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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4058 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

Taken together, this two-part legislative package represents an extraordinarily important opportunity not only to update our tobacco control legislation, but to ensure that it continues to be the national benchmark.

The complexity of untangling and re-integrating two pieces of legislation - the Tobacco Act 1927, as recently amended, and the Tobacco Licensing Act 1984 - has meant that it has been necessary to consider the licencing legislation separately, rather than with the earlier Tobacco Act amendments, upon which some of the proposed amendments rely.

It is now possible to introduce these legislative changes which will give effect to the transfer of the tobacco licensing function from the Commissioner for Revenue in the Department of Treasury and Infrastructure to the Registrar of Tobacco in the Department of Health and Community Care.

There were compelling procedural reasons to incorporate the new licensing provisions into the Tobacco Act 1927, which also involves repealing the Tobacco Licensing Act 1984, as this latter Act is no longer necessary.

This approach also simplifies matters for businesses and the community, as all relevant requirements will be contained in one piece of legislation.

It is intended that new administrative arrangements will take effect from the 2000-2001 licensing cycle, which commences on 1 September next year.

Mr Speaker, the transfer of the tobacco licensing function to the Registrar of Tobacco in the Department of Health and Community Care is a timely and sensible move.

The High Court's decision which invalidated State and Territory tobacco franchise fees had indirect implications for tobacco licensing: under the Business Franchise Act, and later the Tobacco Licensing Act, tobacco wholesalers and retailers were licensed primarily to facilitate cross-checking to ensure that the Territory received the appropriate amount of tobacco excise.

Just as the revenue function of licensing has diminished -- with the Commonwealth assuming responsibility for collecting tobacco tax - there has been a re-focusing of attention on the relationship between the demand for, and the availability of, tobacco products.

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