General policy statement
This Bill seeks to provide the Department of Corrections (the Department) with an additional tool to assist in the management of persons who have not complied with their community-based sentence and who have not responded to existing measures, short of prosecution, designed to encourage compliance.
By giving the Department the power to issue warnings with the consequence of withholding benefit payments, this Bill will enable the Department to manage offenders without burdening the court system. By offering an alternative management tool to the Department this Bill also serves the purpose of not subjecting offenders to the stigma that would arise from further criminal prosecution.
This Bill will operate alongside a new measure implemented by the Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Act 2013 to withhold benefit payments to persons who have outstanding warrants for their arrest to enable the effective management of non-compliant offenders.