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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
FAMILY SERVICES
AMENDMENT BILL 1999
Queensland
FAMILY SERVICES AMENDMENT BILL
1999
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
PART 1--PRELIMINARY
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
PART 2--AMENDMENT OF FAMILY SERVICES ACT 1987
3 Act amended in pt 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4 Amendment of s 4 (Interpretation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5 Insertion of new pt 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
PART 4--CRIMINAL HISTORIES OF PERSONS ENGAGED
BY THE DEPARTMENT
Division 1--Preliminary
18 Persons engaged by the department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
19 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
20 This part applies despite the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation
of Offenders) Act 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
21 Chief executive to advise of duties of disclosure etc. . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Division 2--Disclosure of criminal history
22 Persons seeking to be engaged by the department must
disclose criminal history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
23 Persons engaged by the department must disclose changes
in criminal history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
24 Requirements for disclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
25 False, misleading or incomplete disclosure or failure to disclose . . 8
2
Family Services Amendment
Division 3--Chief executive may obtain information from other
entities about criminal history and certain investigations
26 Chief executive may obtain report from commissioner of
police service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
27 Prosecuting authority to notify chief executive about
committal, conviction etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Division 4--Controls on use of information about criminal history
and certain investigations
28 Use of information obtained under this part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
29 Person to be advised of information obtained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
30 Confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
31 Guidelines for dealing with information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6 Insertion of new s 61 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
61 Approved forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
PART 3--AMENDMENT OF CRIMINAL LAW
(REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS) ACT 1986
7 Act amended in pt 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8 Amendment of s 9A (Disclosure of particulars in special cases) . . . . . . . . 14
1999
A BILL
FOR
An Act to amend the Family Services Act 1987 and another Act
s1 4 s4
Family Services Amendment
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
ART 1--PRELIMINARY 2
P
title 3
Short
Clause 1. This Act may be cited as the Family Services Amendment Act 1999. 4
5
Commencement
Clause 2. This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation. 6
PART 2--AMENDMENT OF FAMILY SERVICES ACT 7
1987 8
amended in pt 2 9
Act
Clause 3. This part amends the Family Services Act 1987. 10
of s 4 (Interpretation) 11
Amendment
Clause 4.(1) Section 4, heading-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`Definitions'. 14
(2) Section 4-- 15
insert-- 16
` "approved form" see section 61. 17
"charge", of an offence, means a charge in any form, including, for 18
example, the following-- 19
(a) a charge on an arrest; 20
s4 5 s4
Family Services Amendment
(b) a notice to appear served under the Police Powers and 1
Responsibilities Act 1997, section 40;1 2
(c) a complaint under the Justices Act 1886; 3
(d) a charge by a court under the Justices Act 1886, section 42(1A)2 4
or another provision of an Act; 5
(e) an indictment. 6
"conviction" includes a finding of guilt by a court, or the acceptance of a 7
plea of guilty by a court, whether or not a conviction is recorded. 8
"criminal history", of a person, means-- 9
(a) every conviction of the person for an offence, in Queensland or 10
elsewhere, and whether before or after the commencement of this 11
definition; and 12
(b) every charge made against the person for an offence, in 13
Queensland or elsewhere, and whether before or after the 14
commencement of this definition. 15
"engaged by the department" see section 18(2). 16
"sentence", of a person, means any penalty or imprisonment ordered to be 17
paid or served, or any other order made, by a court after the person is 18
convicted of an offence. 19
"serious offence" means-- 20
(a) an offence against a provision mentioned in the schedule to the 21
Penalties and Sentences Act 1992;3 or 22
(b) an offence against the Drugs Misuse Act 1986, section 9;4 or 23
(c) an offence of counselling or procuring the commission of, or 24
attempting or conspiring to commit, an offence mentioned in 25
paragraph (a) or (b).'. 26
1 Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 1997, section 40 (Notice to appear may be
issued for offence)
2 Justices Act 1886, section 42 (Commencement of proceedings)
3 Penalties and Sentences Act 1992, schedule (Serious violent offences)
4 Drugs Misuse Act 1986, section 9 (Possessing dangerous drugs)
s5 6 s5
Family Services Amendment
of new pt 4 1
Insertion
Clause 5. After section 17-- 2
insert-- 3
`PART 4--CRIMINAL HISTORIES OF PERSONS 4
ENGAGED BY THE DEPARTMENT 5
`Division 1--Preliminary 6
engaged by the department 7
`Persons
`18.(1) This part is about the chief executive obtaining the criminal 8
histories of persons engaged by the department and other information about 9
the persons. 10
`(2) Each of the following persons is "engaged by the department"-- 11
(a) a public service employee in the department; 12
(b) an honorary officer; 13
(c) an agent; 14
(d) a person working in the department as a volunteer or as a student 15
on work experience. 16
urpose 17
`P
`19. The purpose of this part is to ensure the chief executive has all the 18
relevant information the chief executive needs to assess a person's 19
suitability to be, or continue to be, engaged by the department. 20
part applies despite the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of 21
`This
Offenders) Act 1986 22
`20. This part applies to a person despite anything in the Criminal Law 23
(Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 1986. 24
s5 7 s5
Family Services Amendment
executive to advise of duties of disclosure etc. 1
`Chief
`21. Before a person is engaged by the department, the chief executive 2
must tell the person-- 3
(a) of the person's duties of disclosure under this part; and 4
(b) that the chief executive may obtain the information about the 5
person mentioned in section 26;5 and 6
(c) that guidelines for dealing with information obtained by the chief 7
executive under this part are available from the chief executive on 8
request. 9
`Division 2--Disclosure of criminal history 10
seeking to be engaged by the department must disclose 11
`Persons
criminal history 12
`22. A person seeking to be engaged by the department must disclose to 13
the chief executive, before being engaged-- 14
(a) whether or not the person has a criminal history; and 15
(b) if the person has a criminal history--the person's complete 16
criminal history. 17
engaged by the department must disclose changes in 18
`Persons
criminal history 19
`23.(1) If there is a change in the criminal history of a person engaged by 20
the department, the person must immediately disclose to the chief executive 21
the details of the change. 22
`(2) For a person who does not have a criminal history, there is taken to 23
be a change in the person's criminal history if the person acquires a criminal 24
history. 25
5 Section 26 (Chief executive may obtain report from commissioner of police
service)
s5 8 s5
Family Services Amendment
for disclosure 1
`Requirements
`24.(1) To comply with section 22 or 23, a person must give the chief 2
executive a disclosure in the approved form. 3
`(2) The information disclosed by a person about a conviction or charge 4
of an offence in the person's criminal history must include-- 5
(a) the existence of the conviction or charge; and 6
(b) when the offence was committed or alleged to have been 7
committed; and 8
(c) the details of the offence or alleged offence; and 9
(d) for a conviction--whether or not a conviction was recorded and 10
the sentence imposed on the person. 11
misleading or incomplete disclosure or failure to disclose 12
`False,
`25.(1) A person must not-- 13
(a) give the chief executive a disclosure for the purposes of this 14
division that is false, misleading or incomplete in a material 15
particular; or 16
(b) fail to give the chief executive a disclosure as required under 17
section 23, unless the person has a reasonable excuse. 18
Maximum penalty--20 penalty units. 19
`(2) Subsection (1)(a) does not apply to a person in relation to particular 20
information that the person is unable to provide if the person-- 21
(a) indicates in the disclosure the information that the person is 22
unable to provide; and 23
(b) otherwise gives the information in the disclosure to the best of the 24
person's ability. 25
`(3) In a proceeding for an offence against subsection (1)(a), it is enough 26
for a charge to state that the disclosure was, without specifying which, 27
`false, misleading or incomplete'. 28
s5 9 s5
Family Services Amendment
3--Chief executive may obtain information from other entities 1
`Division
about criminal history and certain investigations 2
executive may obtain report from commissioner of police service 3
`Chief
`26.(1) This section applies to a person who-- 4
(a) is engaged by the department; or 5
(b) seeks to be engaged by the department and has given the chief 6
executive a disclosure for the purposes of division 2. 7
`(2) The chief executive may ask the commissioner of the police service 8
to give the chief executive the following information about the person-- 9
(a) a written report about the person's criminal history; 10
(b) a brief description of the circumstances of a conviction or charge 11
mentioned in the person's criminal history; 12
(c) information about an investigation relating to the possible 13
commission of a serious offence by the person. 14
`(3) Subject to subsections (4) and (5), the commissioner of the police 15
service must comply with the request. 16
`(4) The duty imposed on the commissioner of the police service to 17
comply with the request-- 18
(a) applies only to information in the commissioner's possession or 19
to which the commissioner has access; and 20
(b) in relation to information mentioned in subsection (2)(c)--applies 21
only to information recorded on a central electronic database kept 22
by the commissioner. 23
`(5) The commissioner of the police service must not give information 24
about an investigation relating to the possible commission of a serious 25
offence by the person if-- 26
(a) the commissioner is reasonably satisfied that giving the 27
information-- 28
(i) may prejudice or otherwise hinder an investigation to which 29
the information may be relevant; or 30
(ii) may lead to the identification of an informant; or 31
s5 10 s5
Family Services Amendment
(iii) may affect the safety of a police officer, complainant or other 1
person; or 2
(b) for an investigation that has been completed--the investigation 3
has not led, and the commissioner is reasonably satisfied it is 4
unlikely to lead, to a reasonable suspicion that the person 5
committed a serious offence; or 6
(c) for an investigation that has not been completed--the 7
commissioner is reasonably satisfied the investigation is unlikely 8
to lead to a reasonable suspicion that the person committed a 9
serious offence. 10
authority to notify chief executive about committal, 11
`Prosecuting
conviction etc. 12
`27.(1) This section applies if a person is charged with an indictable 13
offence and the commissioner of the police service or the director of public 14
prosecutions (a "prosecuting authority") is aware that the person is 15
engaged by the department. 16
`(2) If the person is committed by a court for trial for an indictable 17
offence, the prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after the committal, 18
give written notice to the chief executive of the following-- 19
(a) the person's name; 20
(b) the court; 21
(c) particulars of the offence; 22
(d) the date of the committal; 23
(e) the court to which the person was committed. 24
`(3) If the person is convicted before a court of an indictable offence, the 25
prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after the conviction, give written 26
notice to the chief executive of the following-- 27
(a) the person's name; 28
(b) the court; 29
(c) particulars of the offence; 30
(d) the date of the conviction; 31
s5 11 s5
Family Services Amendment
(e) the sentence imposed by the court. 1
`(4) If the person is convicted of an indictable offence, and has appealed 2
the conviction, and the appeal is finally decided or has otherwise ended, the 3
prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after the decision or the day the 4
appeal otherwise ends, give written notice to the chief executive of the 5
following-- 6
(a) the person's name; 7
(b) particulars of the offence; 8
(c) the date of the decision or other ending of the appeal; 9
(d) if the appeal was decided-- 10
(i) the court in which it was decided; and 11
(ii) particulars of the decision. 12
`(5) If the prosecution process ends without the person being convicted 13
of an indictable offence, the prosecuting authority must, within 7 days after 14
the end, give written notice to the chief executive about the following-- 15
(a) the person's name; 16
(b) if relevant--the court in which the prosecution process ended; 17
(c) particulars of the offence; 18
(d) the date the prosecution process ended. 19
`(6) For subsection (5), a prosecution process ends if-- 20
(a) an indictment is presented against the person and-- 21
(i) a nolle prosequi is entered on the indictment; or 22
(ii) the person is acquitted; or 23
(b) the prosecution process has otherwise ended. 24
s5 12 s5
Family Services Amendment
`Division 4--Controls on use of information about criminal history and 1
certain investigations 2
of information obtained under this part 3
`Use
`28.(1) This section applies to the chief executive in considering 4
information about a person received under this part. 5
`(2) The information must not be used for any purpose other than 6
assessing the person's suitability to be, or continue to be, engaged by the 7
department. 8
`(3) When making the assessment, the chief executive must have regard 9
to the following matters relating to information about the commission, or 10
alleged or possible commission, of an offence by the person-- 11
(a) when the offence was committed, is alleged to have been 12
committed or may possibly have been committed; 13
(b) the nature of the offence and its relevance to the person's 14
proposed duties or duties under the sought engagement or 15
engagement; 16
(c) anything else the chief executive considers relevant to the 17
assessment of the person. 18
to be advised of information obtained 19
`Person
`29.(1) This section applies to information obtained by the chief executive 20
about a person, under this part, from the commissioner of the police service. 21
`(2) Before using the information to assess the person's suitability to be, 22
or continue to be, engaged by the department, the chief executive must-- 23
(a) disclose the information to the person; and 24
(b) allow the person a reasonable opportunity to make representations 25
to the chief executive about the information. 26
27
`Confidentiality
`30.(1) This section applies to a person who-- 28
(a) is, or has been, a public service employee in the department or a 29
s5 13 s5
Family Services Amendment
selection panel member; and 1
(b) in that capacity acquired information, or gained access to a 2
document, under this part about someone else's criminal history 3
or about an investigation relating to the possible commission of a 4
serious offence by someone else. 5
(2) The person must not disclose the information, or give access to the 6
document, to anyone else. 7
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment. 8
`(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to the disclosure of information, or 9
giving of access to a document, about a person-- 10
(a) to a public service employee in the department, or a selection 11
panel member, for the purpose of assessing the person's 12
suitability to be, or continue to be, engaged by the department; or 13
(b) with the person's consent; or 14
(c) if the disclosure or giving of access is otherwise required under an 15
Act. 16
(4) In this section-- 17
"selection panel member" means a member of a panel formed to make a 18
recommendation to the chief executive about a person's engagement 19
by the department. 20
for dealing with information 21
`Guidelines
`31.(1) The chief executive must make guidelines, consistent with this 22
Act, for dealing with information obtained by the chief executive under this 23
part. 24
`(2) The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure-- 25
(a) natural justice is afforded to the persons about whom the 26
information is obtained; and 27
(b) only relevant information is used in assessing the persons' 28
suitability to be, or continue to be, engaged by the department; and 29
(c) decisions about the suitability of persons, based on the 30
information, are made consistently. 31
s6 14 s8
Family Services Amendment
`(3) The chief executive must give a copy of the guidelines, on request, to 1
a person seeking to be engaged, or engaged, by the department.'. 2
of new s 61 3
Insertion
Clause 6. Part 6, after section 60-- 4
insert-- 5
forms 6
`Approved
`61. The chief executive may approve forms for use under this Act.'. 7
ART 3--AMENDMENT OF CRIMINAL LAW 8
P
(REHABILITATION OF OFFENDERS) ACT 1986 9
amended in pt 3 10
Act
Clause 7. This part amends the Criminal Law (Rehabilitation of Offenders) Act 11
1986. 12
of s 9A (Disclosure of particulars in special cases) 13
Amendment
Clause 8. Section 9A(1), table, column 1, item 6(2) and (3)-- 14
omit. 15
© State of Queensland 1999
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