission
of Western Australia's ''Project 106 — Provisional
Damages and Damages for Gratuitous Services''.
These recommendations have given rise to complex legal and practical issues
that have necessitated significant further work.
(2) The justice
pipeline model is complete and fully operational. The Western Australian Office
of Crime Statistics and Research and the Department of Treasury continue to
work together to determine how the justice
pipeline model can best be used to inform and evaluate criminal justice
policies and programs. In its first major determination, the justice
pipeline model was recently used to set the allocation of more than $55 million
to the criminal justice system in response to the McGowan government's
recruitment of 800 additional police officers in the 2020–21 state
budget.
(3) Amendments to the Coroners Act
1996 are in the drafting process.
(4) The
government continues to progress the drafting of a bill to repeal and replace
the Criminal Law (Mentally Impaired Accused) Act 1996, noting that these are
complex reforms requiring significant work and careful thought.
(5) The Western Australian Office of Crime Statistics
and Research has been established within the Department of Justice. In its first year of operation, WACSAR
has been funded from within the Department of Justice's existing
budget. Thus far in its first year, WACSAR has focused mainly on building
analytical capacity, transferring existing internal and external research and
evaluation functions to the office, and establishing data-sharing arrangements
with other agencies.