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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Thursday, 4 March 2004) . . Page.. 799 ..

the information was obtained or they disclose it to a law enforcement authority. An additional provision is necessary to ensure that an inspector is not required to divulge commercial-in-confidence information to a court unless this disclosure is necessary under the act or any other act.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 211, as amended, agreed to.

Clauses 212 to 223, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Proposed new clause 223A.

MS TUCKER (6.08): I move amendment No 1 circulated in my name which inserts a new clause 223A [see schedule 5 at page 818].

This amendment ensures that an independent review of the operation of this act is conducted shortly after the June long weekend in 2005 and that the review reports in sufficient time for the government and Assembly to amend the act if shown to be necessary. The amendment specifies some aspects of this new regime, in particular the management and impact of consumer fireworks, which must be assessed in this review. That is because the recent history of retail fireworks in this city has been controversial and the practices of the retailers have been unsatisfactory.

While I have set the timeframe for this review for 2005, I would presume that, if the system breaks down completely and we have anything like the same level of social and environmental damage as we endured over the past year, the Assembly would, without doubt, support the closing down of the retail industry altogether. The more general aspects of this review are also very important when moving from a fault based system to one which establishes a duty of care. Some evaluation of its fairness and efficacy is necessary.

MS DUNDAS (6.10): The Democrats will be supporting this new clause as proposed by Ms Tucker. I think it is important to have a review of this act. It is quite a substantial piece of legislation. It was originally tabled at the end of last year and since that time, until today, close to 40 amendments have been developed in just a couple of months.

This is a substantial piece of work. Having this review, especially in view of the controversial issue of fireworks, is important. I hope the Assembly supports this amendment. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the minister’s office, the department and my office for the work that has been done in trying to make this legislation better. Without reflecting on the debate, I am disappointed that there are some still quite draconian regulations in this piece of legislation, but I think we have made some progress as to how we deal with fireworks in the ACT.

MRS CROSS (6.11): I will also be supporting Ms Tucker’s amendment. This has been a very comprehensive piece of legislation. There has been extensive work—extremely cordial and professional—between my office and Ms Gallagher’s office. I would like to thank my staff, particularly Nick Tedeschi, and Garrett Purtill from Ms Gallagher’s

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