EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Parole (Amendment) Ordinance (No. 2) 1988

No. 39, 1988

The Parole (Amendment) Ordinance (No. 2) 1988 amends the  Parole Ordinance 1976 in order to broaden the criteria under which the Chairperson of the Parole Board may be appointed.  Prior to the amendment an appointee must be or have been a judge of the Federal Court or of a State or Territory Supreme Court.  The amendment allows persons who have been enrolled as a legal practitioner (however described) of the High Court or of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory for at least five years to be appointed.

The Ordinance also replaces references to “Chairman” with “Chairperson”.

Details of the Ordinance are:

Section 1 deals with citation.

Section 2 states that the Parole Ordinance 1976 is the Principal Ordinance.

Section 3 omits subsection 9(5) of the Principal Ordinance and substitutes a new subsection 9(5).  The new subsection 9(5) requires that a person shall not be appointed as Chairperson of the Parole Board unless he or she is or has been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory or the Supreme Court of a State or the Northern Territory, or unless he or she has been enrolled as a legal practitioner (however described) of the High Court or of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory for not less than five years.

Section 4 requires that a person appointed Acting Chairperson under section 13A of the Principal Ordinance must satisfy the requirements of the new subsection 9(5).

Section 5 substitutes “Chairperson” for “Chairman” in section 17.

Section 6 provides the Principal Ordinance is amended as set out in the Schedule.

The Schedule provides that in the provisions of the Principal Ordinance listed, references to “Chairman” are to be replaced with references to “Chairperson”.

Issued by Authority of the Minister for the Arts and Territories.