Page 2498 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 2013
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Liberals recognise that the construction sector is vital to the continued growth of our city. We are concerned that this bill, if not used sensibly, may simply impose further red tape on industries that are already subjected to excessive regulation. We want to ensure that the pricing and regulations are reasonable and do not put an unnecessary burden on businesses in Canberra. We will be watching how this bill is implemented, and, if need be, we will be back in this Assembly moving amendments to ensure that it is reasonable and fairly applied.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.49): The Water Resources Amendment Bill seeks to tighten a number of provisions in the Water Resources Act and align the ACT legislation with the national framework for compliance and enforcement systems for water resource management. The bill seeks to meet the national framework by ensuring there is an adequate range of regulatory tools and adequate penalties. As such, the bill includes roadworks, earthworks, construction and landscaping as activities that will require a licence to take water. They were previously exempt. That seems sensible to include these activities under the regulatory regime.
The bill clarifies the definition of ACT drillers licence and introduces a new criminal offence of tampering with a water meter. It also introduces two new strict liability offences for undertaking water works without holding the required licence and for failure to submit a bore completion report with the EPA within the required time frame. The strict liability offences to be introduced have maximum penalty units of 50 and 25 respectively. The intent of these strict liability offences is to deter non-compliance but also to avoid subjecting a person to criminal prosecution while applying a small penalty. The Greens are comfortable with the use of strict liability offences in this case, given the penalties applied and the public interest is a legitimate objective and that it is clear that an offence has been committed.
I welcome the government’s amended explanatory statement which acknowledges the defences of an honest and reasonable mistake or of an intervening conduct event outlined in the Criminal Code 2002 and which, thereby, addresses the issues raised by the scrutiny committee. In conclusion, the Greens will support the bill.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (11.51), in reply: I table a revised explanatory statement to this bill. The rivers, lakes, ponds, aquifers and other water bodies of the ACT are regulated and protected by the Water Resources Act 2007. This act is administered by the EPA. The water resources are protected for their environmental functions while maintaining a sustainable level of water extraction for our community.
To ensure compliance with the laws of the act, the act includes a licensing system and a range of regulatory enforcement tools. For example, a licence is required for such actions as pumping water from a river, use of groundwater, building a dam or drilling a bore. Regulatory options exist within the act to deal with people who may perform
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