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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 157 ..

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am pleased to present the Government's legislation program for the autumn 1999 session. This legislation program continues to build on this Government's commitment to responsible management of the Territory and administrative reform.

The core of the Government's legislation program lies in financial and business legislation. The Appropriation Bill is, of course, of central importance to the Government's legislative and administrative agenda. Legislation is also required to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for electricity and water in the ACT. This will continue to be the subject of further consultation to allow for greater input from the community and other interested parties.

Amendments to the Rates and Land Tax Act will provide for new rating factors for 1999-2000. Amendments to the Payroll Tax Act will provide employment agents with better tests to identify which payments made to contractors are exempt from payroll tax. This will replace the administrative rulings and discretionary powers currently granted to the Commissioner for ACT Revenue. The ACT approach will also be more closely aligned to those being adopted in New South Wales and Victoria.

The amendments to the Gaming Machine Act will mean that gaming machine licensees provide a minimum level of community contributions from the profits of gaming machines.

We propose to introduce a number of Bills to deliver on the Government's objective of improving the accessibility and responsiveness of the criminal and civil justice systems to the community.

Mr Speaker, during this session the Government will introduce, as a priority, measures to facilitate the holding of Olympic and pre-Olympic sporting events in the ACT. One of these measures will involve amendments to the Firearms Act to permit the participation of non-nationals in shooting events in the ACT. The other will implement necessary security measures to ensure public and participant safety.

The Government also proposes to introduce legislation to replace outdated defamation laws. This legislation will provide immediate and tangible benefits to litigants by providing for apologies, protected reports and damages which are commensurate with personal injuries damages.

We will introduce measures to enhance the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. Legislation will be introduced to enable ACT police to use a proposed national DNA database, which is expected to be established in mid-1999. The Bill will provide for taking samples for the purpose of DNA testing, in accordance with recommendations of the Model Criminal Code Officers Committee established by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. The legislation will also make ACT forensic procedures as compatible as possible with Commonwealth procedures. This will avoid two different regimes applying to the AFP. A further criminal justice initiative will reduce the potential for pawnbroker and second-hand dealerships to be used for the on-selling of stolen goods.

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