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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (2 February) . . Page.. 91 ..

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I present the Milk Authority (Amendment) Bill 1999, together with its explanatory memorandum.

Title read by Clerk.

MR SMYTH: I move:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

Mr Speaker, I seek leave to have the presentation speech incorporated in Hansard. This is legislation being reintroduced.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows:

Mr Speaker, late last year this Assembly considered the Milk Authority (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1998 presented by the Government. That Bill was not supported by the Assembly.

In introducing the Bill, the Government was intending to simply deal with problems in the Milk Authority Act 1971 that were in potential breach of the Commonwealth's Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA). This related to the roles of the Milk Authority in maintaining a commercial function and contracts with milk market participants and continuing to regulate milk prices and the home vending sector.

Legal advice says this dual role potentially breaches the Part IV Conduct Code of the TPA.

Mr Speaker, since the Assembly's decision to not support passage of the amending legislation, the previous short-term exemptions under section 51 of the TPA expired on 31 December 1998 and the Milk Authority has written to ACT milk market participants informing them that it would not be actioning any matters related to regulating the market. The Milk Authority's action was based on the legal advice and was necessary to minimise any risk of liability by the Authority and its Board members and Secretary to possible TPA action.

Effectively, the ACT now has a deregulated milk market and I believe this is an unintended consequence of the Assembly's consideration of the earlier Bill.

Mr Speaker, the Government, therefore, is introducing the Milk Authority (Amendment) Bill 1999 so that the Assembly can again address the TPA problems in the Milk Authority Act 1971 and maintain a regulatory regime over milk prices and vendor zones in the ACT.

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