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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2434 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

You sometimes want to have flexibility to allow some different arrangement; therefore, you have to have a disallowable instrument. Obviously, if members want to change that, they can do so by changing the legislation. If the Minister wants to change it he does so, and then he puts it before the Assembly as a disallowable instrument. What more does Mr Moore want?

MR MOORE (12.14 am): This is the point I was trying to make, Mr Speaker. That would be quite acceptable to me if, in fact, this legislation passed through to our next sitting period when there will be a constant run of sitting periods and the Subordinate Laws Act could be used to question something that happened within a very short time. At the moment you can move substantially from the default position that is there and we would not be able to do anything about it for another two or three months, other than basically recall the house. I think I would be satisfied to some extent on this issue if the Minister were to assure us that for the time being, until the house sits again, this power will not be used by the Minister. In other words, the default position that has been described there will be used, or, if there is some particular issue that needs changing, it will be done by consultation with the committee that is looking into the whole issue, the Planning and Environment Committee.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (12.15 am): I am happy, on behalf of the Minister, to give an undertaking that the default position will generally be relied upon. If some variation is thought necessary there will be consultation with the committee that Mr Moore chairs. In fact, Mr Speaker, I can indicate also that the changes proposed are not proposed to be brought into operation for a period of something like six weeks at the minimum anyway because there are some implications for award penalties to be paid to workers who currently work in supermarkets. That needs to be worked through, and we are prepared to wait for those to be concluded before we bring this legislation into force.

Mr Moore: Mr Speaker, perhaps I can take a point of order or clarify something to make it easier for you.

MR SPEAKER: Why do you two not just go outside and talk it over? It seems to be a dialogue.

Mr Moore: No, it is for you, Mr Speaker. I was just going to say that, as far as I am concerned, I am happy to take the rest of the Bill as a whole. Those were the issues that I wanted to deal with from my personal perspective.

Clause agreed to.

Remainder of Bill, by leave, taken as a whole

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