Page 3062 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 August 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
consideration will be given to the social and economic impacts of those recommendations.
The government has not agreed to recommendation 21, which proposes the deferment of sections 47K and 47L of the act. In order to ensure there is no confusion in the community about the government’s intentions, I recommend that these two provisions be repealed during the spring 2005 sittings. I intend to introduce a bill to this effect shortly. Section 47J will remain active until replaced by the new regimes. The government will present the legislative reforms for the new asbestos management regimes to the Legislative Assembly in the autumn 2006 sitting period.
In closing, I would like to acknowledge the extensive amount of work undertaken by the task force in investigating a range of local, national and international issues on asbestos management in order to develop an enduring and practical management system for the ACT. In addition to their terms of reference, the task force was also party to successful negotiations to improve asbestos waste disposal arrangements for the community.
Determining new systems for asbestos management is complex. However, as you will see upon reading the report, the task force has entered a new level in understanding the current issues associated with asbestos materials and their management. They have also undertaken extensive consultation with key stakeholders and the community in developing the new regime.
I thank each of the task force members for their contribution to this process. I note that many of them are in the chamber today, along with the task force secretariat and, of course, the task force chair, Mr Bill Wood. I sincerely, on behalf of the government and, I think, the Assembly, thank them for their work.
We are very pleased with the work of the task force. They were asked to work in uncharted territory and respond to what is acknowledged now as difficult and groundbreaking legislation. The Assembly as a whole owes its appreciation to the task force for responding so well to that challenge. They have produced a comprehensive body of work and I commend the report to the Assembly.
Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2005
Exposure draft
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children, Youth and Family Support, Minister for Women and Minister for Industrial Relations): For the information of members, I present the following papers:
Workers Compensation Amendment Bill 2005 (No 2)—
Exposure draft.
Explanatory statement to the exposure draft.
I ask leave to make a statement in relation to the papers.
Leave granted.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .