MAINTENANCE ORDERS (RECIPROCAL ENFORCEMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

5.40 p.m.

The Minister for Law and the Environment (Mr E. W. Barker): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, this Bill seeks to repeal and reenact with amendments our Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act (Chapter 26 of the Revised Edition). The existing Act gives a special status to maintenance orders of a court in England and Northern Ireland (excluding Scotland) without subjecting the matter to any reciprocal arrangement. The legislation is typical of those enacted for a British colony. Since it has been considered desirable to make certain amendments to our existing Act, it is now considered appropriate to introduce an entirely new Act in order to secure new arrangements for the reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders. In the drafting of the Bill, consideration has been given to similar legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in 1972.

The Bill has dealt with the subject of reciprocal enforcement of maintenance orders in great detail while, under the existing Act, some of the matter are dealt with by regulations made under the Act. Apart from changes of a procedural nature relating to the powers of a court to vary or revoke maintenance orders and provisional orders, the other changes introduced by the Bill are as follows:-

(a) The Bill would enable the whole of the United Kingdom, including Scotland, as well as any other country within or outside the Commonwealth having similar legislation, to be designated as a reciprocating country. Once a country has been so designated, persons who are entitled to payments under maintenance orders made by a court in Singapore will be able to enforce the maintenance orders in the reciprocating country and similarly persons who are entitled to payments under maintenance orders made in a reciprocating country will be able to enforce the maintenance orders in Singapore.

(b) The definition of "maintenance orders" appearing in the Bill has been amended to include maintenance orders made in favour of ex-wives and affiliation orders. A maintenance order is defined to be an order for the periodical payments of sums of money towards the maintenance of any person whom the payer is liable to maintain, e.g. maintenance of a child, whether legitimate, illegitimate or adopted, maintenance of a spouse and maintenance of a former spouse after divorce. An affiliation order is an order adjudging, finding or declaring a person to be the father of a child. In other words, the Bill makes it possible for an ex-wife and an illegitimate child to available themselves of the facilities afforded by the Bill for the enforcement of maintenance orders.

(c) The Bill makes provision for applying the machinery for making provisional orders to be used in respect of affiliation orders.

Sir, I beg to, move.

Question put, and agreed to,

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House,

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill, - [Mr E. W. Barker].

Bill considered in Committee,

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

5.46 p.m.

Clauses 1 to 11 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 12 -

Mr Barker: Sir, I beg, to move,

In page 13, line 21, to leave out from "(1)" to the end of line 23 and insert -

"An applicant shall have the same right of appeal, if any, against a refusal by a court in Singapore to make a provisional order under any provision of this Act as he would have had against a refusal to make the order had a summons been duly served on the person against whom the order is sought to be made.",

Sir, the amendment proposed will enable a complainant to make an appeal to the High Court against the refusal of a lower Court in Singapore to make a provisional maintenance order. This new subclause preserves the existing position under our Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders Act which is to be repealed by this Bill.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 12, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 13 to 19 inclusive ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Bill reported with an amendment; read a Third time and passed.