Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Financial Services and Regulation, the Hon Joe Hockey MP)Chapter 5 - Schedule 2
Amendments to the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Application of Criminal Code) Act (No. 1) 2001
These items repeal a number of provisions relating to offences in the Insurance Act 1973 , the Life Insurance Act 1995 , the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 , to remove a non-Criminal Code definition of recklessness that was inserted by the No. 1 Act.
Certain unintended consequences of the non-Code definition of recklessness have since come to light. In particular, the definition may be interpreted as requiring proof that a person is aware of the elements of the offence in question, which means that ignorance of the law could be used as an excuse when the prosecution is trying to prove recklessness. For this reason, the non-Code definition of recklessness will be removed.
These amendments commence immediately after the commencement of item 14 of Schedule 1 to the No. 1 Act.
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