Whatever happened to the so-called rape bill, properly known as Amendment 2 to the Criminal code? The last we told you about it, the final committee consultation had been held, and it would have gone to the House of Representatives for last Friday's House Meeting. But it never went, because the final changes could not have been made in time.
Today, Chair of the House Committee on Constitution and Foreign Affairs Patrick Faber told us that all submissions have been considered and several changes were made that people might have been suspicious about. He says the changes were too numerous to be returned to the house before last Friday's house meeting - which was based on the advice of the Deputy Solictor General who told CEO Judith Alpulche and Faber that she was not comfortable that it would be accurate and proper for submission to the House.
We reported that Deputy Solicitor General Michelle Daly left the country last week Thursday after the last consultation and would not be back because her contract with the Commonwealth Secretariat was not renewed. Well, that wasn't quite right. Her contract actually ends in January 2014, but she takes terminal leave as of November 11th; those six weeks are accrued under the terms of her contract. As for her contract renewal, she says the Government had verbally indicated a desire to extend it, but only recently wrote to the Commonwealth Secretariat requesting that extension and by then she had made other arrangements.
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