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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (26 September) . . Page.. 3663 ..

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cause unnecessary delay. Therefore, clause 22 of this Bill will amend section 43 of the AAT Act to allow the Tribunal to remove a party, other than the decision-maker, if that party does not comply with a direction of the Tribunal within a specified time or, if no time is specified, within a reasonable time. However, removing a party would only apply if there are multiple parties before the Tribunal and one or more of those parties have not acted diligently.

Mr Speaker, turning to the issue of legal representation in matters under the Land Act, I have given a great deal of consideration to this question. The position is that a party before the Tribunal may be represented by another person, including a lawyer. However, a party before the Board may be represented only with leave of the Board. The Stein Report was critical of the way the Board exercised its discretion. The Report suggested that the parties be entitled to legal representation or to be represented by another person with leave of the Tribunal. The Government considers it inappropriate that legal representation be allowed as of right but representation by a non-lawyer be subject to leave of the Tribunal.

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