The Attorney-General is confident a long-awaited law and sentencing advisory council will begin work this year, with recruitment to start for the 13-member panel.
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Shane Rattenbury said the body would provide independent advice to the government.
"There have been calls from within the community for law reform and changes to sentencing. This council will operate independently, to address issues as they arise in a considered and consultative fashion," Mr Rattenbury said in a statement.
The council will include a former member of the judiciary, a senior law academic, an expert in juvenile justice, a victim advocate and two members of the community, the government said.
The recruitment drive follows an earlier failed procurement process to establish the body that delayed its formation.
The positions - which would be filled with a merit-based selection process - would be advertised from Monday, with expressions of interest sought from "appropriately qualified and representative people", the government said.
Mr Rattenbury said the council would make recommendations to government and also publish research and monitor the function of the territory's laws.
"An important function of the council will be to help bring together perspectives from across the community, to inform and advise on law reform and sentencing issues," he said in a statement.
"The council will undertake community and stakeholder consultation, and conduct and publish research, in order to make recommendations on the law reform and sentencing issues referred to it."
The $800,000 needed to establish the council will be drawn from the ACT's confiscated assets trust.
Ex-officio members of the council will be the ACT Chief Police Officer, the ACT Corrective Services commissioner, the Human Rights Commission president, a representative of the legal sector, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the president of the ACT Law Society and the president of the ACT Bar Association. Delegates can be appointed by those officeholders to represent the organisations on the council.
The council will be required to accept referrals from the Attorney-General for matters of consideration and will be able to suggest to the Attorney-General matters which the council believes should be referred to them, the terms of reference say.
The council chair must be a legal practitioner, former member of the judiciary or legal academic, unless otherwise selected by the Attorney-General.
The Justice and Community Safety Directorate will provide a secretariat to support the council, which can meet as many times as it believes is required in a year. The government had originally intended for an external body to be appointed to provide secretariat support.
Members of the council will be appointed for a year with the option of reappointment.
The council will be required to produce an annual report at the end of each calendar year that must be made public.
Mr Rattenbury announced the formation of the council in October 2022, following significant community pressure on the ACT government over the sentencing of people convicted of dangerous driving offences.
"A one-off sentencing review will give you a point-in-time answer, but I actually think having a group that can do sustained work and can proactively look at issues as well as reactively really puts the territory in the best position to have confidence that we are examining the issues that need to be examined," Mr Rattenbury said at the time.
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Mr Rattenbury said in October 2022 he hoped the council would be established in a matter of months.
The ACT government in May this year said the initial procurement process for the council "unfortunately was unsuccessful".
"Procurement work for this service is ongoing. The ACT government intends to explore opportunities to establish an interim solution as soon as possible," the statement said.
The government was also "currently reviewing whether there is an alternate model that could be used to establish the [council] as fast as possible on an interim basis".
The Canberra Liberals said the proposed composition of the council did not have enough community voices and criticised the "lethargic" speed taken to establish the body.
"There is a clear overrepresentation of government officials, legal professionals and academics allocated places on the council and minimal input from genuine community sources will be possible with only two council spaces for community members out of a total thirteen spaces," the shadow attorney-general, Peter Cain, said.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
