Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS (NORTHERN TERRITORY) BILL 2000

Mr Speaker, at the request of and on behalf of the Chief Minister, I move that the bill be now read a second time.

In Foundation Five of Foundations for our Future, the Government made a commitment to ensuring that Territorians are well-placed to participate in and enjoy the social and economic benefits offered by the information economy of the twenty first century.

The Territory already ranks above the average in many of the key national electronic commerce indicators. For example, according to the most recent studies undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Northern Territory ranks third, after the ACT and NSW, in the number of its businesses that are connected to the Internet.

At the same time, industries that are critical to the growth of the Territory, such as cultural and recreation services, including tourism, mining, property and business services have been quick to connect to the Internet and are poised to take advantage of the benefits brought by electronic commerce. In the Territory, distance from markets, lengthy and sometimes unreliable supply and distribution chains and the remote operating conditions of many key industries have often impeded economic growth. The Internet, in particular the use of electronic commerce, is a key way in which these disadvantages can be overcome.

For Government, electronic commerce means the ability to deliver government services online. This means that existing government services can be delivered more cost effectively and in a more timely and convenient way. It also means that Government will be able to provide new, innovative and more accessible services.

The Government is committed to ensuring that a regulatory framework is put in place to support the Territory’s information economy and that facilitates its continued growth. The Electronic Transactions (Northern Territory) Bill is the Government’s first information economy legislative initiative. The next major legislative initiative will be the Information Bill. The Information Bill will cover issues of privacy, access to government information, and records management in the Northern Territory’s public sector. The Information Bill will be introduced into Parliament in the next few months.

The purpose of the Electronic Transactions (Northern Territory) Bill is to facilitate the use of electronic transactions in the Northern Territory. It has been developed as part of a national scheme to facilitate the use of electronic commerce throughout Australia and to remove any legal obstacles that might inhibit the growth of electronic commerce. As such it is modelled on an international legal benchmark, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce. This legislation will be a key component in the Government’s regulatory framework for the information economy.

The Electronic Transactions (Northern Territory) Bill is a light-handed regulatory regime for the use of electronic communications in transactions. The bill facilitates the development of electronic commerce in the Territory by removing existing legal barriers that may prevent people from using electronic communications to satisfy legal obligations under Northern Territory law, including statute and common law. This legislation will assist Territorians to achieve the full potential of e-commerce. It will also place the Territory at a competitive advantage in the Asian region.

The bill is based on two main principles: functional equivalence (also known as media neutrality) and technology neutrality. Functional equivalence means that paper-based documents and transactions and electronic documents and transactions will be treated equally by the law. Technology neutrality means that the bill does not discriminate between different forms of technology.

The bill is not designed to change existing laws such as contract, property or commercial laws. Instead, it permits transactions that are currently undertaken in writing to be undertaken electronically. Thus the key provision of the bill provides that a transaction is not invalid merely because it takes place by means of one or more electronic communications.

The bill will not force anyone to do business electronically. The bill is consent-based. The parties to a transaction must consent to a transaction being undertaken electronically. The bill will apply to all Northern Territory laws except those exempted by the regulations. It is proposed that three areas of exemption will be made, these being:

· wills;
· powers of attorney; and
· laws that require a document to be delivered by hand only.

These exemptions are considered necessary given that currently there is no market for electronic wills and powers of attorney and the lack of consumer familiarity with information security procedures and processes. In the case of documents that the law requires to be delivered by hand, there are at this stage no widely accepted electronic alternatives that can be used to ensure that a person receives a document sent to him or her.

The Government is committed to ensuring that Territorians capture and participate in the benefits and opportunities offered by the information age. It is committed to giving businesses the opportunity to do business electronically free from concerns about the validity of the transactions into which they enter. It is committed to clearing the way for online government as well as providing consumers in the Territory with the opportunity to reap the benefits of the information age. This bill is one of the key measures that will deliver on these commitments.

I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

 

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