OPPOSITION members of the joint select committee of Parliament now reviewing the proposed Bail Act 2022 have requested additional time to examine Clause 5 of the Bill, which addresses the contentious issue of pre-charge bail.

The pre-charge provision in the Bill applies when someone is arrested or detained on reasonable suspicion that he/she has committed an offence that is punishable with imprisonment and more time is needed for investigations.

Various individuals/entities in their submissions to the committee have strongly questioned the constitutionality of the provision.

At the committee’s meeting on Wednesday, Opposition member Phillip Paulwell said that due to what various presenters have postulated, this controversial clause will require further scrutiny.

“We fear that this Bill, and in particular Clause 5, is going to be subject to such ferocious challenges that we are not sure if it is worth the while to go through that and we really want a week to do some further contemplation on it to settle, in our own minds, what ought to be our position, to review the analysis and to return to deal with Clause 5,” he said.

Paulwell also suggested that consultation takes place at the policy development stage “because when Bills come [to Parliament], they come through a policy that the Government would’ve adopted.

“It is only Government that can institute policy; Opposition can’t. So any policy instituted in the final analysis is going to be that of the Government. But for efficacy and all the other virtuous things we talk about, if the consultation with not just the Opposition [but other stakeholders] is done at that stage, it makes the subsequent legislation more all-embracing,” he said.

In explaining the reason for Paulwell’s request for more time to examine Clause 5, his Opposition counterpart Fitz Jackson said the Opposition has always maintained that “the matter of crime-fighting and security cannot successfully be a partisan issue; it needs collectivity in Parliament and we as Opposition accept responsibility in that regard”.

He noted that the Opposition has always sought to [ensure] that there is ‘oneness’ as much as possible whenever members participate in joint select committees of Parliament.

— Alecia Smith