Page 2884 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 5 August 2008
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be remanded in custody when they had actually been convicted, it should be fixed up. I am pleased to see that it is being fixed up, and I commend the attorney accordingly.
The regulatory services legislation amendment act has been amended to delay the start of recent amendments to the Door-to-Door Trading Act. The start date will be the sooner of the minister’s determination or 15 October next year. That is in response to concerns raised by telemarketers in the final state of the debate on the amendment. Again, it is good to see someone taking some notice in terms of problems that crop up. I recall that there were some contentious parts in relation to the latest lot of amendments there; it is sensible to see any glitches fixed up there.
At the end of the day, there does not seem to be anything terribly contentious about the proposed amendments. Indeed, some are actually good and perhaps overdue in terms of clarifying some problems that have arisen in recent times. I commend Communities@Work. One amendment could potentially impact on them, but it shows how seriously they take their job of distributing food to the needy in our community and the high standards they want to achieve to ensure that it occurs even though potentially they might put themselves at risk there. That is highly commendable for that particular agency, and I would like to single them out for praise.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (4.51): As noted in Mr Corbell’s presentation speech, this bill is the 19th of the series. Such a wide-ranging view of justice and community safety matters provides the department, the community and the Assembly with regular opportunity for debate. While I do not always agree with the changes the government makes in these areas, I do welcome the opportunity to discuss them. I would also like to thank Stephen in Mr Corbell’s office for organising a briefing for my office, and I thank the officers who provided it.
This bill, as with the others, generally makes somewhat minor corrections and updates for various acts. They are largely non-contentious and, though I will not discuss them at length, I would like to raise a couple of points.
First, regarding the Administration and Probate Act, I am pleased to see the changes to allow civil partners, under the Civil Partnerships Act, the same rights as married partners in relation to intestacy. This is another of the many small but important changes that the ACT and federal governments are making to provide equal rights to people in same-sex partnerships, and I applaud them.
I hope to see continued efforts in this area to ensure that the gay, the lesbian, the bisexual, the transgender and the intersex community have the same rights as everyone else. It is a difficult enough situation to lose a loved one and it is made more difficult if that loved one does not leave a will. Changes such as these to provide greater clarity in clearly upsetting circumstances are very welcome. The changes to the Crimes (Restorative Justice) Act seem entirely appropriate and I am sure that they will be welcomed by the referring entities and reduce by one the many demands on their time.
I share Mr Bain’s concerns about the changes to the Legal Profession Act and the related changes in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal Bill. Being able to arrest and detain someone for not attending a tribunal hearing seems somewhat
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