Page 3816 - Week 12 - Thursday, 29 October 2015
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statute book is cohesive and consistent and is developed to reflect best practice. Schedule 3 contains technical amendments proposed by the parliamentary counsel to correct minor typographical or clerical errors, improve language, omit redundant provisions, include explanatory notes or otherwise update or improve the form of the legislation.
Let me turn briefly to a few of the substantive matters dealt with by this bill. Schedule 4 of the bill amends the Auditor-General Act 1996 by omitting section 17(6) and inserting new section 21. Under current section 17(6) the minister must prepare a response to an Auditor-General’s report made under section 17 and present the response within three months after the day the report was presented to the Assembly. New section 21 contains the substance of section 17(6) but gives the minister more flexibility in how a response may be presented to the Assembly. The period for presenting the response is also extended from three months to four months.
Under new section 21, the minister must either present the response to the Assembly or give the response and a copy of the response for each Assembly member to the Speaker. If the minister gives the response to the Speaker the minister must present the response to the Assembly on the next sitting day, or, if the next sitting day is the first meeting of the Assembly after a general election of Assembly members, then on the second sitting day after the election. The increased flexibility provided by these measures will result in more efficient procedures.
The Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 2008 and the Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 are amended by this bill to bring them in line with the current Poisons Standard June 2015. The poisons standard is made under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 of the commonwealth. This standard comprises the standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons No 7 and is already adopted by reference under the ACT act. It contains requirements for controlling medicines and poisons, including their packaging, labelling, storage, sale and supply. Cross-references to the standard in the ACT act and regulation are updated in line with the current commonwealth standard. These changes are aimed at establishing a set of uniform poison controls for adoption by all jurisdictions and the commonwealth consulted with all jurisdictions, including the ACT, in progressing the changes.
Amendments are made to the Road Transport (Third-Party Insurance) Act 2008, sections 102 and 150, and a new transitional chapter—chapter 11—is included. Section 102 defines “required document” for a motor accident claim for part 4.3. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of the definition provide that a required document is a report about the claimant’s medical condition, prospects of rehabilitation, cognitive, functional or vocational capacity. These matters must be disclosed to the respondent prior to a trial. However, it is not clear whether surveillance film created by investigators about these matters comes within paragraphs (b) and (c) of the definition of “required document”. Section 102 is amended to clarify that surveillance film is included within the meaning of “required document”, paragraphs (b) and (c), to ensure that parties have enough information to assess the liability and quantum for motor accident claims. A new transitional chapter—chapter 11—is inserted to make it clear that the amendment of the definition of “required document” in section 102 applies only to motor accident claims made after the commencement of the
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