Page 3522 - Week 12 - Thursday, 19 September 1991

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POSTPONEMENT OF NOTICE

Motion (by Mr Connolly) agreed to:

That notice No. 4, executive business, Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1991, be postponed until a later hour this day.

GOVERNMENT SOLICITOR (AMENDMENT) BILL 1991

MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (12.08): Mr Acting Speaker, I present the Government Solicitor (Amendment) Bill 1991. I move:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

Mr Acting Speaker, in addition to this Government Solicitor (Amendment) Bill 1991, I will also be presenting a Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 1991 today. These two Bills are minor and technical, but they comply with an important principle; that is, that the Chief Minister should be able to organise the ACT Government Service as she sees fit and without being constrained by references to specific administrative units in legislation.

Members will be aware that the self-government Act requires the Chief Minister to divide the public service into administrative units. The Chief Minister did this on 18 June 1991 and members have been provided with copies of the administrative arrangements of that date. One of the administrative units that were created in those arrangements is named "Attorney-General's Department (Government Law Office)". The inclusion of "(Government Law Office)" was necessary because of references to that name that appear in the Government Solicitor Act 1989 and the Legal Practitioners Act 1970.

The two Bills I present today will delete these references and replace them with references to the administrative unit which is administering the Government Solicitor Act. This will mean that the Chief Minister will have greater flexibility when she is next organising the ACT Government Service. Mr Acting Speaker, I present the explanatory memorandum for the Government Solicitor (Amendment) Bill 1991.

Debate (on motion by Mr Collaery) adjourned.


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