Page 1708 - Week 06 - Thursday, 13 August 1992
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Clause 52
MR WESTENDE (5.46): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to withdraw my amendments Nos 20 to 29 inclusive.
MADAM SPEAKER: Just do not move them, Mr Westende.
MR LAMONT (5.46): Madam Speaker, I move:
Page 22, line 30, after paragraph (a), insert the following paragraph:
"(aa) be accompanied by a list of animals which are to form part of the circus troupe, whether or not the animals are to be used in the circus;".
This amendment provides that, when applying for a permit to enter the ACT, a circus is required to provide a list, with the application for its permit, of all animals accompanying the circus, whether or not they are to be used in the circus.
MR CORNWELL (5.47): Madam Speaker, I think it is fairly plain to anybody with an ounce of sense that Part IV of this legislation will simply prevent any circus from coming into the ACT. They would not waste their time with all this bureaucratic nonsense. However, in the unlikely event that they did do so, I would suggest that they may be in some difficulty if this amendment goes forward. There is a penalty here of $10,000 or imprisonment for one year, or both, for not getting a circus permit. What you have to put in the application for the permit is set out in subclause 52(2), and Mr Lamont seeks to add this requirement of a list of animals. This application has to be lodged no later than four weeks before the proposed date of the opening of the circus.
What happens if some of the animals are pregnant? What happens if one of the animals dies in the four weeks after the application has been lodged? This highlights the stupidity and absurdity of this clause and this requirement. Obviously, whoever lodged the application would be in breach of this Act and presumably would suffer this horrendous penalty. This is a nonsense. I suggest that there is every reason to reject it out of hand. Fancy counting animals that may or may not be involved in circuses.
MR STEVENSON (5.49): There is a point that I would like to make about this clause; indeed, about all the clauses under Part V to do with circuses, from clause 51 to 58. There are some excellent requirements within these clauses relating to circuses. It is unfortunate that they are not to operate for traditional circuses within the ACT as most people would like them to. It is not as if the legislation has not covered the area, and covered it well; it has.
The Bill as drafted has three pages covering the application for circus permits and the operation of a circus within the ACT. It goes into various aspects of how that should be done and the power of the Government to say that, under various circumstances, it is not going to let a circus come to Canberra because it may have committed offences or whatever. The suggestion that we have not done the job properly is not fair. The Government had had all these clauses drafted. There are three pages of them in this one Bill. That is more than some Bills in their entirety. Those clauses cover exactly the rights and duties of various people, the grant of
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