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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (5 September) . . Page.. 3210 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

People who read the Hansard of this debate will be horrified to know that Mr Humphries is the only member of the Government in the chamber, because they do not care. They will crunch through this bit of legislation that I believe is shonky. I believe that holes will be found in it. I gave one example that I found after only four hours - about the supermarket clubs. Mr Humphries will bring another Bill before this Assembly, with the same gall with which he has brought this one, showing no remorse, showing no embarrassment. He should be so embarrassed and so red that he is just about a communist, but he is not and - - -

Ms McRae: That would take some doing.

MR MOORE: Indeed, but it is embarrassing enough for Mr Humphries to go to that extreme. Mr Speaker, it seems to me that this legislation has been presented to us in a very rapid way and it is being forced through. I will not repeat what Mr Whitecross went through about the appalling method that has been used to diminish speakers' rights in this place, Mr Speaker - their right to have their say, to explain their concerns about this legislation, to present arguments as to why they do not have a problem with any particular clause or why they think that the legislation as a whole is appropriate.

Mr Speaker, I want to turn to the omission of the words "to the public" in a series of places in the legislation. The Trading Hours Act 1996, Mr Speaker, has a definition which deals with a large supermarket being "open to the public for the purpose of trading". We are now going to make it read "open for the purpose of trading". That seems a very simple amendment, on the face of it. It appears a couple of other times in the legislation as well. It appears also in the interpretation section, section 4. Section 6, Mr Speaker, says that "large supermarkets may be open to the public for the purpose of trading", and that the Minister may, by instrument, specify the period. In subsection 6(3) they identify what those times will be when no instrument is in place. This is the substantive part of the Bill, Mr Speaker. It is interesting that we can still have the times set here, but a Minister, at will, can change those times.

Mr Speaker, I draw your attention to the fact that Mr Kaine and Mr Hird have now come back into the Assembly to be part of this debate, although it is still the case that Ms Tucker has not made it back.

Ms McRae: They will be back for the vote, Mr Moore; I believe, in two minutes' time.

MR MOORE: I believe they will be here in two minutes' time. I will do my best to summarise my concerns about this Bill, Mr Speaker. I must say to you, Mr Speaker, that I do feel put upon because I have had such an inadequate amount of time to express my view on this legislation. Even with an inadequate amount of time, I have drawn the Minister's attention to the issue of the definition of a supermarket. I would like to know what the Minister is going to do about a supermarket club, which clearly is a very different thing, in my mind, from a supermarket. I would be very comfortable about going into court and saying, "Yes, a supermarket is a very different thing from a supermarket club that serves teas, that you have to pay to join and that gives a 5 per cent discount on goods".

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