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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 209 ..

'82 Suspension of travel or employment agent's licence ';

and

Mr Speaker, these amendments incorporate the amendments circulated some time ago. The amendments address a range of issues, some of which are contained in Report No. 6 of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety dated 6 December 1999. The amendments which were circulated at an earlier time arose from an earlier report of the Justice and Community Safety Committee in its role as the scrutiny of Bills committee. I will take members through those amendments in due course.

First of all, Mr Speaker, I would like to refer to the report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety and its recommendations. I will also refer to the debate in the Assembly when this matter was last raised last year. The Bill was introduced on 24 June 1998 and members will recall that the Government, in particular Mr Humphries, complained at one point in the debate that there had not been adequate consultation in relation to this matter. I think it is fair to say that that argument had no weight then and it has no weight now. The Government had always resisted moves to introduce this sensible legislation. It is legislation designed to protect unemployed people and job seekers and to regulate employment agents in the ACT because they were not regulated before.

The committee's first recommendation was that the ACT Government seriously consider undertaking a strategic review of the ACT consumer protection mechanisms in the ACT, including a comprehensive analysis of resourcing, coverage and reporting issues. Its second recommendation goes to the legislation which I introduced. The committee recommended that the relevant legislation be amended to require the annual report of the Agents Board to include information on the number and nature of complaints; whether and of whom investigations were undertaken and the resultant actions; the number of agents registered during the year; and the nature of educational activities undertaken by the board to inform consumers of their rights in the ACT.

The committee recommends that the annual report of the Agents Board include a list of licensed employment agents. It also recommended that the Bill be amended to include provision for the development of a specific employment agents code of conduct. Other recommendations were that the Bill be amended to exempt theatrical and modelling agents from the prohibition on fees and charges; that licence fees for employment agents be set at a rate in parity with New South Wales - that is, approximately $200, including $100 application fee and $100 annual fee; and that the ACT Government set aside funds in the 2000-2001 budget to cover the residual cost of regulating ACT employment agents.

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