Page 4534 - Week 12 - Thursday, 15 October 2009
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The Murray-Darling Basin Agreement Act 2007—the MDBA act—implemented an interstate agreement, the Murray-Darling Basin agreement, about the water, land and other environmental resources of the Murray-Darling Basin. This agreement has been superseded by a revised agreement that was the result of the intergovernmental agreement on Murray-Darling Basin reform signed at the July 2008 Council of Australian Governments’ meeting. The revised agreement establishes the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, a commonwealth agency, and was signed by the Chief Minister in September 2008. The text of the revised agreement is in the commonwealth Water Act 2007, schedule 1. The MDBA act is therefore no longer needed and may be repealed.
Mr Speaker, in addition to the explanatory notes in the bill, the Parliamentary Counsel is also available to provide any further explanation or information that members would seek about any of the amendments made by the bill. The bill, while minor and technical in nature, is another important building block in the development of a modern and accessible ACT statute book that is indeed at the leading edge in Australia. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Dunne) adjourned to the next sitting.
Legal Profession Amendment Bill 2009
Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.36): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Today I am pleased to introduce the Legal Profession Amendment Bill 2009. This bill contains a number of simple amendments to the Legal Profession Act 2006. The act is the culmination of several years of hard work and cooperation across all jurisdictions. However, it is inevitable that, from time to time, this legislation will require amendment.
This bill proposes amendments to enable the effective operation of the provisions contained in part 6.3 of the act, relating to entry and search of premises for the purposes of investigating law practices. The bill will also ensure that law practices are entitled to compensation only for the unlawful or unreasonable actions of investigators.
It is important to make the observation that this bill changes a number of provisions in a way that will, to a degree, set them apart from what we regard as “standard” provisions for the appointment and conduct of investigators. That is because the regulatory environment, in this case, is not entirely compatible with those standard provisions.
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