Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 4 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 1036 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

If he did mean confine rather than define, can the Minister tell us during this debate which powers of the IPRC will remain in the Bill after amended subclause 8(2) comes into force? It is unclear to me what the remaining powers of the IPRC will be. I would appreciate the Minister clarifying that issue.

On reading the two Bills and the Minister's amendments, it seems to me that the effect of the proposed amendment in clause 13 is that the ACCC and the IPRC will both have the powers and functions of the local regulator in respect of distribution pipelines. I cannot see how they can both have powers, particularly if they are overlapping or conflicting. Maybe my reading is incorrect, but I would ask the Minister to clarify whether clause 13 does in fact have that effect and, if so, whether it should be rectified before we enact this legislation. Clearly, some clarification is necessary in that connection.

Mr Speaker, my only other comment is in connection with the explanatory memoranda. There are times when I wonder why the Government bothers tabling explanatory memoranda, because they do not explain anything. We have some element of that in these explanatory memoranda. They are lengthy, but they do not tell you much. This happens to be a fairly complex Bill, so you would expect the explanatory memoranda to tell you what the Bills mean. They do not, and I will give you a couple of examples. Subclause 17(2) of the Gas Supply Bill reads:

An authorised distributor shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving a notice under subsection (1), connect the premises to a distribution pipeline.

What does the explanatory memorandum say? It says:

Clause 17 provides for the connection of land to a distribution gas pipeline.

The explanatory memorandum is even briefer than the clause in the Bill. In fact, the wording "the connection of land to a distribution gas pipeline" is quite wrong. I would suggest it is the other way round. You connect the gas pipeline to the land. That is what the explanatory memorandum says, so I am not clear what the clause in the draft Bill actually means. A second one - I just pull these out at random - clause 39, states:

The Gas Technical Regulator has power to do all things necessary or convenient to be done in connection with the performance of his or her functions.

If you go to his or her functions at clause 37, you find there is a page-and-a-half of them. They are very extensive. So when it says that he "has power to do all things necessary or convenient" - it is quaint terminology; he can do anything that he thinks is convenient to be done - you go to the explanatory memorandum to see just what that entails. What does the explanatory memorandum say? It says:

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .