XN000022-1995-02-22 — Page 34

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Clauses 9 to 13 of the Bill deal with the modus operandi of the Council. To enhance its accountability, the Council will be required to submit an annual report to the Governor, and to table its report before this Council. The accounts of the Legal Aid Services Council will be subject to examination and inquiry by the Director of Audit.

We aim to establish the Legal Aid Services Council as soon as possible after the Bill is enacted. This is far from a cosmetic change, as some critics have suggested. On the contrary, it represents a significant policy change that will provide a greater opportunity for public participation in legal aid administration and policy formulation and will enhance the independence of legal aid administration. Some people, both from this Council and the legal profession, have argued that we should go further and dis-establish the Legal Aid Department. The Administration is not convinced that this is the best way forward, but is not ruling it out. Indeed, once the Legal Aid Services Council is established, we will ask the Council to examine the feasibility and desirability of this option.

End/Wednesday, February 22, 1995

Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles (Amendment) Bill 1995

Following is the speech by the Acting Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Mrs Rachel Cartland, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday) in moving the second reading of the Control of Obscenc and Indecent Articles (Amendment) Bill 1995:

Mr President,

I move the Second Reading of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles (Amendment) Bill 1995.

The primary objectives of the Bill are to tighten control over the selling and distribution of indecent articles, to facilitate enforcement actions and to increase the deterrent effect of the penalties under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance. In designing specific provisions in pursuit of these objectives, we are mindful that all proposals must be the minimum necessary to ensure that freedom of expression is not unjustifiably sacrificed.