STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL (NO. 2) 2000 Second Reading Speech

Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL (NO. 2) 2000

(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)

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

The purpose of this bill was to amend various Northern Territory laws none of which reflects substantive changes in policy. Mr Speaker, I now outline some of the changes to be brought about by this bill.

The bill amends section 15(a) of the Bail Act by omitting reference to the Inditement Act which has been repealed. Section 52 of the Northern Territory Employment and Training Act is amended by providing that the Authority must notify an employer where it has refused to register a training agreement lodged by that employer. The effect of the amended is to clarify the registration of training agreements. The bill also amends numerous sections of the Northern Territory University Act by removing references to ‘vocational education and training’ and substituting them with ‘training and further education’.

Section 52A of the Poisons and Dangerous Drugs Act is amended in order to provide that the Chief Health Officer must appoint a person employed in the Department of Industries and Business as opposed to the Department of Industries and Development to be the Registrar of Pesticides.

There are several amendments to the Work Health Act which provide that volunteer bushfire workers and volunteer fire and emergency workers are taken to be workers employed by the Territory and are therefore, in appropriate circumstances, eligible to claim compensation under the Work Health Act. These two amendments are retrospective from 1 May 1996. Another amendment to the Work Health Act provides that anything said, written or done in the course of mediation is not admissible in any other proceedings under the act. An exception is a certificate which is issued under Section 103J(2) of the act and this is admissible in proceedings under the act. This certificate informs a court that mediation has taken place, informs whether there has been an outcome and what the outcome is.

Schedule 1 of the bill lists those items of legislation that are to be repealed. The Appropriation (Floods Relief) Act 1998 is repealed as it no longer serves any purpose, the Katherine flood having occurred almost three years ago.

The primary purpose of the Yulara Tourist Village (Management) Act was to establish the responsibilities of the Yulara Development Company and the Yulara Corporation as a form of town council. These entities no longer operate and the acts relating to these entities are therefore repealed.

Various other acts and regulations are amended in minor way and are set out in Schedules 2 and 3 of the bill. These amendments correct typographical errors within existing legislation, with the exception of the deletion of Section 54 of the Education Act, found in Schedule 2 of the bill. Presently this section states that a financial year for colleges begins on 1 January each year. Deleting this section will bring the financial year of colleges into line with other educational institutions and with the general community.

Mr Speaker, I commend the Statute Law Revision (No.2) 2000 to honourable members.

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