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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2531 ..
The Bill also provides for various miscellaneous administrative matters including limitation periods, evidentiary rules, the power of the Minister to determine fees and the power of the Executive to make regulations.
The most significant new feature of the Bill is the introduction of a scheme known as "negative licensing" for credit providers and finance brokers. This scheme is modelled on the Victorian consumer credit legislation. Under the new scheme, upon the payment of a fee, any non-exempt person over the age of 18 years or any non-exempt body corporate will be registered and able to trade as a credit provider or finance broker. The registration scheme will assist the ACT Consumer Affairs Bureau in monitoring the conduct of credit providers and finance brokers.
The Government has decided to dispense with the old "positive licensing" scheme to maintain consistency with other jurisdictions, in particular, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland which, all have some form of negative licensing. I am advised that the experiences in those States have seen changes in the Credit Industry under the old Credit Act scheme which reflect a culture of compliance by a majority of large financial institutions, with only a small segment of the industry proving to be the exception. Clearly, resources currently expended in maintaining a positive licensing scheme can be better utilised on a more comprehensive compliance regime which specifically targets these difficult credit providers or finance brokers. With the range of sanctions contained in Parts II, III and VI of the
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