Page 1164 - Week 03 - Thursday, 31 March 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The primary purpose of this bill is to streamline governance arrangements in the Office of Regulatory Services. Over time, the ORS has come to carry out functions under a range of laws that provide for separate statutory administrators and inspectors. An example of this is the Sale of Motor Vehicles Act 1977, which provides for a registrar, deputy registrar and separate inspectorate. Taken together, these laws create a profusion of separate statutory offices and inspectorates. In practice, this complexity at the statutory level is overcome by appropriate appointments of a single senior officer to hold the different management offices. That senior officer is the Commissioner for Fair Trading. Likewise, the commissioner’s investigators are appointed to the various inspectorates.
The amendments bring the law and practice into harmony by substituting the various registrars with the Commissioner for Fair Trading and providing that investigators who have been appointed under the Fair Trading (Australian Consumer Law) Act are authorised to carry out a range of statutory functions under a number of acts. This removes the need for multiple, unnecessary appointments of the same person to a number of offices. These acts are also amended to remove the need for investigators to be issued with multiple identification cards.
These changes will simplify the law and streamline processes in the Office of Regulatory Services by removing the need to make multiple appointments and delegations. The changes are also intended to remove the need for ORS to carry out the costly and unnecessary exercise of issuing multiple identification cards to Fair Trading investigators.
JACS bills are invaluable in ensuring that legislation continues to give effect to the policy decisions that have resulted in the enactment of the territory’s laws. They allow the government to be responsive to community and stakeholder concerns, thereby delivering on the government’s commitment to be alert to changing needs and attitudes within our community.
The bill I present today is no exception. It introduces amendments to the statute book of a relatively minor and generally uncontroversial nature, providing the Assembly with an opportunity to ensure that the territory’s laws continue to operate with minimal confusion or uncertainty. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Rattenbury) adjourned to the next sitting.
Planning and Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2011
Mr Barr, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (11.10): I move:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video