Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL (NO. 3) 2002

Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.

The purpose of this bill is to amend various Northern Territory laws in minor respects or to correct minor errors which have come to light. None of the changes proposed reflect substantive changes in policy. A number of acts have been identified as having served their purpose and the bill affects their repeal. These include the Commission of Inquiry (Chamberlain Convictions) Act, the Criminal Law (Regulatory Offences) Act, the Racing, Gaming and Liquor Commission Act Repeal Act, the Transfer of Powers (Law) Act; and the Transfer of Powers (Health) Act. A similar situation exists with section 3 and the schedule to the Prisons (Correctional Services) Act.

Clause 9 corrects a mistake contained in section 190 of the Law of Property Act. The Law of Property Act repealed the Perpetuities Act 1994 and replaced it with Part 11 of the Law of Property Act. In particular, section 190 of the Law of Property Act replaced section 11 of the Perpetuities Act. In the course of repeal and reenactment, the word ‘not’ was inadvertently left out of section 190. Clause 9 remedies that error with clause 2(2) providing that this correction is deemed have occurred on 1 December 2000, being the date of commencement of Law of Property Act.

Clause 12 of the bill amends the Unit Titles Act in such a way that all fees other than court fees can be set by regulations made under the Registration Act. Currently, the Registration Regulations provide for the fees payable to the Registrar-General under the Unit Titles Act but do not cover other fees collected by the Registrar-General for various other processes in place under the Unit Titles Act. This amendment will enable the preparation of consolidated regulations under the Regulation Act covering all of the fees payable to the Land Titles Office in respect of dealings with land.

Another amendment worth noting in this bill is the inclusion of a definition of ‘order of the court’, in section 19 of the Local Court Act. This will overcome a potential problem that in practice and in accordance with Rule 4.04 of the Local Court Rules, appeals from decisions of the court constituted by a judicial registrar or registrar go to a magistrate. Technically, the act currently provides that appeals from the local court, which according to a current definition includes a registrar or judicial registrar, are to the Supreme Court.

Other amendments are consequential to the repeal of other legislation. For example, the repeal of the Caravans Park Act requires definitions to be inserted into those acts, regulations or by-laws that relied on the Caravan Parks Act for definitions of caravans and caravan parks.

Madam Speaker, the schedules to the bill contain a number of minor changes to other acts and regulations. Amendments such as those to the Disasters Act and to the Health Practitioner and Allied Professionals Registration Act aim to remove the need to constantly amend this legislation every time a department’s name is changed. The regulation making provisions in the Darwin Port Corporation Act are amended by changing the maximum penalty so it is expressed in terms of penalty units. This will make sure that the regulations and the act express penalties in the same terms. The other amendments made by the bill are of a very minor nature and are generally self explanatory.

Madam Speaker, I commend the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 3) 2002 to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

 

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