Justice committee  Right.

Justice committee  I'm not quite sure I understand.

Justice committee  That's a good point, but at the same time, there perhaps could be, for example, a contact breach. If someone is charged and one of the conditions is that they are not to have any contact with someone, their very contact could be argued to have caused harm even if it's not in itself going to rise to the level that it in itself would be a criminal act.

Justice committee  That's a good question. If the behaviour itself wouldn't amount to criminal activity, then perhaps yes. Perhaps all of those charges should then be referred to this judicial referral hearing. Ultimately, the further release will be determined at that point. I take your point, and I think I agree with it, that if further contact isn't itself criminal behaviour, why is that behaviour being criminalized?

Justice committee  There will be a consequence for that person. Again, the police obviously have the discretion to do nothing. The police can give a warning, as we know they do now. Sometimes police just give a warning, such as “You're breaching your condition. Don't do it again or you're going to get charged.”

Justice committee  That could ultimately be the case, or it could be that maybe they require being moved up of the ladder, for example, or additional conditions. It's kind of like another bail hearing. It may be required to move up the ladder or the conditions, as appropriate.

Justice committee  Well, the qualifier is what is referenced, the specific administration of justice offences that don't cause harm. I of course want to focus on them.

Justice committee  Obviously there will be administration of justice charges going forward, and the legislation, obviously, is not going to change that. What I'm suggesting is that when there is no harm caused by these offences, the proposed regime in the legislation should adequately take into consideration what is needed to determine whether or not that person should be released with the same conditions they were on, perhaps have further conditions added, or be ultimately detained.

Justice committee  Thanks, Kendall. For the final part of our submissions, we'd like to address the proposed regime to deal with the offences of the administration of justice, particularly when there's no harm involved in those offences. Now, as I believe this committee has heard, these types of offences do play a considerable role in clogging up the courts.