Page 2405 - Week 09 - Thursday, 17 September 1992
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Another one that I would like to refer to in passing is the amendment to the Housing Assistance Act 1987, which again is in that first priority list under that heading. One of the major areas to be covered by this Bill will be the extension of the Commissioner for Housing loans scheme. This scheme will be revised and extended, and a new shared home ownership scheme will begin early in 1993. The shared ownership loan will be developed, and this will allow families to buy a share in their houses and to increase that share as their earning capacity improves.
The record of this Government in working in line with the ACT Housing Trust is an excellent one. The ACT Housing Trust has proven over time to be more than innovative in its approach to the service that it provides to our community and to the people in our community who require its help in obtaining appropriate accommodation. This sort of legislation, I believe, is quite exciting in that it gives yet another avenue for people in our community who are on a low income or who for other reasons have problems in obtaining their own home. It gives another aspect to the method by which we can offer home ownership to those people. I applaud such legislation.
A third one that I would like to refer to is in fact a category of Bills - the Credit Bill, the Credit (Administration) Bill, the amendment to the Credit Act 1985, the Fair Trading Bill, which has already been introduced, the Disposal of Uncollected Goods Bill and the amendment to the Sale of Motor Vehicles Act 1977. The last two are in the second priority category, but together all these Bills represent a range of measures the major effect of which will be to protect consumers' rights in the ACT. They each deal with a different aspect of consumer rights; but put them together and we have a package of Bills which should be applauded, as they will be on their introduction. The record of this Government in relation to consumer rights is an excellent one. Consumer rights are an extremely important subject to our community. Again, I applaud the listing of these Bills. As I said, one of them has already been introduced, and I believe that it is on the daily program for later today. The others will, I am sure, be introduced in good time.
I would like Mr Humphries and his colleagues to consider very carefully all the Bills that I have mentioned, because when they come up they will require the support of this Assembly to get through the machinery of government. I know that the innovation embodied in them will be very important to a great number of our community people. I commend all of those Bills to this house. I thank the house for the opportunity of discussing them.
MR MOORE (11.28): I will speak briefly on the government legislation program. I would like to start by drawing attention, by way of example, to the Adoption Bill that Mr Connolly made available after the election but before we actually sat at the beginning of the year. He made an exposure draft - - -
Mr Humphries: I think it was last year, wasn't it?
MR MOORE: It might have been late last year. He made an exposure draft available and has continued discussions on that Bill. I certainly know that a great deal of effort has been spent in my office on discussing the pros and cons of the different aspects of that Bill. It is a particularly complicated piece of legislation in that it deals with balancing people's rights and therefore needs time for public debate. The approach in the case of that Bill has been a very positive approach indeed.
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