Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Thursday, 11 March 2004) . . Page.. 1114 ..

rectification order under section 37 cannot be made in respect of work that is more than 10 years old before the day the registrar proposes to meet the order.

The amendment substitutes a new clause, 36 (1) (c), which maintains the existing requirement and adds a second criterion, which has the same effect as clause 35 (3), so that the registrar cannot authorise a licensee to rectify work if the work is more than 10 years old before the day the registrar proposes to make an authorisation. It is appropriate to ensure that there is consistency of approach to the 10-year limit, and this applies to all aspects of rectification and authorisation of the licensed entities to undertake rectification work. This amendment also inserts the same cross-reference note to clause 146 that has been received at clause 35.

MRS DUNNE (5.26): The opposition will be supporting it because we understand the amendment.

MS TUCKER (5.26): The Greens will be supporting this amendment. It ensures that the registrar can authorise the licensee to rectify work, if the work is more than 10 years old, before the day the registrar proposes to make authorisation. It plugs an inadvertent hole that might have meant that, while rectification orders cannot ordinarily extend to activity more than 10 years old, if the registrar were authorising another licensee to do the work, they might have extended for longer.

MS DUNDAS (5.27): The Democrats will also be supporting this amendment as it clarifies that the territory can issue a rectification order for work that was done more than 10 years ago. It makes it quite clear here in clause 36 and in section 35.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 36, as amended, agreed to.

Clauses 37 to 41, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 42.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (5.28): I move amendment No 7 circulated in my name [see schedule 2 at page 1179]. Clause 42 (1) creates an offence in relation to hindering a person who is a licensee authorised by the registrar to do rectification work. This amendment removes the imprisonment penalty, with the maximum financial penalty of 50 penalty units remaining.

MS DUNDAS (5.28): The government amendment removes the custodial sentence for the strict liability offence in the act. This is the first of three strict liability offences in the bill that have custodial sentences. I note that this one was missed by the scrutiny of bills committee but has been picked up by my office. I applaud the government for moving the amendment to remove it but I reiterate the concerns that I have raised many times before in this place but specifically when debating the Building Bill.

These types of mistakes in relation to strict liability should be picked up before the government tables legislation in the Assembly and should not have been written into the draft bills at all. I hope that continued pressure from scrutiny of bills and here in the

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .