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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4365 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Mr Speaker, this amendment goes to the issue of unclaimed moneys. The proposed arrangements are consistent with other such arrangements, with the exception that the arrangements do not require the public notification of the existence of such moneys. Therefore, if you happen to remember after a six-year memory lapse that you are entitled to some money being held by the ACT Government, will the mechanisms be in place for you to collect the money? The real problem that I have is: Are you going to be reminded? It does not seem as though there is a mechanism to remind people that they have some unclaimed moneys to which they might be entitled.

Regulations relating to other unclaimed moneys - for example, moneys held by real estate agents or in inactive bank accounts - require the publication of details, generally by way of notification in the daily newspaper. In this way there is at least the possibility that your memory will be jogged. But the ACT Government is going to quietly spirit away other people's money, it would seem on the surface. It may be just an oversight, and one would not want to make any false accusations about what the Government's intentions are; but it seems to me that it would be far clearer if it were advertised when there was unclaimed money that people were entitled to and if people were told by way of some sort of public advertising. I propose that this defect be remedied by a requirement for the publication of details. As the matter relates to the Government, I believe that it is appropriate for publication to be in a daily newspaper and in the Gazette. My amendment is worded accordingly.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (9.37): Mr Speaker, we do not have any particular problems with the amendment.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause, as amended, agreed to.

Clauses 12 and 13, by leave, taken together, and agreed to.

Proposed new clause 14

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (9.37): I understand that amendment No. 5 circulated in my name is out of order as it proposes an amendment to the Bill that is beyond the scope of the Bill. I therefore ask for leave of the Assembly to move that amendment, which proposes a new clause 14.

Leave granted.

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