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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4258 ..

commercial arenas to extend our capacity for water efficiency. I look forward to discussing the amendments, and I look forward to seeing Mrs Cross’s amendment.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Thursday, 26 August 2004

Detail stage

Clauses 1 to 3, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 4.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (12.02 am): I seek leave to move amendments Nos 1 and 2 circulated in my name together.

Leave granted.

MR CORBELL: I move amendments Nos 1 and 2 circulated in my name together and table a supplementary explanatory statement to the amendments [see schedule 5 at page 4285]. Amendments Nos 1 and 2 and amendment No 3 all focus on the same issue. The amendments make adjustments to the headings of the bill’s section 17A and regulation 16A, and to the preamble of paragraph 17A (1) (a). Those adjustments add the term “sanitary plumbing work” to the headings and the provision.

These amendments are necessary as section 17A creates an offence which can be committed in respect of two distinct kinds of plumbing work—plumbing work in the field, which includes work to taps and showers, and “sanitary plumbing work”. In the bill that includes work to connect a garbage disposal unit to a sink, whereas section 17A of the bill refers only to water supply plumbing work.

Both of the above mentioned terms are defined in the Construction Occupations Legislation Amendment Act 2004, which upon its commencement will insert those definitions into the Water and Sewerage Act 2000. The bill indirectly provides for its commencement on or after the day that the COLA legislation commences. An under-sink garbage disposal unit falls within the COLA definition of “sanitary plumbing”. As such, a unit is “a fixture or water appliance that is not in or in contact with the ground and that is used, or for use, in relation to the collecting or carrying of sewage to a sanitary drain”. All waste water from the kitchen sink is defined by COLA as sewage, and the outlet pipe of a garbage disposal unit ultimately discharges into a sanitary drain.

For clarity, relevant extracts of definitions from COLA have been looked at carefully to address these issues. In particular, I would like to draw members’ attention to the fact that, without the addition of a reference to “sanitary plumbing” work, the bill’s objective of prohibiting the installation of garbage disposal units may not be achieved, as the bill’s relevant wording lacks the necessary reference to “sanitary drainage work”, but instead inappropriately refers to “water supply plumbing work” in relation to garbage disposal units.

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