Page 280 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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to comply with their duty they commit an offence. The penalty is $10,000 for an individual and $50,000 for a corporation.
Event organisers and promoters have a civic responsibility to ensure they carry out their advertising within the law. The bill recognises that often the physical act of putting up advertisements or placards is carried out by third parties or subcontractors, and it is therefore unfair to impose liability on event organisers without giving them an opportunity to prove that they took reasonable steps to stop the offence of illegal bill posting being committed. I commend the bill to the house.
Debate (on motion by Mr Coe) adjourned to the next sitting.
Dangerous Substances and Litter (Dumping) Legislation Amendment Bill 2008
Mr Stanhope, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage) (10.32): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
This bill amends a series of acts and regulations with a view to decreasing incidents of illegal dumping and to facilitate the recovery of costs involved in removing illegally dumped material from public property.
Illegal dumping continues to be a problem in parks and reserves around Canberra. Unfortunately, this appears to be an upward trend, despite the fact that much of what is being dumped can be recycled. Canberrans are among the best recyclers in Australia and most Canberrans responsibly dispose of their rubbish. However, there is an element within the community that does not get the message that recycling makes sense. Worse, there are some in the community who are prepared to endanger themselves and others by dumping dangerous material such as asbestos in Canberra’s parks and open spaces.
The Dangerous Substances Act 2004 already contains offences dealing with the exposure of the public, property or the environment to significant harm as a result of the improper handling of dangerous substances. That act includes a definition of what constitutes a dangerous substance, which includes asbestos, various poisons, flammable liquids and the like.
This bill inserts a number of examples into key provisions of that act to clarify that the handling of dangerous substances includes the disposal of those substances by dumping. The bill doubles the penalty for aggravated littering under section 9 of the Litter Act 2004 and introduces new offences that focus on the act of dumping of
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