Clean slates for good behaviour
Source: South Australia. Attorney-General. Media Release.
"Attorney-General Michael Atkinson says he’ll speak with groups representing victims and offenders about a proposal to introduce uniform national laws governing spent convictions. Spending a conviction means wiping it from a person’s criminal record once that person has been of good behaviour for a long period of time. Some other States already have similar legislation but laws vary from State to State. On the suggestion of Mr Atkinson, the Commonwealth and State Attorneys-General have agreed to release a model Bill and discussion paper detailing options for laws to spend minor criminal convictions.
‘This is a positive step forward and paves the way for public discussion of this sometimes controversial area of law,” Mr Atkinson said.
“At this stage no State or Territory has committed to this legislation, but there is strong interest in investigating the merits of uniform spent conviction laws,” Mr Atkinson said."