Page 1203 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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the act or any failure to exercise or discharge a function under the act in relation to COVID-19.
The government has carefully considered this amendment and the human rights implications of the bill. This consideration is further detailed in the explanatory statement, as required.
This bill serves to protect and invest in our community in the fairest way possible in these unprecedented circumstances. Everyone in the ACT has been affected by COVID-19 in some way. As has been said many times, the scale of the pandemic and the response required to protect the community are unprecedented in the 30 years of self-government and have not been seen in our nation for a century.
This is a sensible and prudent amendment. Indeed, it would be reasonable to ask why the government did not propose it earlier. The reason for this is that officials were initially of the view that we may be able to address the risk to the territory’s finances through administrative means. This is in line with the approach the government has taken throughout the pandemic that legislative changes would be kept to a minimum to enable public health to be protected and services to continue. However, that detailed work has concluded that the risk to the territory’s fiscal position and to the government’s capacity to respond appropriately to COVID-19 and the ongoing need for government services is simply too great without this amendment.
Given the extraordinary but necessary ACT government expenditure of more than $350 million in economic stimulus to date, with more to come, I am confident that the community will see the sense in this amendment. I thank opposition members for their constructive engagement on the draft bill. Their feedback has improved the bill and I hope they will see fit to support it. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Coe) adjourned to the next sitting.
Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Amendment Bill 2020
Mr Rattenbury, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement and the following paper:
Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium)—Findings of the Review and Audit of the Small and Medium Feed-in Tariff Scheme—ACT Government response, dated June 2020.
Title read by Clerk.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (10.41): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
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