Page 910 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989

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Finally, the Rally is aware that there is provision for administrative review in clauses 80 and 81 of the Bill. Therefore, in the absence of any proper criterion to be laid down by the draftsman, one hopes, regrettably, that if there is an appeal or request for review under that provision or under clause 28, the ground rules will be laid down, at considerable cost to the community, by a probably unnecessary hearing before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Such a hearing may not have been necessary if the draftsperson had put in the clear guidelines sought by my colleague Mr Humphries.

Amendment negatived.

Clause agreed to.

Clauses 20 to 27, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.

Clause 28 (Grant)

MR HUMPHRIES (9.34): I move:

  Page 14, omit paragraph (3)(c).

Amendment negatived.

Clause agreed to.

Clauses 29 to 76, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.

Clause 77 (Certificate evidence)

MR HUMPHRIES (9.35): I move:

Page 33, line 15, subclause 77(1), after "is" insert "prima facie".

The intention of this amendment is to provide further protection for people who may be facing proceedings under the Pesticides Act, as it then will be. In particular, members will note the addition of the words "prima facie" before the words "evidence" where they appear in subclauses (1) and (2).

The effect of that amendment is, Mr Speaker, that it puts beyond any doubt that where a person is facing proceedings in a court and the registrar produces a certificate saying that, for example, certain chemicals are as labelled - that is, that they are dangerous chemicals which have not been registered under the Act - the person concerned does have the right to challenge that evidence in court if he or she believes it is appropriate.

This is not meant to open up great volumes of litigation or to otherwise slow down the process of dealing legitimately with people who have breached the provisions of this Act. It is meant to provide a clear protection for people who might, in certain circumstances, be the victims of a


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