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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 5 Hansard (25 August) . . Page.. 1247 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

to victims of crime to enable them to recover from their injuries and to ensure that such assistance is more widely available. The responsiveness of the criminal justice system to victims of domestic crime will be further enhanced through a Bill to enable the making of out-of-hours protection orders.

The ACT's revenue laws form an important part of ACT statutes. Two revenue Bills will be introduced to address the potential weaknesses discovered as a consequence of a recent court decision and changes to Commonwealth legislation. An amendment will be made to existing stamp duty legislation to put beyond doubt the liability for duty of transactions which arise when a company buys back its own shares. This follows a recent adverse decision by the Victorian Supreme Court. Although the decision of the Victorian Supreme Court is not determinative of the meaning of the ACT law, as a safeguard measure the proposed amendments will be retrospective to protect revenue already collected over the years totalling in excess of $4m. Amendments will also be made to the Debits Tax Act 1997 as a consequence of recent amendments to the Commonwealth's Cheques and Payments Orders Act 1986.

In addition, new stamp duty and taxation administration legislation will be introduced which will closely follow legislation already in operation in New South Wales. This will make it easier for Territory businesses operating across the border to understand and meet their tax obligations. The Rates and Land Tax Act 1926 will also be amended to strengthen delegation and investigation provisions to assist with increased compliance activity which will follow the land tax amnesty in respect of rented residential properties. The amnesty commenced on 1 July 1998 and is scheduled to end on 31 August 1998. Legislation will be introduced to implement the recommendations of the Government working party review of commercial and retail tenancies legislation. The Government is committed to enhancing the capacity of commercial lessors and tenants to resolve their disputes as fairly, quickly and inexpensively as possible.

The Government's commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of our community is also reflected in this legislation program. As announced by the Minister for Health and Community Care last week, we intend to introduce amendments to the Blood Donation (Transmittable Diseases) Act to provide access to compensation for those persons who have contracted hepatitis C in the ACT from a blood transfusion. Members would also be aware that the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act ceases to have effect from February 1999. The Assembly placed a sunset clause in the Act to ensure that it was reviewed. An extensive review and consultation process has commenced. The Government will introduce legislation after the review.

The legislation program being tabled is a small one, and deliberately so. The Government wishes to flag to members those legislative items which are regarded as important. The program indicates clearly those items of legislation which the Government regards as urgent and which should be passed by the end of the spring sitting period. I seek the cooperation of members in the timely consideration of those urgent Bills. From time to time, Bills may be introduced that do not appear on the program. These will generally not attract the same priority as those of which I have informed members today. I am sure that members will find the Government's legislation program extremely helpful in planning their own program and preparing for debate on relevant issues.

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