Page 1583 - Week 06 - Thursday, 3 May 1990
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particular in this piece of legislation. The Government thanks the Opposition for its support on this matter.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail Stage
The Bill.
MR CONNOLLY (11.33), by leave: Mr Deputy Speaker, I move:
Clause 4, page 2, line 9, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 5, page 2, line 19, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 7, page 2, line 28, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 8, page 2, line 32, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 9, page 2, line 38, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 10, page 3, line 9, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 11, page 3, lines 14 and 19, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Clause 33, omit "$20", substitute "$200".
Mr Deputy Speaker, this Bill and the following two Bills on the agenda for this morning are all part of the process of cleaning out the stables of ACT law. In this Territory we inherited a lot of old New South Wales laws which, in many cases, contain provisions which, while appropriate in the horse-and-buggy era when the early process of consumer protection law reform was under way, are quite inappropriate for a variety of reasons for this Territory in 1990.
As the Attorney-General mentioned, the purpose of the Pawnbrokers (Amendment) Bill has been to upgrade the original New South Wales legislation to make it consistent with modern legal practice and to take into account the criticisms made of the Bill in the New South Wales Act in its original form by the Senate committee.
In examining these Bills, which we generally support, the Opposition noted that the penalties, in many cases, stood at $20. The reason they are $20 is that the penalty originally was ten quid. When the Bills were introduced in New South Wales in the early part of the century this may have been a significant and substantial deterrent. In 1990 it amounts nearly to a licence to break the law.
The amendments attempt to provide a more realistic scale of penalties. In speaking to these amendments before the
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