Page 3207 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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It does seem that that was one of the reasons why we set up a thing called the public trustee. I would encourage the office of the public trustee to seek to voluntarily administer estates where a person has died in a rental property without next of kin or a will. I know the legislation does not make that clearly the responsibility of the public trustee, but I cannot see who else’s problem it is. Even the public trustee himself admitted in the estimates hearing that there was possibly an argument for legislative reform in this regard, although he went on to say that additional resources would be needed. That may well be so.
I leave this question for this Assembly: what happens to people who die without a will without any obvious next of kin? Why would their landlord be forced to deal with the situation? Is this going to mean that elderly people will find it even harder to rent privately than they do at present?
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission—1.20
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (5.12): As I have done in the past, I would just like to put on the record my appreciation for the good work that the ICRC does, and also note that there is scope for the commission to look into some competition issues. The last time it looked into Capital Linen Service was 2005-06; access arrangement reviews and decisions was 2003-05; the review of contestable electricity infrastructure works was 2003-04; and wheelchair accessible taxi services was 2001. I think there is some merit in looking to see whether any of these issues should be revisited by the commission.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tertiary Education, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (5.13): I also commend the commission, in particular Senior Commissioner Joe Dimasi and his staff, for their excellent work throughout the year. I particularly want to thank them for the work they have undertaken in looking at petrol pricing in the territory. I take on board the suggestions of the Leader of the Opposition in relation to certain areas that may benefit from further ICRC examination in the future. We will look at the forward program in conjunction with the commission over the coming years.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Total appropriated to territory entities.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Treasurer’s Advance—1.21
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (5.14): The Treasurer’s advance for 2019-20 is $53.4 million, which really is an extraordinary amount for what is a relatively small jurisdiction. The government spent $14.3 million of the Treasurer’s
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