Page 1463 - Week 04 - Thursday, 26 March 2009
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themselves and laughing at their own jokes because they cannot face up to the critique that is relevant in relation to this debate.
On 1 November 2006, I, as then Minister for Planning, released an issues paper on the review of the unit titles legislation—“Consumer protection under the Unit Titles Act 2001”. Public comment was sought until 30 November. During 2007 and 2008, ACTPLA and the Department of Justice and Community Safety progressed work to develop best practice model legislation. In May 2008, an exposure draft was released for 1½ months of consultation. On 19 June, there was a meeting with the Strata Managers Institute to discuss issues. On 30 June, Mr Seselja and Mr Stefaniak were briefed on the bill and issues arising from consultation.
In July, public comments were being taken into account in drafting of the final bill for further public information. This was sent to key stakeholders, displayed on ACTPLA’s website and prepared for tabling in the Assembly in August. In August, the bill was published. In September, there was publication of legislation resources. In late 2008, there was the release of the ORS fact sheet on unit titles, which can be found in the ORS website.
In November and December last year, there were the JACS discussions with owners corporations about the new regulatory environment. In December last year, there were meetings with the Owners Corporation Network by JACS and ACTPLA. In December last year and through to March this year, there was a range of other discussions and meetings with owners, owner corporations managers and agencies about the new regulatory environment. In January this year, there was the release of the ACAT website, which also provided information.
In February this year, there was the JACS meeting with the Law Society. In February this year, JACS and my office staff met with Greens representatives. In March this year, JACS had a further meeting and various discussions with the Owners Corporation Network. Again in March this year, there was the public meeting organised by OCN, attended by officers from my department, and in March this year there was the release of the JACS detailed web information resource.
That is the summary of the process of the development of the legislation and the consultation and education process that has occurred—the legislation that Mrs Dunne seeks to derail through this process of legislation by SMS. An examination of the effect of Mrs Dunne’s proposed amendments will demonstrate her regrettably embarrassing ignorance of the effect of her bill and the process by which she has formulated her last-minute amendments. The effect of it cannot be understood without understanding the intention of the parts of the act that Mrs Dunne seeks to defer. This last-minute bill seeks to defer operation of one part of the act, the part relating to implied warranties.
Her second, even later last-minute amendment, seeks to delay the section in relation to disclosure of certain documents by the seller. The part of the act relating to implied warranties has been in the making for some time. When the government circulated the issues papers titled “Consumer protection under the Unit Titles Act 2001” in 2006, the issue of inadequate disclosure by vendors was consistently raised as an issue that
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