Page 2659 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 1994
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Mr Humphries: That is his normal look. Do not worry about it.
MR STEVENSON: That is normal? If you have an agreement between two parties and the Assembly changes the law that existed at the time that agreement was made, that is retrospective legislation.
Mr Moore: In one sense.
MR STEVENSON: Indeed, in one sense. So, that is a concern that I have. I have mentioned some concerns about the powers of a tribunal. Section 43, on page 15, talks about the powers of a tribunal to require someone to give evidence and produce any document or thing specified in a summons, and so on. I have some concern about that; but I can go into that more thoroughly in the detail stage. As members are well aware, this Bill will not be taken through the detail stage and passed today. This Bill is simply - I should not say "simply", because it is an important principle - an agreement in principle that there should be legislation governing the interaction of tenants and landlords when it comes to leases. I think that principle is a sound one, and it is long overdue.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General and Minister for Health) (5.57), in reply: Madam Speaker, I rise to close the in-principle debate. I thank members for their contributions. I think it is important that we give a clear message that there is very strong support in principle for this legislation. It has been too long in coming. I and my officers have been battling to achieve this result for quite some time. We had hoped to do it by consent. Mr Humphries says that that is the best way to do these sorts of things. Unfortunately, it became clear that it was not possible to get agreement between all the landlord interests and all the tenant interests. In the in-principle debate there has been some divergence of views within the Assembly. Mr Humphries thinks we have gone a bit too far in some areas. Mr Moore thinks we have not gone far enough in a number of areas. That probably indicates that we have attempted to strike a balance, and one may draw from that that we have perhaps got the balance about right.
The Government will obviously take on board all of the comments made tonight and Ms Szuty's comments which have been incorporated in Hansard. I am seeking to circulate a number of amendments, which I will be moving in the detail stage, which came up as a result of some quite detailed negotiations that have been going on. During the break, officers of my department, Mr Sorbello's team, have been working very closely with both the landlord groups and the tenant groups, and there has been an enormous amount of work done. The amendments that I am tabling today are part of that. We also have a range of detailed changes to the code. It is my intention, once that has been finalised - we have all been tied up in a certain inquiry for the last week or so - to circulate to members the amendments to the code and to make them public. In the September sittings, I hope that we can take this Bill through the detail stage. I have indicated to all groups that it is my intention, if the legislation is passed in the September sittings, to have it commence on 1 January. In that period, people will be able to get the leases drawn up and the lawyers will be able to get everything in place so that they can operate under the new law.
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