Senator PATTERSON (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) (1:14 PM) —I thank all honourable senators for their contribution to the debate. The purpose of the Law and Justice Legislation Amendment (Application of Criminal Code) Bill 2000 [2001] is to effect all necessary amendments to criminal offences and related provisions in acts administered by the Attorney-General in preparation for the application of the criminal code. Chapter 2 of the criminal code codifies the general principles of criminal responsibility at the Commonwealth level.

The criminal code is scheduled to be applied to all criminal offences and related provisions on 15 December 2001. It is part of a progressive project known as the harmonisation project, which is designed to prepare all Commonwealth criminal offences and related provisions on a portfolio by portfolio basis for the criminal code's application. The amendments proposed by the bill are designed to maintain the status quo; namely, to ensure that criminal offences and related provisions continue to operate in the same manner as at present following application of the criminal code. If the amendments proposed by this bill are not made prior to 15 December 2001, then many existing criminal offence provisions in the Attorney-General's portfolio will be constructed in a manner inconsistent with the criminal code's principle and may be interpreted and forced in an unfamiliar manner. It is for this reason that I commend this bill to the Senate.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill read a second time.