Proposed new laws limiting self-defence for people accused of attacking police are set to come under closer scrutiny – twice – following concerns raised by local defence lawyers.
The Legislative Assembly is set to refer Attorney-General Simon Corbell's bill to the Standing Community on Justice and Community Safety after a push from the Opposition.
And Mr Corbell says he wants the issue looked at by the academics and the law enforcement experts of the Law Reform Advisory Council.
The matter was brought to a head early this month after local lawyers wrote to the Government and Opposition, in letters obtained by The Canberra Times.
Veteran barrister Jack Pappas and solicitor Ben Aulich, principal of Ben Aulich and Associates, have called for the proposed changes to be dropped.
"Innocent citizens of the territory should not be robbed of the important protection of self-defence on the terms proposed," Mr Pappas wrote.
And Mr Aulich said self-defence was an important and entrenched legal protection.
"To effectively rob a citizen of self-defence because a complainant is a police officer is bound to leave unjust outcomes," he wrote.
Currently self-defence provisions allow defendants to use reasonable force to resist what they believe to be unlawful arrest.
The Government had argued the provision, which harks back to 17th century England, is outdated and irrelevant.
The changes would mean so long as a police officer successfully argued they honestly believed the arrest was lawful self-defence could not apply – even if it wasn't lawful.
Defendants would still be able to claim self-defence in the face of harm or threats from police.
Mr Corbell earlier today told The Canberra Times the letters from Mr Aulich and Mr Pappas gave him enough concern to refer the matter to the LRAC.
"Clearly there is some concern from senior members of the defence bar, and I think it's important I have regard to that," he said.
Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Vicki Dunne accused Mr Corbell of political one-up-man-ship in raising the matter the same day she moved to put the bill to the committee.
"I think that it is time wasting and we will be cutting each other's grass if we have two inquiries," Ms Dunne said.
But the Attorney-General denied the charge, saying he had been contemplating referring the bill for the past week after closely reading Mr Aulich and Mr Pappas' letters.
Mr Corbell indicated the Government probably wouldn't oppose the issue being debated in the committee.
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