Page 1521 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 April 2013

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The bill I present today proposes editorial, technical, consequential and minor policy amendments to the Building Act 2004, the Building (General) Regulation 2008, the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Regulation, Districts Act 2002, Electrical (Safety) Regulation 2004, Planning and Development Act 2007, Planning and Development Regulation 2008, Public Place Names Act 1989, Unit Titles Act 2001 and Water Resources Act 2007. The bill responds to needs identified by the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate and parliamentary counsel.

I will briefly deal with some of the specific technical and editorial amendments made by this bill. Clause 8 corrects an incorrect reference to the repealed Building Regulation 2004 in subsection 35(3) of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Regulation 2004. This subsection defines a “relevant asbestos qualification”. The amendment corrects the reference so that the definition of “relevant asbestos qualification” refers to the current Building (General) Regulation 2008.

The amendment in clause 16 of the bill makes a similar correction. This clause amends the heading in section 51 of the Planning and Development Regulation which prescribes entities relevant for the preparation of scoping documents for an environmental impact statement. The heading incorrectly refers to subsection 212(3) of the Planning and Development Act. The heading has been amended to refer to section 212(4).

The bill also repeals redundant legislation. The Electricity (Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Act 2004 and the Electricity (Greenhouse Gas Emissions) Regulation 2004 supported the ACT greenhouse gas abatement scheme. This scheme ended on 1 July last year, with the commencement of a national price on carbon in the Australian government’s Clean Energy Act 2011. This bill repeals this legislation, which is no longer required.

The bill also makes minor technical amendments to improve administrative practice. For example, clause 12 inserts a new subsection 139(2)(b)(ii) into the Planning and Development Act. This subsection deals with development applications made by someone other than the lessee of the land.

The bill also includes two minor policy amendments. Clause 6 of the bill amends subsection 69(4) of the Building Act 2004. This section relates to certificates of occupancy for building work issued by the Construction Occupations Registrar. Under the existing act, if building work has been completed the owner of a parcel of land may apply to the Construction Occupations Registrar for a certificate to state that the work has been completed in accordance with the prescribed requirements under the act and is fit for occupation and use.

Subsection 69(4) is an evidentiary provision. It provides that certificates issued under some other acts are sufficient in and of themselves to satisfy prescribed requirements for building work. The minor policy amendment will mean that a certificate can be issued by the Construction Occupations Registrar to certify that gas-fitting work has been completed in accordance with prescribed requirements. This clause does not impose new requirements. It simply confirms in law what has been happening in practice.


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