Chapter 1 - Introduction
Background
1.1
On 4
October 2005, the Senate referred the provisions of the Law and
Justice Legislation Amendment (Video Link Evidence and Other Measures) Bill
2005 (the Bill) to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for inquiry
and report by 1 November 2005.
1.2
The Bill seeks to amend:
-
the Crimes Act 1914 to create new video link
evidence provisions that apply to proceedings for terrorism and related
offences; and
-
the Foreign Evidence Act 1994 to facilitate
the use of foreign material as evidence in proceedings for terrorism and
related offences.
1.3
The
Bill also amends other legislation to, among other things, facilitate the
sharing of DNA profiles between Australian law enforcement agencies over a
national DNA database system.
Conduct of the inquiry
1.4
The committee advertised the inquiry in The Australian newspaper on 12 October 2005, and
invited submissions by 17 October
2005. Details of the inquiry, the Bill,
and associated documents were placed on the committee's website. The committee
also wrote to around 40 organisations and individuals.
1.5
The committee received 7 submissions which are listed
at Appendix 1. Submissions were placed on the committee's website for ease of
access by the public.
1.6
The committee held a public hearing in Sydney
on 21 October 2005. A list
of witnesses who appeared at the hearing is at Appendix 2 and copies of the
Hansard transcript are available through the Internet at http://aph.gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgement
1.7
The committee thanks those organisations and
individuals who made submissions and gave evidence at the public hearing.
Note on references
1.8
References in this report are to individual submissions
as received by the committee, not to a bound volume. References to the committee
Hansard are to the proof Hansard: page numbers may vary between the proof and the
official Hansard transcript.
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