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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2829 ..

(c) The approach that I have adopted in relation to this matter is consistent with a report to me concerning the Security (Protection) Industry prepared by the Director of Law Reform under the Law Review Program. I released this report on 10/1/96.

The report proposes government intervention into the ACT security protection and investigative industries, including:

. establishment of co-regulatory industry supervising bodies for both the security protection industry and the investigative industry;

. assisting the Director of Consumer Affairs in the process of adopting a code of practice under the Fair Trading Act along the lines of the indicative code attached to the report;

. providing advice to Government concerning the adoption of a proposed business licensing and occupation registration scheme.

The report adopted this approach because:

. the ACT is the only Australian jurisdiction that does not regulate these and associated industries in one form or the other;

. research suggests that this is the best model to follow (there is no satisfactory Australian model, research suggesting that the ACT follow a best practice US model); and

. national competency based training initiatives presuppose a basic business licensing and occupational registration scheme.

Codes of ethics or conduct sometimes prove inadequate as a mechanism to regulate a particular aspect of the market. However, a mandatory code of practice under the Fair Trading Act imposes enforceable conditions and is quite different from a code of ethics or conduct. For example, under a mandatory code of practice under the Fair Trading Act, if it appears to the Director that a person has carried on business in contravention of the code, the Director may request the person to give undertakings concerning:

. discontinuance of the conduct;

. future compliance with the code;

. the action the person will take to rectify any consequence of the contravention.

If a person fails to give an undertaking, the Magistrates Court may, on the application of the Director and on being satisfied that there were grounds for requesting the undertaking, enforce the code.

In accordance with the recommendations, I have appointed an industry taskforce to advise on implementation of the reforms. The taskforce is chaired by Justice Rae Else-Mitchell. Other members include:

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