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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2622 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Members will note that the program is in the same format as the autumn 1996 program and contains two main sections, referred to as category one and category two. Category one consists of those legislative initiatives which have been accorded the highest priority and which are capable of introduction during the spring sittings. It is intended that as many as possible of these initiatives be introduced and, hopefully, passed by the Assembly before the end of the spring sittings. Category two consists of those items the Government aims to be introduced into the Assembly during the spring sittings.

Members will be aware that, apart from providing information to the Assembly about forthcoming proposals, the legislative program also assists the Public Service to progress longer-term legislative proposals and provides guidance to the Parliamentary Counsel's Office in organising its resources. In this context there is another category, category three, which forms an adjunct to the program. Category three items are proposals for which business planning has commenced but underlying policy has yet to be settled. Category three will be used for internal planning purposes only. This will assist the Parliamentary Counsel's Office in organising competing priorities on drafting resources, including the drafting of Bills for non-Executive members. As members will be aware, a large number of routine amendments are being developed and researched at any given time. All these projects represent preliminary work only. Members would appreciate that such projects are not appropriately included in a legislative program. Its focus is on outcomes for the spring session. This approach reflects the Government's commitment to an achievable and focused legislative program.

Mr Speaker, members are aware that in order to accommodate emerging issues, legislative proposals may also be added to the program through the course of any sitting period. Similarly, the categorisation of initiatives presently listed on the program may be subject to change. This was definitely the case with the autumn 1996 program, which had to be substantially reclassified to take into account the enormous drafting resources required for the financial management framework legislation.

Turning now to the direction of the spring legislation program, the spring sittings will, of course, focus on the budget to be brought down on 24 September. Apart from the Appropriation Bill, the budget Bills will include the amendment to the Stamp Duties and Taxes Act and the Debits Tax Bill. There are also a number of other key items of legislation the Government plans to introduce into the Assembly. These include amendments to the Workers Compensation Act which will bring the ACT in line with best national practice; amendments to the Motor Traffic Act, which will include giving legislative force to the rules for heavy vehicle parking in residential areas agreed by the joint Government-industry-community working party; the Weapons Firearms Bill, which will encompass a comprehensive review of existing legislation and provide for the New South Wales model to be adopted in the ACT; a continuation of the process of reviewing pre-1980 legislation; an amendment to the Land (Planning and Environment) Act, which will pick up recommendations by the Stein board of inquiry into the leasehold system; and the Environment Protection Bill, which is the integrated legislation that will replace a number of other Acts. I trust that members and the public will find the document informative and a useful guide to the Government's legislative initiatives for the forthcoming Assembly sittings.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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