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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3499 ..

Debate resumed from 25 September 1997, on motion by Mrs Carnell:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (10.56): Mr Speaker, this legislation seeks to remedy a perceived problem with the appointment of justices of the peace. It appears that the reason for the perceived problem is that appointments of justices of the peace were not circulated to the relevant committee and that, because of due process not being strictly followed, those appointments might be in question. I note that in the presentation speech the Chief Minister drew attention to the uncertainty of the official acts of the justices of the peace arising from this question. She said:

While this uncertainty may be capable of being remedied administratively, it is preferable to amend the Statutory Appointments Act to put the matter beyond doubt.

If the Government were to pursue that course and resolve the uncertainty by administrative action, then that could be an acceptable course. An alternative proposal I have discussed with Mr Moore involves a further amendment to these amendments administratively clarifying the position in relation to justices of the peace who have been appointed up to this point and retrospectively resolving any question about the validity of their appointment or any actions that they have taken as a consequence of their appointment in accordance with their role. I now see that Mr Moore has circulated his amendments. Those amendments would clear up the retrospective issue, but future appointments of justices of the peace would be subject to the rules which, inadvertently, apparently have not been followed to this point. Those procedures would apply to all future appointments of justices of the peace.

The Opposition are prepared to oppose the Statutory Appointments (Amendment) Bill and allow the Government to resolve the matter administratively. However, I have been told that there was some legal advice that there might be a problem about the administrative arrangement. I have not seen the legal advice, so I am a little nervous about the Minister's comment that the problem would be capable of being remedied administratively. The legal advice lurking in the background troubles me somewhat. If the Government is not prepared to deal with this matter administratively, then the Opposition will support the course proposed by Mr Moore in relation to these statutory appointments. We think that is a way of resolving the issue and settling all questions which might apply in relation to the matter. Mr Speaker, I will resume my seat at this point, and I would like to hear what the Government has to say about the issues I have raised.

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