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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 4202 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Labor believes it appropriate that public consultation occur once a draft code of practice is in place, rather than only before and not afterwards; but we do accept that it is appropriate for the Government, through their administrative processes and the Environment Management Authority, to develop what they believe is the most appropriate public consultation process in the development of accredited codes of practice. If at some stage down the track we find that the processes for consultation before accredited codes of practice are put in place are not living up to the expectation that either the community or the industry has of them, then I think it appropriate that they be reviewed.

For the record, I would like to flag one option that Labor believes may be a sensible way around any problems that may occur if the Government's process is found to be unworkable. I am not suggesting that it will be, but this is simply a suggestion. At a later date the Government may wish to look at the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act which allow for a council to advise the Minister on many matters, including the approval of codes of practice and the variation of codes of practice. Such a council could have representatives of industry, representatives of the community selected by government and representatives of the EMA. The Government might like to explore this mechanism when it is considering its codes of practice consultation process, or at a later stage if the process that it does decide on does not appear to be working. At this stage we are very happy to accept the provision put forward by the Government to ensure that there is public consultation in the development of codes of practice, and we look forward to good operation of consultation in that respect.

Amendments agreed to.

Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Debate resumed from 15 May 1997, on motion by Mr Humphries:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.

Bill agreed to.

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