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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2765 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

jurisdiction of the Small Claims Court. Surprisingly, section 453 limits the amount of counterclaims and set-offs to $5,000. The amendment makes the set-off amount consistent with the jurisdictional limit of the court.

A number of technical amendments are also made to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. In particular, section 102 is amended to include a provision for the tribunal to vary or set aside an order on the application of the party in whose absence the judgment was given or entered or the order made. In addition, subsection 115(1) is amended to make the jurisdiction of the tribunal expressly subject to section 48A of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988. Section 48A provides that the Supreme Court has all original and appellate jurisdiction necessary for the administration of justice in the Territory. This amendment will avoid any argument that section 115 is inconsistent with section 48A.

I draw the attention of members to a number of other amendments of interest. The Bill amends the Building and Services Act to correct the effect of a consequential amendment in 1988 and to update the language of the Act. The Bill repeals a couple of old archaic laws, including the Printing and Newspapers Act 1961, which despite its 1961 date can actually be traced back to the days of King Henry VIII. It required the registration of newspapers and printers to better enable the state to exercise its powers of censorship and control of the media. Perhaps we should not repeal it after all.

The Bill amends a number of laws to change the name of the Consumer Affairs Bureau to the Office of Fair Trading, to reflect the diverse duties of that office. The Bill amends the Fair Trading Act 1992 to allow for judicial recognition of a code under the Act, as is the case with Acts and regulations, without the need to resort to producing the original approved copy and approved copies of amendments.

The Bill amends section 3 of the Mediation Act 1997, which requires approved agencies and competency standards to be declared in the regulations. This process is administratively time consuming and costly, and it is proposed that it be replaced with a provision enabling the Minister to make a disallowable instrument approving agencies and identifying the required competency standards.

The Bill amends section 19 of the Pawnbrokers Act 1902, New South Wales, as the requirement to hold a public auction for forfeited goods where the loan is over $10 is a burden on the industry. Instead, pawnbrokers will be required to conduct an auction only where the goods are forfeited and have a value of $500 or over, in line with the monetary levels of the Uncollected Goods Act 1996.

Along with the repeal of the 690 old New South Wales Acts, the Bill repeals a number of other laws. For example, the Bill repeals the Maintenance Act 1968. Maintenance is now dealt with by the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth. In addition the Bill repeals a number of "shell" Acts which are now essentially of historical interest only but which previously housed a number of New South Wales and Imperial Acts. Instead, these Acts will apply as ACT Acts in their own right or be incorporated into more appropriate ACT laws. Mr Speaker, I commend the Bill to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Stanhope ) adjourned.

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