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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 9 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 3101 ..

Jurisdiction of Courts Legislation Amendment Bill 2001

Debate resumed from 8 March 2001, on motion by Mr Stefaniak:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

MR STANHOPE (Leader of the Opposition) (8.23): The Attorney-General presented this bill on 8 March 2001 to amend four acts that are part of national regulatory schemes. The schemes were found by the High Court in the case of Re Wakim to be constitutionally invalid. This bill is designed to overcome the effect of the court's decision.

The Commonwealth passed corresponding amendments during 2000, and this bill ensures that the ACT remains part of the national scheme. There are no direct policy changes in the amendments. They are of a largely technical nature. The Labor Party is happy to support the bill.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Attorney-General) (8.24), in reply: I thank Mr Stanhope for his comments.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Detail stage

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Attorney-General) (8.24): There are a couple of amendments. They have been circulated for some time. There are two small drafting errors in the amendments to the Gas Pipelines Access Act 1998. There is a cross-referencing inconsistency, and an unnecessary heading has been left in the act. Paragraph 15 (b) of the Gas Pipelines Access Act is removed as it refers to provisions that are being repealed. The heading to division 3 of part 3 is removed, as all the provisions in that division are being repealed. These amendments improve the bill by fixing the errors. They make no change to the effect of the provisions in the bill. I seek leave to move them together.

Leave granted.

MR STEFANIAK: I move the amendments [see schedule 3 at page 3117].

Amendments agreed to.

Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

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