Page 2034 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 4 June 2019
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amendment [see schedule 1 at page 2074]. I will not speak to the amendment. I think others have indicated their support for it. I thank them again for consideration of the amendment and commend it to the Assembly.
Amendment agreed to.
Bill, as a whole, as amended, agreed to.
Bill, as amended, agreed to.
Justice and Community Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
Debate resumed from 15 May 2019, on motion by Mr Ramsay:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (11.24): The opposition will be supporting this bill. It purports to make minor or technical amendments to a number of existing laws within the Justice and Community Safety portfolio. As ever, technical amendments, especially those which are demonstrable improvements, get the support of the Canberra Liberals. As I said we support this bill in principle.
However, there is one area that goes beyond minor and technical, or at the very least goes to a major policy issue. I refer to changes to the FOI Act. I know from briefings from the government provided to my staff and to Mrs Kikkert that they view this as a minor fix. Nonetheless significant concerns have been raised about this area, including this Assembly agreeing, in the last sitting period, to a committee inquiry into a case which covers some of the problems raised by this policy area. Therefore while we will support the genuinely technical amendments in this bill, we will be opposing the sections relating to the FOI Act during the detail stage. As the changes relate primarily to child protection services, my colleague Mrs Kikkert will be speaking to those sections in the detail stage. I understand that is a similar arrangement to the one the government has, where these issues fall under Minister Stephen-Smith. Having stated those concerns, I can say that the rest of the bill will receive our support.
The bill amends the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2008, the ACAT Act, and the Human Rights Commission Act 2005, to assist those seeking to enforce a conciliation agreement. It clarifies reporting procedures and strengthens the requirement for the government to respond to coroners reports raising matters of public safety in the Coroners Act 1997. The Emergencies Act 2004 will be amended to provide that where a fire appliance is directed to be installed in a premises, that appliance must be maintained to prescribed reasonable standards.
The Judicial Commissions Act 1994 will be amended to allow complaints about the behaviour or physical or mental capacity of a judicial officer to be determined by the Judicial Council and include coroners as judicial officers. The Juries Regulation 2018
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