Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered ActsThe main purposes of this Act are—
(a) to amend the County Court Act 1958 so as to confer on the County Court an unlimited jurisdiction in civil proceedings;
(b) to amend the Crimes Act 1958 so as to—
(i) enable a corporate defendant to be tried in its absence;
(ii) remove the requirement to apply for an extension of time in certain circumstances;
(iii) abolish the requirement to give to the trial court a calendar of accused persons;
(c) to amend the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 so as to—
(i) remove the requirement to file a charge with the appropriate registrar if it has already been filed with another registrar;
(ii) enable a proceeding for a summary offence to be commenced at any time with the consent of both the defence and the prosecution;
(iii) empower public officials to issue summonses;
(iv) enable summonses for all summary offences to be served by post;
(v) require a charge to be read or explained to an unrepresented defendant before the defendant is asked to plea to the charge;
(vi) prevent a custodial order being made where the proceeding is heard and determined in the defendant's absence;
(vii) expand the range of indictable offences triable summarily, specify criteria to which the Court is to have regard in deciding whether it is appropriate to determine a charge summarily and enable a summary hearing of an indictable offence to proceed in the absence of a corporate defendant;
(viii) reform the procedure on committal proceedings including providing for the joint filing of case direction notices by the parties, enabling committal case conferences to be conducted and empowering the Court to conduct the proceeding in the absence of a corporate defendant;
(d) to amend the definition of "special decision" in the Public Prosecutions Act 1994 ;
(e) to amend the Sentencing Act 1991 so as to empower the Supreme Court and the County Court to impose aggregate sentences of imprisonment.