Mr Speaker, the Bill I am presenting today deals with commercial and retail leases in the ACT.

It represents a detailed, comprehensive and all-encompassing approach to this area of law. The Bill is the culmination of an exhaustive consideration by stakeholders over a lengthy period. It represents a balance of competing commercial interests. Most importantly, it addresses real problems inherent within the existing legislation.

Process-a comprehensive approach

In December 1998, the Government tabled an exposure draft of the Leases (Commercial and Retail) Bill 1998. This draft resulted from Government consideration of the ACT Government Working Party review of commercial and retail tenancy legislation.

Following tabling of the document, extensive negotiations on the Bill were held with stakeholders. In particular, the Law Society subsequently undertook a detailed technical analysis of the Bill. The Law Society was also provided with copies of comments made on the Bill by other stakeholders; (with their concurrence), so that these might also be taken into consideration in the analysis of the Bill.

The Law Society subsequently issued a detailed analysis of the Bill containing over 260 recommendations for amendment to over 110 of the 156 clauses of the draft Bill. This report was prepared by commercial lawyers working in this area of law-both tenant and landlord lawyers. While many of the recommendations were of a technical legal or drafting nature, they have made a significant contribution to the quality of the Bill and have largely been accepted by Government.

Mr Speaker, I now turn wish to direct member's attention to some of the specific changes in the Bill.

Overview of Bill

The Bill makes comprehensive provision for the regulation of the relationships between lessors and tenants of commercial and retail premises in the ACT.

A new jurisdiction

The issue of effective dispute resolution was a key issue during the review of the legislation. Accordingly, during the course of the review, the Government carefully considered the existing dispute resolution system in the Tenancy Tribunal. Because of the number of disputes brought under the new system, the Government was able