Page 5640 - Week 13 - Thursday, 18 November 2010
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The bill introduces a number of changes to the procedure for handling complaints and conciliation under the Human Rights Commission Act. These changes will facilitate the Human Rights Commission’s flexibility and responsiveness in dealing with the public. Under current section 44 of the Human Rights Commission Act, the commission may only consider a complaint if it is in writing. One amendment in this bill will create a commonsense exception to this requirement. This bill will allow the commission to consider an oral complaint in emergency circumstances and if the commission is satisfied that waiting for a written complaint would make a response impossible or impractical.
Amendments are also made to ensure that the commission has the power to choose from all available options in dealing with the complaint. Under existing law, when conciliation fails in discrimination matters, the commission has no choice but to close the complaint. The result is that the parties have no option but to proceed to expensive and costly litigation. This bill will allow the commission to take action other than closing a complaint if conciliation is not expected to succeed.
The commission will be able to decide, for example, whether it is more appropriate to refer a complaint to another entity or to investigate and issue its own report. This sensible change gives effect to the original policy behind the Human Rights Commission Act, which was to ensure that the commission is able to choose from a range of options in responding to complaints.
This bill will also implement the results of consultation between unit title owners, the Registrar-General and the ACT Planning and Land Authority in relation to renewing leases for unit plans in the territory. A problem was identified by the Land Titles Office in attempting to register lease renewals for units. A new lease cannot commence until every individual owner in the unit plan executes a memorandum of surrender of the old lease unanimously. If even one owner in a unit plan is missing or unavailable, it is not possible for any unit title owners to obtain a new lease.
This situation creates a serious problem for unit title owners who wish to sell their properties or obtain new mortgages. If an existing lease is nearing expiration and a new lease cannot be issued, owners will find it impossible to obtain financing on standard terms because the lease does not extend for a sufficient time period. Also, there is the risk that in the future the entire unit lease will expire due to this technicality.
The amendments in this bill will empower owners corporations to step into the shoes of owners who cannot be located, in order to complete a lease renewal, and will allow the ACT Planning and Land Authority and the Registrar-General to renew leases for unit title owners in a timely and efficient manner. No rights of property owners, either the unit title owners or lenders, will be diminished. Rather, this amendment ensures that a technicality does not deprive unit title owners of the same rights as all other property owners in the territory.
Amendments to the Public Trustee Act will allow the Public Trustee to keep copies of wills and powers of attorney electronically. The electronic management system will
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