Page 3219 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 18 August 2009
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requirement for all young people to participate in school or an approved equivalent until they complete year 10. Additionally, young people who have completed year 10 will have to participate in education, training or employment until age 17. This will ensure that every young person in the ACT is engaged in meaningful study, training or employment after year 10 and provide flexible pathways better tailored to meet individual students’ needs, which in turn will create seamless and successful employment transitions for young Canberrans.
Thirdly, greater effort is to be given to addressing crime and enhancing community safety. To this end, the ACT is currently enacting a program of cross-border investigative power model laws to enhance a nationally coordinated and cooperative approach to combating serious and organised crime.
The second area of law to be addressed in that program, and now to be progressed locally, is that of assumed identities. The Crimes (Assumed Identities) Bill 2009 will create a more efficient, transparent and accountable legislative regime for police officers to acquire identity documents necessary for them to pursue cross-border criminal investigations and allow the use of documents produced in one jurisdiction in another.
To increase the value assigned to a penalty unit for a criminal offence, an amendment will be made to the Legislation Act 2001. It will increase the base level of statutory fines by 10 per cent in line with a decision made in this year’s budget. One penalty unit is currently worth $100 for individuals and $500 for corporations. This has been the base rate for penalty units for at least eight years. The amendment will increase the base unit to $110 for individuals and $550 for corporations and will align penalty units in the ACT with those in the commonwealth and New South Wales.
To simplify and clarify the procedures for entry and search of premises and records held by legal practices the government will present a bill to amend enforcement provisions in the Legal Profession Act 2006. The bill will ensure that any compensation for loss suffered as a result of a search of a legal practice will be limited to the costs of compliance with the requirements of an investigator.
A number of other various safety measures are to be progressed. To facilitate transport safety we will move to adopt national road model road transport legislation developed by the National Transport Commission. This will provide for the safe and secure transportation of goods to which the Australian Dangerous Goods Code applies. At present the transportation of dangerous goods within the territory is regulated by commonwealth legislation. This will be repealed as it predates the development of the national model legislation and does not reflect nationally agreed standards. These agreed standards on the transport of dangerous goods are to start nationally no later than 1 January 2010.
The safety of vehicles is to be highlighted with the replacement of the existing Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Industry Code of Practice. This follows advice from the Motor Trades Association that the current code is too difficult to enforce, with no power to issue infringement notices or to prosecute a motor vehicle repairer for breaching the code. The Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Industry Bill 2009 will address the MTA’s concerns and enhance the existing regulatory regime for the motor vehicle repair industry.
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