Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) — I would like to speak on Ms Pennicuik’s amendments, which really return this bill to the way it should be — the way that Mr Coghlan recommended. The government asked Mr Coghlan to review our bail system and to make recommendations, and he recommended that the wording should be ‘show good reason’. It is that second tier of our bail system. The suggestion is that ‘good’ and ‘compelling’ mean the same thing. I think Mrs Peulich as a former English teacher would agree with me that ‘good’ and ‘compelling’ are very different.
The Attorney-General said to me in a letter that ‘good’ and ‘compelling’ are consistent with and in the spirit of the recommendation. This is not the case; this is not in the spirit of the recommendation. This creates a much higher level. There is very little difference now between ‘exceptional circumstances’ and ‘compelling reason’, so I, too, support keeping Mr Coghlan’s recommendation to use ‘good’ reason over ‘compelling’ reason. I support these amendments.
