Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4243 ..
The provision has been included to enable a respondent to have a complaint disposed of expeditiously where one of these grounds is made out. I will be disappointed if the application process is abused by respondents or their legal advisers, making futile applications.
A feature of the new structure is that where a complaint is declined by the Commissioner or the complaint is unable to be successfully conciliated by the Commissioner, the complainant will be entitled to require referral of the complaint to the Tribunal, for hearing, provided the complainant exercises this right within the time frame set down in the legislation.
Consistent with the provisions applying to other Tribunal hearings, in the ACT, the only appeal from a decision of the Tribunal will be on a question of law, to the Supreme Court.
The Bill includes transitional provisions to the effect that those complaints which have been received, as at the commencement, of the new provisions, but in respect of which the conciliation or hearing process has not commenced, will be treated as if they were complaints lodged under the new provisions. Other arrangements apply to ensure continuity and fairness in respect of part-conciliated or part-heard matters.
I am confident that the new procedures in the Discrimination Act, together with an autonomous ACT Human Rights Office will result in improved service delivery to the ACT community. I hope that, at some future stage, we might still be able to come to agreement with the Commonwealth, and undertake its complaints handling function. But, while the structure of the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .