Page 3683 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 20 October 1993
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MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (4.11), in reply: Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition for their general support for the Bill. The policy behind this amendment was to give the Registrar-General power to destroy registered instruments which are no longer operative. As the law presently stands, there is no power to do this and they simply mount up, creating storage problems. The Bill, in the form introduced, would allow destruction of documents 10 years after they were registered. On examining the Bill the Law Society of the ACT pointed out, quite rightly, that the proposed provisions had the consequence of permitting the destruction of documents which were 10 years old but which may still be active, for whatever reason, as Mr Humphries indicated. That was not the intended effect. Ten years was meant only as a guideline for assessing whether instruments were of such an age as to be no longer in force.
In response to the Law Society's concerns I have had amendments drafted, which I believe have been circulated, which will remove the reference to the age of the instruments. As a result the Registrar-General will have power to destroy registered instruments only when they have ceased to have effect. The amendments remove the proposed new paragraph 36A(1)(c), which would have required the Registrar-General to keep registered instruments for only 10 years, giving him or her the option to destroy them after that time. I now propose that the Registrar-General be able to destroy documents which have been discharged, which have been satisfied, for which a receipt has been registered or which he or she believes on reasonable grounds are no longer effective.
The practical effect of the changes contained in this Bill will remain as outlined in the introductory speech. The Registrar-General's Office will be able to get rid of documents which no longer are of any value and which the office at the moment is required to store. There will be benefits both in reduced storage requirements and in better access to current instruments. Giving power to destroy old documents is in accordance with an agreement reached at a meeting of State and Territory registering authorities quite recently. Madam Speaker, I thank members for their in-principle support and indicate that I will be moving amendments, which I will seek leave to move as a single block, to remove that potential problem about the 10-year-old instruments.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
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