Page 4189 - Week 13 - Thursday, 27 November 2014
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Bill and more broadly on the issue of food safety across the ACT for many years now; I am very well advised by them and I thank them for the high level of professional support they provide to me in my role as Minister for Health.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Detail stage
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health, Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Regional Development) (12.25): Pursuant to standing order 182A(c), I seek leave to move together amendments to this bill which are in response to comments made by the scrutiny committee.
Leave granted.
MS GALLAGHER: I move amendments Nos 1 to 3 circulated in my name together [see schedule 1 at page 4274]. I have tabled a supplementary explanatory statement on the government amendments.
These three relatively minor amendments have been drafted in response to the scrutiny report. I will talk briefly to amendments 1 and 2; amendment 3 is consequential to the first amendment.
The first amendment provides a new subsection 7A(2)(a) of the bill which would give the minister the power by disallowable instrument to bring a relevant food business back into the operation of the act should circumstances warrant it. The views of the committee about the appropriateness of this power being exercisable by the minister alone through a disallowable instrument with no criteria as to its use have been acknowledged. Accordingly, the amendment omits subsection 7A(2)(a) as included in the bill and replaces it with new subsection 7A(2)(a) containing the text “prescribed by regulation”. The effect of this change is that the power will be exercisable through regulation rather than disallowable instrument made by the minister.
In relation to amendment No 2, the first amendment to be made to the bill, discussed earlier, changes paragraph 7A(2)(a) so that the power is exercised by regulation rather than disallowable instrument. This amendment will establish that any such regulation may be made in circumstances where it has been determined to be necessary for the protection of public health or where otherwise appropriate.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (12.28): Madam Speaker, the opposition will be supporting the amendments. They are in response to scrutiny. It seems to be a reasonable measure, rather than have it as a disallowable instrument by the minister, to make it by regulation. And as the minister outlines, two are essentially substantive while the third amendment is consequential. We will be supporting all three.
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