Page 934 - Week 03 - Thursday, 10 March 2016
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First, these amendments will ease the burden of establishing corporations or joint ventures in which the University of Canberra has a controlling interest. Second, they remove certain duplicative and unnecessary reporting requirements with respect to these corporations and joint ventures, such as providing reports to the government that have already been provided to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
Additionally, the University of Canberra will only have to apply to the government for approval of its joint venture and company-related activities where these are significant in nature. The amendments will provide for an automatic approval to such significant events unless notified otherwise within 30 days.
These reforms recognise that the University of Canberra is a mature and professional higher education and research institution. It will, of course, continue to work closely with the territory government on its expansion plans over the coming decade to ensure they meet both campus and community needs. But it is clear that the University of Canberra is a world-class university with a strong management structure and should be treated as such.
The bill will also reduce administrative pressure for new agents, such as stock and station, business or real estate agents. Once agents have established new trust accounts as part of their business, they will now have seven business days instead of two to report to the Commissioner for Fair Trading the details of these accounts. With greater flexibility, new agents can better allocate their time to building their business. This has come at the request of relevant agency sectors operating in the ACT as a step that will deliver a clear benefit at a crucial and busy time as they establish themselves in their industries.
I also introduce two additional reforms that will ease the day-to-day burden for individuals and organisations and build on our government’s rapidly expanding digital environment. These also reflect the government’s vision for making Canberra a truly digital city, a city in which our digital capability is fully utilised by businesses, individuals and other institutions.
Firstly, this bill removes from 50 pieces of legislation the requirement for signed and witnessed statutory declarations. They are replaced, instead, by the requirement for a statement that need not be “signed”. Importantly, this means that such statements can be submitted electronically, reducing time and cost for the thousands of people who are required to submit such statements. The content of these statements will, of course, be every bit as important because there will still be offences in place for making false statements or providing false information in these documents. The maximum penalty for such an offence is up to 100 penalty units or up to one year’s imprisonment, or both.
Secondly, the bill removes the requirement from seven acts that complaints submitted to government be signed. This means that complaints, too, can be submitted electronically. It is long overdue: in the 21st century people can simply jump online and tell government what is not working. That can help us fix things faster. This will also support easy communication between government and the community, chiefly through Access Canberra as our one-stop shop regulator.
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