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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2775 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Speaker, the laws that currently exist in relation to uncollected goods in the Territory are very seriously out of date. The ACT currently does not have a law dealing with uncollected goods, in fact. Accordingly, the common law rules relating to bailment apply. The rules of bailment, like many other common law rules, are complex, archaic and inaccessible. While a number of statutory rules exist which deal with discrete situations involving particular bailees in the ACT, the current legal situation is unacceptable to those in business who find themselves in possession of goods which either have been abandoned or remain uncollected by their owners. This Bill will add certainty for those who find themselves involuntary bailees of goods. The prime objective of this Bill is to replace both the common law and statutory provisions as they relate to the disposal of lost or abandoned goods with new rules which identify situations where goods might properly be deemed as uncollected and to provide a process for their disposal. It is not intended to alter the common law rules concerning the resolution of competing claims for title in relation to lost or abandoned goods. That said, however, the new law will probably make disputes of this nature rare.

This Bill recognises that there should be differing criteria for goods of differing values. The Bill categorises five types of goods and their means of disposal. Those goods are perishable goods, goods of no value, goods of low value, goods of significant value and personal effects. Perishable goods may be disposed of at any time. A possessor of goods of no value, being goods with a net value of $20 or less - there is a little legal fiction there - deemed to be uncollected goods may dispose of such goods, without further notice to the owner, one week after the goods are deemed to be uncollected. A possessor of goods of low value, those having a net value of between $20 and $500, may dispose of such goods, without further notice to the owner, one month after notice has been given in accordance with this proposed law. These goods may be disposed of by way of sale, appropriation or destruction. A possessor of personal effects deemed to be uncollected goods may dispose of the personal effects three months after notice has been given. A possessor of goods of significant value, which are goods whose net value is $500 or more, deemed to be uncollected goods may dispose of the goods of significant value three months after the notice provisions have been complied with. Uncollected goods of significant value must be disposed of by sale at public auction advertised in a newspaper circulated within the Territory.

This proposed law is not intended to apply to unclaimed prizes under the Lotteries Act 1964 or unclaimed moneys under the Unclaimed Moneys Act 1950. It is also not intended to apply to animals under the Dog Control Act 1975 or the Pound Act 1928. The common law, in so far as it relates to matters dealt with by this law, is to be abrogated, and existing statutory law is to be repealed and consolidated in this Bill. As such, the Uncollected Goods (Consequential Provisions) Bill 1996 repeals sections of the Mercantile Law Act 1962, the Protection of Public Lands Act 1937, the Trespass on Territory Land Act 1932, the Public Baths and Public Bathing Act 1956, the Finance Regulations and the Auctioneers Act 1959. To the extent that a person has commenced a process under such a provision concerning lost or abandoned goods, it is intended that the person may complete that process or avail themselves of the process under the new law, at their election.

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