Senator PATTERSON (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) (1:00 PM) —The Treasury Legislation Amendment (Application of Criminal Code) Bill (No. 2) 2001 makes consequential amendments to certain offence provisions in the legislation administered by the Treasurer to reflect the application of the Criminal Code Act 1995 to existing offence provisions from 15 December 2001. They clarify the physical elements of an offence and corresponding fault elements where those fault elements vary from those specified in the Criminal Code. The amendments also specify whether an offence is one of strict or absolute liability. In the absence of such an amendment, offences previously interpreted as being one of strict or absolute liability would be interpreted as not being one of strict or absolute liability. In addition, the amendments restate the defences to an offence separately from the words of the offence.

The amendments moved by the government to this bill relate to the interaction between the Criminal Code and the proposed Financial Services Reform Act. The proposed amendments ensure that the Criminal Code does not apply to offences against certain provisions that are being repealed or amended by the proposed Financial Services Reform Act that are not compliant with the Criminal Code. The bill does not change the criminal law, rather it ensures that the current law is maintained following the application of the Criminal Code to Commonwealth legislation. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill read a second time.