Schedule 1 Amendment of Bail Act 1978 No 161

(Section 3)

[1]   Section 53 Definitions (as inserted by Schedule 1 [7] to the Criminal Procedure Legislation Amendment (Bail Agreements) Act 1998)

Omit “representing the Crown” from the definition of appropriate State authority.

[2]   Section 53P Crown etc party to forfeiture proceedings (as inserted by Schedule 1 [7] to the Criminal Procedure Legislation Amendment (Bail Agreements) Act 1998)

Insert “and the appropriate State authority” after “Crown”.

Explanatory note

Part 7A of the Bail Act 1978 provides a mechanism for the enforcement of bail agreements entered into under section 36 of that Act. A bail agreement is an agreement under which an accused person, or some other person, agrees to forfeit money (by the operation of a forfeiture order) if an accused person’s bail undertaking is not complied with.

Under Part 7A, notice of an objection to the confirmation of a forfeiture order must be given to the appropriate State authority. The term appropriate State authority is defined for the purposes of Part 7A as “such person or body representing the Crown as is declared by the regulations to be the appropriate State authority for the purposes of this Part”.

Item [1] provides that the term “appropriate State authority” is not restricted to a person or body representing the Crown (eg the amendment will enable the declaration of non-Crown bodies such as locals councils).

Item [2] provides that the appropriate State authority, in addition to the Crown, is entitled to appear and be heard at, and is taken to be a party to, forfeiture proceedings under Part 7A.