Page 5433 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 8 December 2009
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deal only with amendments of a minor, technical or non-contentious nature, and generally they do. But here we have yet another example of this government, and especially this Attorney-General, trying to slip significant policy changes through hoping that no-one would notice. Well, Mr Assistant Speaker, we have noticed.
Let me first deal with the elements of this bill that the Canberra Liberals will be supporting. The bill permanently enacts a number of temporary modifications to legislation effected by the introduction of the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2008. They are contained in the Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Transitional Provisions) Regulation 2009 and expire on 2 February next year. Under the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2008, territory entities will be able to pay filing fees to the ACAT trust account on a quarterly basis rather than up front for each application. This will reduce transaction fees and administrative costs.
There are also amendments to the Legal Profession Act 2006 which will re-establish a longstanding requirement that the identity of the legal professionals in occupational disciplinary matters cannot be disclosed publicly unless and until an adverse finding is made and, if appealed, after the appeal either expires or confirms the original finding. This is a matter that has caused some concern for us in the ACT Liberal Party. We are concerned that there are moves to suppress the identities of certain classes of people when they come before courts and tribunals but the ordinary, everyday Canberran is subjected to the full scrutiny of public reporting on matters, even before they enter the courtroom.
When average Canberrans find themselves charged with any kind of offence, their names are regularly reported. There was a recent case of a teacher being charged with particular offences, having her name splashed over the media and having the matter gone into in considerable detail for a number of days, only to be found not guilty. One has to weigh the impact that that has on that person and their family as opposed to other classes of people who are automatically exempted. There has also been a recent case of a doctor who was found guilty of professional misconduct but has managed to have his name suppressed.
This is a matter of considerable concern to the ACT Liberals. We are currently looking at ways of protecting ordinary Canberrans who might have their name trawled through the mud and then be found innocent of the matters. Under the Magistrates Court Act 1930, where a person represents another person before the ACAT, that arrangement will be allowed to continue in an order enforcement procedure in the Magistrates Court.
The JACS bill No 4 also amends the Trustee Companies Act 1947 to accommodate the COAG agreed transfer of the regulation of trustee companies to the commonwealth and to bring them under the Corporations Act and the ASIC Act. Under these arrangements, trustee companies will be required to hold financial services licences. There are some transition provisions to allow for the timing of the legislative amendments that the commonwealth will need to make, and they commence on the minister’s written notification.
The Utilities Act 2000 is amended to permit the ICRC to continue to determine the annual licence fee payable by utilities to fund ACAT’s costs of dealing with utilities
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