Page 2020 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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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) (6.19), in reply: The omnibus bill that we are discussing today, the Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2020, makes minor, technical and substantive amendments to 28 acts and regulations across nine ACT government ministerial portfolios. The government is committed to delivering a safe community and a fair and accessible justice system for Canberrans, and the amendments in the bill demonstrate this commitment in three ways.
Firstly, the bill strengthens protections for ACT consumers and promotes equal rights and opportunities for all Canberrans. Secondly, the amendments streamline the ACT Human Rights Commission’s complaints processes so that complaints can be more easily resolved by the commission and referred to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, ACAT. Thirdly, the amendments simplify legislation and provide for greater legislative certainty. The bill also creates a new offence under the Domestic Animals Act, as has been discussed, and expands on an existing offence under the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1977.
The bill amends several acts in order to strengthen protections for ACT consumers. The bill inserts a new division 5.1A in the Fair Trading (Australian Consumer Law) Act 1992 to empower the Commissioner for Fair Trading to conduct binding conciliation of consumer disputes up to the value of $5,000. This is the matter I referenced in question time earlier today. As such, consumers with low value claims of $5,000 or less will be provided with an alternative option to taking their matters to ACAT, and this will improve access to justice.
As part of the conciliation process the commissioner will act as an impartial third party to assist the consumer and the business to resolve the consumer complaint by binding agreement. The business must attend a conciliation if requested to do so by the commissioner. If a business does not have a reasonable excuse for failing to attend a conciliation it may be subject to a civil penalty. This substantive policy change will strengthen the enforcement remedies available to consumers under fair trading laws.
The bill amends the Agents Act 2003 to ensure that only suitable people are licensed as real estate agents or registered as salespersons in the ACT. The bill sets out a range of suitability matters that the Commissioner for Fair Trading must consider when deciding whether to disqualify a person who has been convicted of a relevant offence from being so licensed or registered. This change will strengthen trust and confidence in the profession. The bill also amends the Fuels Rationing Act 2019 and the Fair Trading (Fuel Prices) Act 1993 so that the fair trading protections available under the Fair Trading (Fuel Prices) Act are available to consumers of hydrogen fuel and electricity.
The bill makes amendments to the Discrimination Act 1991 and the Spent Convictions Act to further promote equal rights and opportunities for members of our community. By updating language, amendments to the Discrimination Act 1991 clarify the ability of Canberrans who experience discrimination based on the protected attributes of gender identity, sexuality and sex characteristics to bring a complaint.
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