Page 2891 - Week 09 - Thursday, 18 August 2005
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direction by the minister. The government’s view is that the potential costs of establishing an independent review, plus the restrictions imposed, both on the minister and public servants working in this area, are unreasonable, and would not necessarily deliver the best outcome to the territory.
Like the Dangerous Substances Act, the current review provisions in the OH&S Act expressly require the review to examine a specific area, namely, the reformed compliance model. Again, these amendments do not preclude the review from examining these areas. They are areas about which concerns were raised in debate on the original bills and, of course, they would be involved in and, I imagine, be at the forefront of any review that is undertaken in the future. So clause 6 substitutes the current provisions in section 230 of the OH&S Act. The section requires that the minister most review the act as soon as possible after 30 June 2007. This date has not been altered. The section also obliges the minister to present a report on the outcome of that review to the Assembly on or before the third sitting day in 2008.
The Dangerous Substances Act and the OH&S Act, as amended, are landmark legislation. There is a strong case for reviewing the regulatory regimes established by the acts, and we are committed to undertaking these reviews. Nevertheless, the conduct of these reviews will represent a considerable allocation of public resources, regardless of who is ultimately selected to undertake them. As such, it is every important that these resources be put to the best possible use to achieve an outcome that benefits the territory. The amendments proposed by the government today will promote a thorough analysis of the workability and effectiveness of these two complex and complementary regimes after a reasonable time has passed.
I also give a commitment that both reviews will include all stakeholders from the community and from business, and will seek submissions from all of the groups interested. There is no reason that the stakeholder input would be any different in a review being undertaken by a public servant as opposed to an independent reviewer. Stakeholders, of course, are vital to the success of any review of any legislation, and I give my commitment on that. I thank members for their contributions and thank the Office for Industrial Relations for the work in putting this amendment bill together. I look forward to the passage of this bill.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.
Bill agreed to.
Sitting suspended from 12.32 to 2.30 pm.
Ministerial arrangements
MR STANHOPE: For the information of members, I wish to advise that the Treasurer and Minister for Economic Development and Business is on Assembly business elsewhere today. He regrets that he is unable to take questions in question time this
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