LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Wednesday, 4th March, 1992
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The Chairman of Committees (The Hon. D. J. Gay) took the chair as Acting-President at 2.30 p.m.
The Acting-President offered the Prayers.
The ACTING-PRESIDENT: I have ascertained it be the pleasure of His Excellency the Governor to receive at Government House on Tuesday, 24th March, 1992, at 5.15 p.m. the Legislative Council's Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Speech.
JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON FIXED TERM PARLIAMENTS
Message
The Acting-President reported the receipt of the following message from the Legislative Assembly:
The Legislative Assembly desires to acquaint the Legislative Council that on Tuesday 25th February, 1992, it agreed to the following resolution, that the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliaments) Amendment Bill 1992 be referred to the Joint Select Committee upon the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliaments) Bill, and the Legislative Assembly requests that the Legislative Council pass a similar resolution.
Legislative Assembly Chamber K. R. ROZZOLI
26 February, 1992. Speaker
ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH PROPERTY TRUST BILL
HOLY APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC ASSYRIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST PROPERTY TRUST BILL
GROWTH CENTRES (DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS) AMENDMENT BILL
FERTILIZERS (AMENDMENT) BILL
ASSOCIATIONS INCORPORATION (AMENDMENT) BILL
CONVEYANCING (AMENDMENT) BILL
LIENS ON CROPS AND WOOL AND STOCK MORTGAGES (AMENDMENT) BILL
BILLS OF SALE (AMENDMENT) BILL
STRATA TITLES (PART STRATA) AMENDMENT BILL
STRATA TITLES (LEASEHOLD PART STRATA) AMENDMENT BILL
Formal stages and first reading agreed to.
Suspension of certain standing orders agreed to.
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CONSTITUTION (FIXED TERM PARLIAMENTS) AMENDMENT BILL
Bill received.
MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST
The ACTING-PRESIDENT: On Tuesday, 25th February, 1992, the Leader of the Opposition and the Hon. Beryl Evans each gave notice of motions for discussion of matters of public interest for today and tomorrow respectively. Since the sessional orders permitting discussion of matters of public interest had not then been adopted, notice only having been given by the Minister on that day, both notices are out of order and I direct the Clerk to remove them from the business paper. The members may give the notices again once the sessional order has been adopted later this day.
SESSIONAL ORDERS
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [2.41]: I seek the leave of the House for Business of the House, Notice of Motions 1 to 3 and 5 to 19 to be dealt with in globo.
Leave granted.
Motion, by leave, by the Hon. E. P. Pickering agreed to:
That this House adopts the following sessional orders:
Prayers
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, Standing Order 10A be amended to read:
10A. Upon the President taking the Chair each day, if there be a Quorum present as provided by the 10th Standing Order, he shall offer the following Prayers:
"Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouchsafe Thy blessing upon this Parliament. Direct and prosper our deliberations to the advancement of Thy glory, and the true welfare of the people of our State and Australia.
Our Father, which art in Heaven: Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen."
Sitting Days
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, this House shall meet for the despatch of business at 10.30 a.m. on Monday, Thursday and Friday and at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday each week.
Precedence of Business
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, Government Business shall take precedence on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday each week.
Page 324Petitions
That, during the present Session, a copy of every Petition received by the House shall be referred by the Clerk to the Minister responsible for the administration of the matter which is the subject of the Petition.
Cognate Bills
That, during the present Session:
(1) Whenever a Minister shall intimate to the House that Bills specified by the Minister are cognate Bills:
(a) such Bills may be introduced upon one Motion for leave and be presented and read a first time together;
(b) one Motion may be moved and one Question put in regard to each of the several stages for the passage of such Bills through the Council; but
(c) such Bills shall be considered separately in Committee of the Whole.
(2) When Bills sent from the Assembly are reported by the President as cognate Bills, the first reading and subsequent stages shall be proceeded with in a similar manner.
Right of Reply to Ministerial Statements
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of any other party or group, where such leadership has been previously announced to the House, or a Member nominated by any such Leader, may speak to a ministerial statement. The remarks of any speaker shall not exceed the time taken by the Minister in making the statement.
Motion for Adjournment
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered:
(1) On any Motion for adjournment to terminate a sitting:
(a) the Question shall be put not later than 15 minutes after such Motion has been moved or, when a Minister desires to speak or is then speaking, at the conclusion of the Minister's remarks;
(b) any Member may speak for 5 minutes on matters not relevant to the Motion, but shall not refer to matters which are otherwise not in order.
(2) Proceedings shall be interrupted at 4.15 p.m. on Thursday and 3.45 p.m. on Friday to permit a Motion for adjournment to be moved, if a Minister shall think fit, to terminate the sitting.
(3) If, at the time of interruption:
(a) a division is in progress, the division shall be completed and the result announced;
(b) the House is in Committee of the Whole, the Chairman shall leave the Chair, report progress and seek leave to sit again.
(4) When any business under discussion, if not disposed of, is interrupted by operation of this Sessional Order, the debate shall stand adjourned and be made an Order of the Day for the next sitting day at the end of Government or General Business, as the case may be, fixed for that day (but so as not to preclude the operation of Standing Order 67), unless a motion is moved without amendment or debate for the adjournment of the debate to another day (to be stated).
Divisions - Recording of Pairs
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That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, Members pairing on any division shall be recorded by the tellers and the names of all Members so paired shall be recorded upon the tellers' lists and printed in the Minutes of the Proceedings and Hansard.
Ministerial Reply to Adjournment Matters
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, a Minister may, before the House proceeds to the business of the day, make a statement in relation to any matter or matters raised on the Adjournment at a previous sitting.
Leadership of Parties and Groups
That, as soon as practicable after each periodic Council election and whenever change shall occur, announcements may be made in the House as to the leadership in the House of parties or groups represented at such elections and of which parties or groups there are two or more persons who are Members of the House, provided such groups are registered under the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Act 1912.
Questions on Notice
That, during the present Session and notwithstanding anything contained in the Standing Orders, the procedure in relation to Questions on Notice is varied, as follows:
(1) Notices of Questions shall be handed to one of the Clerks at the Table during the sitting of the House, duly signed.
(2) The Clerk shall enter in a Questions and Answers Paper printed and circulated to Members, Notices of Questions in the order in which they are received.
(3) The reply to a Question on Notice shall be delivered to the Clerk and shall appear in the Questions and Answers Paper.
(4) During any adjournment of the House, replies to Questions on Notice may be delivered to the Clerk who shall cause a Questions and Answers paper to be printed and circulated.
(5) A Questions and Answers paper shall be printed and circulated on any prorogation of the House.
Bill Passed - Message to the Assembly
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, Standing Order 191 be amended to read:
191. After the third reading the Bill shall be deemed to have passed the House and the Clerk shall so certify, and the Bill shall be sent, with a Message, to the Assembly for concurrence.
Introduction of Public Bills
That, during the present Session and notwithstanding anything contained in the Standing Orders:
(1) When any Bill, except a Bill sent from the Assembly, has been read a first time and ordered to be printed the second reading may be moved forthwith or made an Order of the Day for a later hour or for a future day. Immediately following the second reading speech by the mover, debate thereon shall be adjourned until a future day which shall be at least five clear days ahead.
(2) Provided that if a Minister declares a Bill to be an urgent Bill and copies have been circulated among Members, the Question "That the Bill be considered an urgent Bill" shall be put
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forthwith, no debate or amendment being allowed. On such Question being agreed to, the second reading debate and subsequent stages may be proceeded with forthwith or at any time during any sitting of the House.
Matters of Public Interest
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered:
(1) A Member may make a Motion, pursuant to Notice given at a previous sitting "That the following important matter of public interest should be discussed forthwith (here stating the matter to be discussed)".
(2) On the day proposed for bringing on such Motion it shall be called on immediately before the House is to proceed to the consideration of business set down on the Notice Paper for that day, except business taking precedence under Standing Order 55.
(3) When the Motion has been made, the Question shall be decided without amendment or debate except a statement by the mover and a statement by a Minister not exceeding 10 minutes each.
(4) If the Question is decided in the affirmative, subsequent discussion of the matter shall not exceed one and one half hours, whether on the same or subsequent sitting days, excepting the reply of the proposer.
(5) The speech of the Member proposing the matter and the Minister or Member first speaking shall not exceed 15 minutes each. The speech of any other Member or the proposer in reply shall not exceed 10 minutes each. Every Member shall confine himself or herself to the one subject in respect of which the motion has been made.
(6) When discussion of such a matter is adjourned until a subsequent sitting day the Order of the Day for its resumption shall take precedence of all other business on the Notice Paper for that sitting day except business taking precedence under Standing Order 55.
(7) Only one such matter shall be proceeded with on any sitting day, but this provision shall not operate so as to preclude the resumption of an adjourned discussion and one such matter being dealt with.
Routine of Business
That, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered, the House shall proceed each day with its ordinary business in the following routine:
(1) Formal Business under Standing Order 57.
(2) Presentation of Petitions.
(4) Any proposal under Standing Order 13.
(5) Ministerial Statements.
(6) Ministerial replies to matters raised on the Adjournment.
(7) Motions and Orders of the Day, or vice versa, as set down on the Notice Paper.
Proposing of Questions on Amendments
That, during the present Session, and notwithstanding anything in the Standing Orders to the contrary, on any amendment proposed in the House or Committee of the Whole, the Chair, unless otherwise determining, will put the question "That the amendment be agreed to".
Committals
That for the remainder of the present Session, Standing Order 171 be substituted as
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follows:
171. After the second reading of a Bill, unless the Bill is referred to a Select or Standing Committee:
(a) the President may inquire of the House if leave is granted to proceed to the third reading of the Bill forthwith; or
(b) a motion may be made "That the President do now leave the Chair, and the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider the Bill in detail", which shall admit of no debate or amendment, or a future day may be appointed for the purpose.
Messages from Assembly Transmitting Bills
That, not withstanding anything contained in the Standing Orders, during the present Session and unless otherwise ordered:
Whenever the President has several Messages from the Legislative Assembly to report transmitting Bills for concurrence, the President may inquire if leave is granted for procedural motions for the first reading, printing, suspension of Standing Orders (where applicable) and fixing of sitting day for second reading to be dealt with on one motion without formalities.
JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON FIXED TERM PARLIAMENTS
Interim Report
The Hon. J. M. Samios, on behalf of the Chairman, brought up the interim report from the Joint Select Committee on Fixed Term Parliaments.
Ordered to be printed.
PETITIONS
Forestry Commission
Petition praying that the Forestry Commission of New South Wales be reformed in accordance with the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee and that the House urge the Government to act immediately for the good of our environmental heritage and the health of the plantation timber industry, received from the Hon. R. S. L. Jones.
Brothels
Petition praying that the Government will take no steps to legalise brothels and will close all existing brothels by enforcing the Disorderly Houses Act, received from the Hon. Elaine Nile.
Australia as a Republic
Petition praying that the House support the goal that Australia be an independent republic by the centenary of Federation, 1st January, 2001, received from the Hon. Franca Arena.
Public Health System
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Petition praying that the House remove the onerous demand of productivity savings from the public health system and cease to close hospitals and downgrade services without full and proper consultation with the relevant unions, professional organisations and those affected in the community, received from the Hon. Jan Burnswoods.
Duck Shooting
Petition praying that because duck shooting is extremely cruel and environmentally damaging, the sport should be abolished immediately and permanently, received from the Hon. R. S. L. Jones.
Cat Desexing
Petition praying that because wildlife is threatened by predatory feral cats, and because unrestricted breeding of cats results in their destruction, starvation, injury and disease, there should be compulsory desexing of all domestic cats other than those with registered breeders, received from the Hon. R. S. L. Jones.
Stray Dogs
Petition praying that the Premier fulfil his promise to ban the sending of stray dogs to laboratories within New South Wales, received from the Hon. R. S. L. Jones.
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
Adjournment Debate
The ACTING-PRESIDENT: In recent times, members have been seeking the call on the motion to terminate the sitting, as provided for under the sessional orders. The present system of members indicating to the Chair their wish to speak on the adjournment does not provide for an equitable distribution of the call amongst the various parties represented in the House. In order to ensure that there is a fair distribution among the parties of the 15 minutes allowed for speaking on the adjournment motion each sitting day, the President proposes to adopt the following order of selection for members wishing to speak on the motion to terminate the sitting each day: on Monday, Opposition first, Government second, crossbenchers third; on Tuesday, Government first, Opposition second, crossbenchers third; on Wednesday, Opposition first, crossbenchers second, Government third; on Thursday, crossbenchers first, Government second, Opposition third; on Friday, Government first, Opposition second, crossbenchers third.
If the call on any day is not required by members of the parties indicated, or the full 15 minutes is not utilised, any remaining time will be available to other members in order of their request to the Chair. It is the intention of the President to trial this practice for the autumn sittings, at the end of which he would be pleased to receive comments from members in writing.
CALL TO AUSTRALIA DONATIONS
Personal Explanation
Reverend the Hon. F. J. Nile: I wish to make a personal explanation. Members of the House may have seen articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Northern Herald and the Daily Telegraph Mirror which referred to the financial position in regard to my re-election and the 1991 New South Wales election income and
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expenditure and the returns forwarded to the Electorate Office. I wish to clarify the situation, and the facts are as follows: My 1991 election return clearly stated that we were disclosing all donations and all income from all sources for the period between State elections, from 21st March, 1988, to 25th May, 1991 - similar to the requirements of the Australian Electoral Commission - and not simply election donations received in 1991. We adopted this policy of total disclosure because my 1991 upper House election campaign was launched in 1988, immediately following the 1988 New South Wales election.
As it proved impossible to be certain about the intention of all donors, I disclosed all income from all sources for the three to four-year period between elections. The total of $267,278 referred to in the newspaper articles, shown as income, was in fact the income for that period of more than three years. It comprised three years of membership subscriptions amounting to approximately $36,000 - which did not have to be declared; fund raising income for 1989, 1990 and 1991 amounting to approximately $89,000; election donations for 1990 and 1991 of approximately $32,000; and general donations from 1988 to 1991 of approximately $109,000.
Therefore, the figure of $267,278 received in that period of three year and two months between the two State elections was to meet expenditure, not only for the New South Wales State election for the upper House but for all additional recurrent costs of staff salaries, printing, stationery, postage, telephone and sundry operating costs incurred during that period, as well as for other election activity during that period such as Federal elections, by-elections and so on. The shortfall existing after the election on 25th May, 1991, was largely met by $170,000 from the Election Funding Authority, and donations from our supporters in response to a clearly publicised need. Therefore, the statement that we had a deficit at the time of the election was accurate, particularly if the lower House candidate's expenditure of about $48,000 is included. Clearly all the figures add up.
FIREARMS LEGISLATION (AMENDMENT) BILL
Suspension of certain standing and sessional orders agreed to.
Bill introduced and read a first time.
FERTILIZERS (AMENDMENT) BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.2]: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time
I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
This bill provides for the extension of the operation of the Fertilizers Act 1985 to cover the supply of certain grades of sewage sludge as soil-improving agents. It forms part of a wider-ranging program aimed at making effective use of sludge which is now being wasted. Sewage sludge in this context means the sludge, grease and other solid matter produced by the treatment of domestic and municipal sewage and includes the solid matter produced in septic tanks. Honourable
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members will be aware that the disposal of sewage sludge has been a problem for some time. This is particularly so in the Sydney region but it is equally a problem for every community in the State which has a sewage treatment works associated with it. At present, 3,000 tonnes of wet sludge are produced daily in New South Wales, which gives an indication of the magnitude of the problem.
Since 1984 officers of the Department of Agriculture have been working with officers of the Sydney Water Board to develop various processes for the use of sewage sludge which are both beneficial to agriculture and environmentally acceptable. This has involved various experiments with the use of sludge as a soil-improving agent and the development of a set of guidelines to assist in that process. The research which has been conducted as part of this program confirms that, with proper treatment and controls as to contaminant levels, certain grades of sludge are quite suitable for unrestricted release on the open market for use as soil-improving agents, and that other grades are suitable for release on the basis that they are used in forestry and other applications not involving the production of food for human consumption. This bill provides the legal framework in which this may happen and legislative support for the guidelines.
The major problems associated with the reuse of sewage sludge are the level of contamination of the sludge with toxic chemicals, heavy metals and the like and the potential for the spread of disease through pathogens in the sludge. Both these problems will be addressed in the bill. Only those sludges which meet the strictest standards as to contaminant levels will be permitted registration under the bill. Those standards will be set out in detail in the regulation under the Act. Sludges which do not comply with those standards are to be dealt with through a chemical control order made under the Environmentally Hazardous Chemical Act, which is administered by the Minister for the Environment. In addition to the involvement of the Water Board since the beginning of the program, there has been extensive consultation with the State Pollution Control Commission and affected industry groups. The bill has substantial support in those areas. The bill extends the provisions of the Fertilizers Act as they presently exist to include the supply as well as the sale of soil-improving agents containing sewage sludge. This will ensure that any dealing with products containing sewage sludge is caught up by the bill. Essentially, the bill otherwise repeats existing provisions of the Act relating to registration and use of brand names, the supply of particulars and the setting of composition standards.
Honourable members may be assured that the operation of this legislation will be closely monitored by officers of the Department of Agriculture after its introduction. Registration will be denied to any product which does not meet the standards which are set, and products which are found after registration to have fallen below those standards will have their registration cancelled. This will mean that those products cannot be offered in the market-place. I am well aware that sludge-based products cannot be permitted to compromise the health and safety of the community in any way. There is certainly no point, when trying to solve one problem, in creating a larger one. This bill is the first of its kind in Australia. As I have said, it provides a process for addressing at least part of the problem which sewage sludge creates for communities Australia-wide, and not merely in New South Wales, in a manner which is both environmentally and economically sound. Once again, New South Wales can be seen to be taking a lead in an area of great importance for the whole of Australia.
I commend the bill.
The Hon. B. H. VAUGHAN (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [3.3]: The Opposition supports the Fertilizers (Amendment) Bill. The bill amends the Fertilizers Act 1985 to include the supply and sale of soil-improving agents containing sewage sludge. It also increases maximum penalties and provides for a fee for a person applying to be an analyst for the purpose of the Act and other minor consequential amendments. The background to the legislation is that research on sewage sludge has been undertaken by the Water Board and the Department of Agriculture since 1984, the aim being to develop uses for sewage wastes which are both beneficial to agricultural and the environment. Only sludge which meets strict standards as to contaminant levels will be used. Sludges which do not comply, such as intractable wastes, are not covered by the Act. Honourable members will be aware that such waste is dealt with under the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act.
At present the supply and sale of sewage waste does not have legislative
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authority. The bill deals with the beneficial treatment and use of sewage waste for agricultural purposes. It deals also with the potential spread of disease through pathogens in sludge. Standards of sludge will be set out in regulations under the Act. The Water Board, the State Pollution Control Commission and affected industry groups have been involved and consulted on this measure. The bill is a conservation measure, allowing the safe and effective use of waste material. On a recent visit to the Port Kembla steelworks I was shown a scheme whereby sewage waste is being used as a cooling constituent in the manufacture of steel.
The Hon. L. D. W. COLEMAN [3.5]: This is good, positive legislation and I am pleased that the Labor Party supports it. My own interest in the matter goes back many years. It is most gratifying to see New South Wales leading the way, as this bill is the first of its kind in Australia, and is likely to be used as a model by other States in developing similar legislation. The bill provides an environmentally and economically sound mechanism for addressing an Australia-wide problem. Once again, New South Wales is seen to be taking the lead in an area of great importance to the whole of Australia. Though this is pioneering legislation for the use of sludge in Australia, overseas sludge has been successfully and safely used on agricultural land in many developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the European Economic Community countries. We can and will benefit from their research, technology and experience and we can reciprocate our knowledge at a later date to help all countries concerned so that everyone benefits.
In speaking to this bill I should mention the many years of dedicated work and research that the Department of Agriculture has put into the project. It was through its efforts and persistence that I first became interested in the two-way possibilities of using sludge as a soil improver, and also as a constructive way in which to deal with an ever-increasing problem. I need not remind the House that Australia is a very old continent, and that time and weather have leached out most of the soil's natural fertilizer and humus. The Sydney region is based on sandstone, which is merely compressed sand and, as honourable members would be aware, sand is not a good medium in which to grow anything without large and constant inputs of fertilizer and nutrients. People of the richer western lands are acutely aware of the effect that sludge has had on their great river system, as we have all seen with the blue/green algae. Honourable members should make no mistake, this problem will re-occur no matter how careful farmers and graziers are with their farming and animal husbandry practices. A great deal will depend on how towns control their sludge problems.
I noted with interested that in the other House a broad and diverse discussion took place on this bill, as were the backgrounds of the members who took part in the debate. It is worth while to draw to the attention of this House the background of those honourable members who entered into the debate. Before the honourable member for Port Stephens, who led for the Opposition, became a member of this place he was employed with the Department of Agriculture and, I understand, is a horticulturist. The honourable member for Murray is a practising farmer in the south of the State, around Deniliquin, and has had vast experience with irrigated rice and broadacre farming. The honourable member for Camden is an eminent researcher and an acknowledged scientist. The honourable member for Tamworth is a broadacre dryland farmer, and the honourable member for Manly is a medical practitioner. Those members with their diverse backgrounds saw fit to support the proposed legislation. I am deeply indebted to them for the enormous breadth of support they have given to the legislation. This is significant and is worth while recording for posterity. The definition of sludge has been drawn from the Clean Waters Act, for those members who are worried about implications of the word. This bill will allow New South Wales to dispense its waste in places other than the ocean, as well as making money and gaining a benefit. Everyone will be a winner.
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I congratulate the Minister and I support the bill.
The Hon. R. S. L. JONES [3.9]: The Australian Democrats support the Fertilizers (Amendment) Bill. We believe that it is about time that we made better use of our waste materials, including sludge. For some 20 years now I have campaigned on the issues of dispersing human effluent through ocean outfalls and the destruction of marine ecology as a result of that dispersment. I am delighted that finally we have got to the stage of using some of this waste matter which, after all, has come from the land. It will now be returned to the land. I take this opportunity to give an accolade to a very great Australian by the name of Norm Jennings, who is the man behind Dynamic Lifter. This man single handedly has found a use for tens of thousands of tons of chicken manure. He has led the way internationally on the use of waste matter from farms. He has opened a factory in Alabama and recently he received an accolade from the Governor of Alabama, which is framed in his house in Rouse Hill. This shows the appreciation of the Governor of Alabama for outstanding contribution to the economic growth and development of the State of Alabama and for helping to strengthen Alabama's economic relations and friendship with Australia.
Mr Jennings has received nothing from Australia, but he has built plants throughout Australia: in Melbourne, Tamworth, Rouse Hill and Western Australia. He will shortly be building one in Hawaii and Florida. This man has found a way to use chicken manure and he has made a large amount of money out of it, which is a very good thing to see. Recently, a sheik ordered 200 tons of Dynamic Lifter to be transported by air to Dubai at the enormous cost of $75,000 - though the chicken manure was only worth $1,600. Chicken manure in this form is now exported around the world. I am delighted to see this happening and to see that Australia is leading the way, not only in the use of chicken manure, but, I hope, also in the use of human sludge. I hope that this will be emulated by other States so that we will stop using our oceans as sewage outfalls and return our waste matter to where it came from - the land.
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.11], in reply: I commend all speakers who have contributed to this debate. It is great to see such widespread and wholesome support for such an important initiative as this. I commend the bill to the House.
Motion agreed to.
Bill read a second time and passed through remaining stages.
CONVEYANCING (AMENDMENT) BILL
LIENS ON CROPS AND WOOL AND STOCK MORTGAGES (AMENDMENT) BILL
BILLS OF SALE (AMENDMENT) BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.12]: I move:
That these bills be now read a second time.
I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
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Leave granted.
These bills relate to the way in which old system deeds and certain other documents are registered and indexed by the Registrar General at the Land Titles Office. The main purpose is to simplify registration and searching procedures by combining into one register seven existing separate registers, namely, the general register of deeds and the registers of resumptions; causes, writs and orders; bills of sale; liens on crops; liens on wool; and stock mortgages. It is also proposed to combine the indexes to these various registers into one computerised index. Title to land in New South Wales is held under either the Torrens system, created pursuant to the Real Property Act 1900, or the general law or old system. Under Torrens title, ownership of land is evidenced by a single certificate of title. However, old system title is based on the efficacy of each document in an unbroken chain of title comprising all dealings with the land. Registration of old system deeds under the Conveyancing Act 1919 in the general register of deeds provides priority between deeds according to the order of registration. It is necessary for a person buying old system land to make a search in the general register of deeds of all the documents in the chain of title in order to establish a good title.
Apart from instruments dealing with land, other documents which may be registered in the general register include powers of attorney, instruments evidencing change of name, some court orders and declarations of trust. The register of resumptions and the register of causes, writs and orders also contain documents relevant to land. The existence of separate registers means that a person involved in a property transaction often has to search in several registers at the Land Titles Office. Such searches are manual and time-consuming. These factors increase both the cost of conveyancing and the chance of error. In addition to documents relating to land, registers of various documents relating to other property have been established, namely, the liens on crops register, the liens on wool register and the stock mortgages register, which date back to 1898.
These bills will have benefits for both the conveyancing public and the Land Titles Office. The new combined general register of deeds, with a single, computerised index, will rationalise and simplify the system. It will make searching easier by reducing the number of registers and indexes to be searched. At present different lodgment requirements and procedures exist for the different registers. Adopting a standardised lodgment procedure for all documents to be lodged in the general register of deeds will benefit both lodging parties and the Land Titles Office. The savings for the Land Titles office will be approximately $500,000 a year.
I will now briefly deal with each of the three bills. The Conveyancing (Amendment) Bill abolishes the register of resumptions and the register of causes, writs and orders and provides that all documents that were formerly recorded in those registers, as well as in the other registers to which I previously referred, will now be registered in the general register of deeds. The index to the general register is important because it is the starting point for searching and it allows those documents comprising a chain of title to be readily identified. The bill introduces a requirement for documents being lodged in the new expanded general register of deeds to be accompanied by an approved form setting out particulars for entry into the computerised index.
The proposal to require these particulars to be provided at the time of lodgment is designed to speed up the process of data entry into the computer index. At present officers of the Land Titles Office identify the information to be indexed from documents lodged for registration. Extracting this information from lengthy documents is often time-consuming and sometimes difficult. Requiring a party to the document or the lodging party or their solicitors to supply the particulars and the supporting certificate will lead to costs savings for the Land Titles Office. The supply of this information by such persons will not be an onerous imposition as the necessary information should be readily available to them. A similar requirement already exists in the Real Property Act 1900 in relation to land to be converted to Torrens title. The approved form will incorporate a certificate whereby the person signing certifies that the particulars supplied are correct. There will be an offence for deliberately certifying incorrect particulars, with a maximum penalty of $1000.
The method of registering documents in the general register of deeds will be as prescribed in the regulations. This will allow for faster implementation of new procedures when new technology, such as optical disk, becomes available. The use of standard memoranda will be allowed. These are documents which set out the standard terms and conditions of, say, a bank's mortgage. At present, when a document such as a mortgage is to be registered in the general register of deeds, a copy of the full document, with all its terms and conditions, must be lodged.
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The proposal will allow regular lodging parties, such as banks, to lodge a once-only copy of a memorandum containing all the standard terms and conditions for its mortgage. Mortgages lodged subsequently need only refer to this memorandum by its registered number and those terms and conditions will be incorporated by reference in the mortgage. This will save printing and copying costs for lodging parties and save storage costs for the Land Titles Office. A similar system operates under the Real Property Act 1900 for Torrens title documents.
The cognate Bills of Sale (Amendment) Bill abolishes the existing bills of sale register and provides that bills of sale will in future be registered in the general register of deeds. The bill also removes the requirement for the Registrar General to record the registration of a trader's bill of sale 14 days after lodgment. Instead it will be deemed registered 14 days after lodgment, provided no caveat has been lodged. This will prevent the necessity for a second computer entry in the computer index 14 days after lodgment. The Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages (Amendment) Bill abolishes the existing registers of liens on crops, liens on wool and stock mortgages and provides that these documents will in future be registered in the general register of deeds.
Each bill contains minor consequential amendments flowing from the matters I have mentioned. These bills are intended to make only procedural changes to the registration process and to the way the registers are kept. They are not intended to change the substantive law regarding the effect of registration for any document. The Land Titles Office has consulted widely regarding these proposals with those persons and organisations most directly affected. Those consulted included the Law Society of New South Wales, old system searchers, the major banks, the Australian Bankers Association, as well as associations representing the finance industry and surveyors. In addition a discussion paper was circulated. All responses to the discussion paper and to direct consultation have supported the proposals. These bills are part of an ongoing process of modernising records storage and retrieval in the Land Titles Office - a commitment to reform on the part of the Government that has made the Land Titles Office a world leader in its field.
I commend the bills.
The Hon. B. H. VAUGHAN (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [3.13]: The Opposition supports the Conveyancing (Amendment) Bill, the Bills of Sale (Amendment) Bill, and the Liens on Crops and Wool and Stock Mortgages (Amendment) Bill. The bills relate to the manner in which old system deeds and certain other documents are registered and indexed by the Land Titles Office. Currently seven separate registers are required to record various documents, namely, the general register of deeds, the register of resumptions, bills of sale, liens on crops, liens on wool, stock mortgages, and the register of causes, writs and orders. The purpose of the bills is to simplify registration and searches by combining these seven registers into one, namely, the general register, and into one computerised index.
A total overhaul of the registration system of the Land Titles Office was commenced by the previous Labor Government. That process has been continued by the Greiner Government. As a result, a number of minor amendment bills have been passed with the support of the Opposition. These bills continue the process of replacing the antiquated manual systems of recording documents with an updated, computerised system, which is becoming one of the most efficient in the world. The House might have noted the possibility of the system being sold to the Russian republic. The bills will simplify the conveyancing process by putting into place one combined general register of deeds. Apart from making conveyancing much simpler for the public, it will speed up the process, saving taxpayers about $500,000 in the cost of operating the Land Titles Office. If one were to read the Government Gazette of 28th February, one would find that a great number of fees in what used to be called the Registrar-General's Office have been increased. I should have thought that any speeding up and simplification of the conveyancing process ought to have resulted in a decrease in registration fees rather than an increase. It would be apposite for the Government to give consideration to the measure of fees in that department. Solicitors have come under some criticism in recent
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times as to their costs. It has been pointed out by many, as well as myself, that the greater part of the cost of conveyancing is surely in stamp duty and agents' commissions.
The Hon. R. B. ROWLAND SMITH [3.17]: The purpose of the Conveyancing (Amendment) Bill and cognate bills is to rationalise and modernise the way in which old system land title deeds and certain other records are maintained by the Registrar-General at the Land Titles Office. At present, the relevant documents are held in seven separate registers, each with a separate index as follows: the general register of deeds, originally established in 1897; the register of causes, writs and orders, established in 1920; the register of resumptions, established in 1930; and the bills of sale register, the liens on crops register, the liens on wool register, and the stock mortgages register, established in 1898. It is proposed to combine all existing registers into one general register of deeds with a computerised index. This will allow all documents to be registered using the same procedures and indexing with the same computerised index. It will save costs for the Land Titles Office, making searching of the register easier and providing benefits for lodging parties. At present, a person wishing to buy old systems land needs to search different indexes and registers in order to establish a clear chain of title to that parcel of land. This is time consuming and costly. It also increases the chance of error. If a person omits to search a register, important information could be overlooked.
In line with Government policy, this legislation will bind registers into one. At present there is a degree of conflict with respect to the whole essence of conveyancing. Should it be carried out by lawyers only or should others such as real estate agents carry out this work? Perhaps the underlying aspect with regard to conveyancing is cost. The Government is currently reviewing the matter of conveyancing but, whether or not the status quo continues, the real problem for the purchaser of property is cost. These important bills will amalgamate the various registers into one, which will not only be time saving but also cost saving. As pointed out in the second reading speech, the requirement of a party to the document or the lodging party or solicitors to supply the particulars and supporting certificate will lead to cost savings for the Land Titles Office. The supply of this information by such persons will not be onerous as the necessary information should be readily available to them. It is estimated that general cost savings for the Land Titles Office will amount to $500,000, which could be used for other purposes of government. These bills are also intended to make only procedural changes to the registration process and to the way the registers are kept. The Land Titles Office has consulted widely regarding these proposals with persons and organisations most directly affected. Those consulted include the Law Society of New South Wales, old system searchers, major banks, the Australian Bankers Association, and associations representing the finance industry and surveyors. In addition, a discussion paper was circulated. All responses to the discussion paper and direct consultation have supported the proposed legislation. I support the bill and congratulate the Government for bringing it forward.
The Hon. R. S. L. JONES [3.21]: The Australian Democrats support the proposed legislation wholeheartedly, which will save taxpayers about $500,000 and will bring the Land Titles Office into the computer age. The Australian Democrats are pleased that such systems are now being sold overseas. We are pleased about anything that increases efficiency and saves taxpayers' money, whether in the Land Titles Office or any other office.
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.22], in reply: I thank honourable members for their contributions to debate. I
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commend the bills.
Motion agreed to.
Bills read a second time and passed through remaining stages.
STRATA TITLES (PART STRATA) AMENDMENT BILL
STRATA TITLES (LEASEHOLD PART STRATA) AMENDMENT BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.23]: I move:
That these bills be now read a second time.
I seek leave to have my second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
The principal bill before the House is the Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill. The main purpose of this bill is to amend the Strata Titles Act 1973 to permit the strata subdivision of part of a building by a private developer and so facilitate the establishment of mixed use developments, which may comprise both commercial and private uses, including residential. The proposed legislation will enable strata subdivision of a building in a manner presently only available to government departments, statutory authorities and local councils under the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act 1986. Whilst the bill has a somewhat limited purpose, it has been necessary for it to be couched in technical terms, particularly those parts of it which deal with what its explanatory note refers to as conveyancing issues. Although the explanatory note is fairly comprehensive, it might be helpful for me to explain some of the technical terms used and the underlying reasons for the more complex provisions. Two concepts occurring from time to time are current plan lot and stratum parcel.
Let us imagine that the intention is to construct a multistorey building on a privately owned vacant city block. The building, it is proposed, will contain a car park within its four underground levels, commercial retail outlets at ground level, followed by 10 floors of office space and, finally, five floors of residential units at the top of the building. The proposal is that the residential units and some of the car park would form a separate strata scheme. This is precisely the sort of development which will lend itself to subdivision of the kind contemplated by this bill. The vacant block of land on which the building is constructed will be what is known technically as a current plan lot - that is, in most cases, a lot in a registered deposited plan held in the Land Titles Office. For the new provisions to operate, the building erected on what was the vacant block must be subdivided horizontally into other lots. This is achieved by lodgment and registration of a further deposited plan, the horizontal subdivision creating new current plan lots carved out of the airspace and substrata occupied by the new building, so as to become, in effect, cubic spaces.
It then becomes possible to create strata title lots and common property out of one or more of the current plan lots which have resulted from the horizontal subdivision. In other words, it is thus possible to create a strata scheme for part of the building. These strata title lots and common property together comprise what the bill calls a stratum parcel. The strata plan creating the strata title lots and related common property will itself comprise, first, a location plan showing the building and stratum parcel; second, a floor plan showing the strata lots; and third, a schedule of unit entitlement - that is, the index which establishes the relative powers and liabilities of the unit owners. Mixed use development confers obvious benefits in terms of increased building activity, employment and housing, and it is appropriate and timely that there be legislation which will encourages this kind of development. The demand for such legislation has been demonstrated on a number of occasions. Indeed, honourable members may be aware that the strata subdivision of
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part of a building has, in fact, been achieved in several major high-rise developments, but only at considerable expense and with great
legal complexity. This is because when the existing legislation was framed its use for this type of subdivision was not contemplated.
While developments such as Eastgate Towers at Bondi Junction and the Connaught Building in the city eventually occurred by way of a complicated system of subdivisions and dealings registered under the provisions of the existing Strata Titles Act, projects such as these could have been completed faster and more cheaply if the Act had contained provisions of the type embodied in this bill. It seems that the reason the Strata Titles Act does not permit a strata scheme to be created for part only of a building is that at the time it was drafted in 1973 there was a perceived need to keep within the control of one entity - the body corporate - all matters relating to the insurance, management and maintenance of the building and the variation and termination of the strata scheme concerned. Specifically, the technical bar to part strata subdivision is that under section 8 of the existing Strata Titles Act it is necessary for a surveyor to certify that the building concerned is wholly within the perimeter of the land the subject of the strata plan. It will be seen that where it is intended to partly strata subdivide a building this requirement of section 8 is not appropriate, nor is it possible to comply with it.
Since 1986 there has been some ability to strata subdivide part only of a building. But, as I have mentioned, the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act of that year, which introduced this facility, was limited in its application to land owned by government departments, statutory authorities and local councils. Only those bodies could avail themselves of its provisions. That Act did contain, however, provisions which were useful models when it came to formulating the provisions of the bill. Easements for support and shelter come into effect automatically and statutory forms of easements for access and services may be created to regulate the use and maintenance of the building by the lessees of the strata lots and the owners of the parts of the building not subject to the strata scheme. Although the bill is modelled on the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act and provides for easements for support, shelter, access and services, it also contains additional requirements designed to establish an umbrella control over those component parts of the building that are common to each use area. Because the legislation will facilitate the subdivision of a building into different parts which will be owned and managed for various and not necessarily compatible purposes, it will also give statutory recognition to the need for adoption of rules and conditions which will regulate the overall control of the development.
To protect intending purchasers a developer will be obliged to adopt up-front disclosure provisions, set out in a strata management statement to be lodged with the plan. A new division 2B is to be inserted in the Strata Titles Act to deal with such statements, which under proposed new section 28W are to take effect as agreements under seal entered into by the various interested persons and entities using the building, whether as owners, mortgagees in possession, lessees or bodies corporate of strata schemes. It will be mandatory for certain matters to be detailed in the management statement - for example, matters relating to management of the building, how the statement may be amended and the manner in which disputes are to be settled. These are prescribed in a new schedule 1C, which is applied by virtue of new section 28S. The legislation will also encourage developers to disclose in a management statement any other matters which might add to the commercial viability of the development. To aid in the marketing of the development it will be in a developer's interest to include matters such as security and the control of noise levels. Again, the new schedule 1C will address these matters.
In an effort to deter parties from resorting to litigation in respect of disputes that may arise between the owners of the various parts of the building, a developer will be required to nominate and provide details of the method by which it is intended that such disputes may be resolved, and will be encouraged to provide for these issues to be referred to the Strata Titles Commissioner or to arbitration. Though the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act already allows the creation of a strata scheme for part of a building, it does not contain provisions relating to the lodgment of a management statement. The purpose of the second bill - the Strata Titles (Leasehold Part Strata) Amendment Bill - is to insert such provisions in the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act. The inclusion of provisions relating to management statements will be beneficial to developments under both Acts and will ensure that, as far as possible, the provisions of each Act continue to mirror each other.
The legislation, which has received the widespread support of government and industry groups, will not only facilitate large scale multi-purpose developments, but will also be able to be utilised by smaller landowners, such as clubs and other organisations which wish to take advantage
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of a commercially viable site by selling off commercial or residential strata units, and yet retain totally self-contained clubrooms and administration offices within the same building. These new measures provide an essential tool for handling the complexities of modern-day development and are another example of the Government's commitment to provide the mechanism for responsible and imaginative land development in the interests of all sections of the community.
I commend the bills to the House.
The Hon. B. H. VAUGHAN (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [3.24]: The Opposition supports the Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill and the Strata Titles (Leasehold Part Strata) Amendment Bill. The bills will amend the Strata Title Act 1973. The main purpose of the Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill is to allow strata subdivision which may include a mixture of private residential and commercial use; for example, residential strata titles, retail and car parking area, and flats above, et cetera. The bill will enable a private developer to subdivide a building in that manner. Previously such mixes of subdivision had only been available to government departments, statutory authorities and local councils. The bill solves many of the technical problems of strata subdivision which include a combination of commercial and residential developments, for example, developments such as the Connaught Building in Liverpool Street, which has strata title residential units as well as commercial spaces, and the East Gate Towers at Bondi Junction, where a mixture of council property, car parking, freehold and strata title properties are in the same building.
In order to solve those problems, the Government has introduced the concept of horizontal subdivision or cubic spaces which makes it possible to create a strata scheme in part of a building. The bill provides for an umbrella control mechanism over common parts of a building by giving statutory recognition to the need for adoption of rules and conditions to regulate the overall control and good management of the development. Insurances and maintenance of common property have also been addressed in the bill. The cognate Strata Titles (Leasehold Part Strata) Amendment Bill has as its purpose to allow provision to be inserted in the Leasehold Act relating to the lodgment of a management statement. It will make it easier for a large scale multipurpose development to proceed and will allow effective use, for example, by clubs or organisations wishing to sell off commercial or residential strata units while maintaining totally self-contained club facilities in the same building. The Opposition is concerned about the dispute resolution procedures. If disputes occur, the developer will be encouraged to provide for disputes to be referred to the Strata Titles Commissioner or arbitration. The Opposition would prefer that as a mandatory requirement. The Opposition seeks and should be given reassurance that dispute resolution is adequately catered for now and in the future and that the Government or the next government deem it necessary to protect purchasers of both strata and freehold parts of a multi-use development. This most complex piece of legislation is designed for the 1990s. Except for that single reservation, I congratulate the Government.
The Hon. S. B. MUTCH [3.28]: I support the Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill and the Strata Titles (Leasehold Parts Strata) Amendment Bill. The principle purposes of this legislation are to simplify the process by which a building may be subdivided by permitting a strata scheme to be established for part only of a building, two or more strata schemes to be established within the same building, and a strata scheme to be established in respect of different parts of the same building. A second purpose of the proposed legislation is to protect persons acquiring interests in any such scheme by requiring full up-front disclosure in the form of a strata management statement. Such a statement is to be lodged with the strata plan of subdivision and must disclose all matters relating to management, administration, control and dispute resolution
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intended to apply to the whole building.
In recent years a considerable demand for air space strata subdivision and strata schemes confined to part of a building has developed. The desirability of this type of development is greatest in mixed use developments, for example, in a project comprising shopping centre, commercial offices and residential home units. In such a development the shopping centre, offices and home units will each have different interests and needs which may be difficult to accommodate within the context of a normal body corporate. The possibility of managing each component area separately is an attractive prospect particularly where, for example, the shopping centre is to be held by a large investment institution or retail chain which has no desire to submit to the decisions of a body corporate constituted mainly by proprietors of residential lots.
However, as the Strata Titles Act presently stands when such a development is to take place on freehold land in private ownership there is a virtual prohibition against the strata subdivision of part of a building. This arises out of the provisions of section 8 of the Act, which provide that before a strata plan can be registered a surveyor must certify that the building is wholly within the parameter of the land the subject of the strata plan. When these provisions were enacted in 1973 it had been thought, rightly or wrongly, that there was a need to keep within the control of one body - the body corporate of the strata scheme all matters such as building management, maintenance, insurance and so on. The fear seems to have been that such matters would become far too complex if a strata plan included only part of a building. Several large scale developments intended for mixed use have sought to utilise the Strata Titles Act but only in respect of the home unit component of the development. Whilst these developments eventually occurred by way of a complex system of subdivisions and dealings registered under the provisions of the existing Strata Titles Act, such projects could be completed faster and more cheaply if the Act were amended to permit a strata scheme for part of a building.
The Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill once enacted, will do just that by the amendments it will make to the Strata Titles Act 1973. Both bills include new provisions for addressing the management difficulties earlier mentioned. They do this by requiring lodgment of strata management statements provided for in new divisions to be added to the Strata Titles Act and the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act respectively. These statements take effect as agreements under seal as between the various parties holding interests in the building concerned. New schedules deal with the form and content of these strata management statements which, as the name suggests, govern the management of the building generally and in particular such matters as the settlement of disputes and complaints, the composition, functions and meetings of management committees, safety and security measures, and so on. These bills will be of benefit to developers and consumers alike. We are all very much concerned to make the best use of potential development sites in urban areas. These bills provide for what we often call urban consolidation by allowing more leeway for potential development sites. They will allow the imagination of developers freer rein but at the same time will protect the interests of purchasers and consumers. The bills have arisen out of a consultation process involving a number of people including the Strata Titles Commissioner. I support the bills.
The Hon. R. D. DYER [3.34]: I join with my colleague the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and other speakers in this debate in strongly and warmly welcoming the provisions of the Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill and the Strata Titles
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(Leasehold) (Part Strata) Amendment Bill. As the Hon. S. B. Mutch has just said, these bills fit in very neatly with the urban consolidation concept. It is common in European cities for the type of mixed developments contemplated under this proposed legislation to exist. In Europe living densities are higher than here. There are commercial, retail and government offices and other similar aspects within an otherwise residential complex. There is a precedent for this sort of mixed development in other parts of the world. Just over 12 months ago during a brief visit to Singapore I had discussions with the Housing Development Board there. I visited what is known as a new town in Singapore. I was interested to see that in the lower levels of the high rise developments there provision is often made for facilities such as shops. In the lower part of one building I visited was a neighbourhood police post. At this stage this is an innovation peculiar to Singapore although Japan has a similar project called a koban.
The interests of the community as a whole are taken into account where there is high density living. Provision is made not only for people to live there but for them to have access to the facilities required to live there sensibly, comfortably and conveniently. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition mentioned that in the Connaught building in the city and Eastgate Towers at Bondi Junction there was a mixture of sorts but that mixture was achieved only as a result of a fairly complex series of dealings worked out by the lawyers involved in the developments. The provisions of these bills will enable the attainment of that result much more readily, inexpensively and efficiently than hitherto. The greater Sydney area is heading towards a population of some 5 million persons by the year 2006. Until recently it was thought that that figure would be reached by the year 2011 but with immigration levels and natural increases being what they are the planners now say that the year will be 2006. Clearly, Sydney cannot expand indefinitely if for no other reason than the natural barriers - to the north the Hawkesbury River and to the west the Blue Mountains. Apart from that, it is extremely expensive to provide residential allotments on the periphery of the city. When one considers the sewerage, the roads and the schools and all the other infrastructure -
The Hon. Dr B. P. V. Pezzutti: The schools and the hospitals that you fellows forgot to put there.
The Hon. R. D. DYER: I do not need any assistance from the Hon. Dr B. P. V. Pezzutti. I know that he is always willing to assist but his assistance is not needed on this occasion.
The Hon. Dr B. P. V. Pezzutti: Your memory is not so good.
The Hon. R. D. DYER: My memory is excellent. Leaving the Hon. Dr B. P. V. Pezzutti to one side, where I hope he will remain, I suggest that it is very expensive to provide infrastructure on the periphery of the city, which is a good reason why the more centrally located parts of the city should be further developed for residential purposes. Underutilised facilities can thereby be used. There are schools, libraries, hospitals, sewerage -
The Hon. Dr B. P. V. Pezzutti: Telephones and post offices.
The Hon. R. D. DYER: Everything exists. For this reason urban consolidation should continue. This legislation fits in neatly with this concept and will encourage people to live in the city because of the proximity of the types of facilities that can be included in a mixed development. I have pleasure in welcoming these bills.
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The Hon. R. S. L. JONES [3.40]: On behalf of the Australian Democrats I support the Strata Titles (Part Strata) Amendment Bill and the Strata Titles (Leasehold Part Strata) Amendment Bill most enthusiastically. Yesterday morning I once again flew over western Sydney and across the city. It was clear how the urban sprawl is eating up much of the green space west of the city. As has been said before in this House, every time a new block is put out west, the non-recoverable cost to the taxpayers is between $40,000 and $80,000. The provision of the necessary infrastructure is a large burden on any government. The more the old inner city areas can be rejuvenated with imaginative new developments, which will be facilitated by this legislation, the better. When flying over the inner city, I could see many areas that were grossly underutilised. We well know that many of those dwellings contain only one person. The valuable inner city land where the infrastructure is already in place is underutilised and the outer areas of Sydney are being gobbled up at enormous cost to taxpayers. This legislation will provide the flexibility needed by both owners and developers to make more creative use of land and will assist in the rejuvenation of inner city and decaying areas. The Australian Democrats hope that these bills will facilitate better use of inner city land. That will allow more people to use public transport, will help to alleviate the pollution problems of western Sydney by reducing population growth and will lead to a better city for all citizens.
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.42], in reply: I thank all members for their support of this fine legislation. I commend the bills.
Motion agreed to.
Bills read a second time and passed through remaining stages.
GROWTH CENTRES (DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS) AMENDMENT BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [3.43]: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
The main purpose of the bill is to amend the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Act 1974 in order to dissolve the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation and the Macarthur Development Corporation and to enable the creation of new development corporations for vital urban redevelopments. It is the Government's view that both corporations have now outlived the purposes for which they were established. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The phase down of the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation, on a planned basis, was announced on 7th June, 1989; the phasing down of the Macarthur Development Corporation was announced on 18th May, 1990. The growth centres at Macarthur and Bathurst-Orange were originally established having regard to the United Kingdom "new town" models where it was always expected that the statutory development corporation, as the name suggests, would operate only during the initial evolutionary or developmental stages of the new town. It is interesting to observe that in 1974, during parliamentary debate on the principal Act, it was clearly intended that the development corporations would operate for a finite, though not predetermined, period. These development corporations have operated for approximately 17 years, similar to the British new town corporations which had an average life of 20 years.
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As part of the Government's action to wind down the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation, financial assistance was granted to each of the three local councils to enhance their role in encouraging private sector development and enthusiasm in the region. The Government also ensured that the phase down of activity was done in an orderly manner, thus avoiding undue effects on land values in regions, and extending to the staff of the corporations an adequate opportunity to adjust to the changes. Both areas have benefited, in varying ways and to different degrees, from the extensive planning, land consolidation and development that has occurred since 1974 as a direct result of the activities of the two development corporations. However, the stage has been reached in both areas where direct public sector involvement, as contemplated in the growth centres legislation, is no longer appropriate or necessary. In essence, both organisations have become providers of commercial and industrial land in their respective areas.
The bill provides that the remaining assets of the two development corporations be vested in a ministerial development corporation under the provisions of the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Act 1974. This statutory body will be concerned only with the orderly disposal of the remaining assets, leaving the provision of industrial sites generally to the private sector and to local government. A large industrial subdivision by the Macarthur Development Corporation is under way at present at Smeaton Grange, southwest of Campbelltown. Significant development funding will be required to complete this project during the next three to four years. That funding will be provided from the remaining assets for the Macarthur Development Corporation.
It is pleasing to note that the Macarthur Development Corporation could in fact finish its existence with a healthy net surplus while the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation accounts could show close to a break-even position. These outcomes do not take into account the writing off of certain loan interest charges by the State and Commonwealth governments. The benefits provided by the two development corporations have thus been established without a net drain on taxpayers' funds. Indeed, the Macarthur Development Corporation could produce a significant profit for the State when current development works are completed and the industrial estates are sold. The bill provides also for the repeal of the Growth Centres (Land Acquisition) Act 1974. There is not seen to be any need to retain this legislation, which provides for a special means of valuation of growth centre lands. Additional provisions of the bill will make minor or consequential amendments to the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Act 1974 to ensure that effective management of the Ministerial Development Corporation can be exercised by the Property Services Group. The Act is also updated to remove existing provisions for a development corporation to exercise local government powers, such as those contained in the Local Government Act and Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. This will assist where the new development corporations are envisaged in the future for the orderly development of areas such as Homebush Bay.
I commend the bill to the House.
The Hon. B. H. VAUGHAN (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [3.43]: The Opposition supports the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Amendment Bill but has some strong reservations about several aspects of it. In his second reading speech the Minister clearly indicated that the principal purpose of the bill was to amend the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Act 1974 to allow the dissolution of the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation and the Macarthur Development Corporation. The Minister went on to say that in conjunction with the dissolution of the two corporations, the purpose of the bill was also to amend the principal Act to allow, first, future development corporations to be established in both rural and urban regions; second, more facile disbursement of assets, rights and liabilities of development corporations in the future and, third the removal of particular local government powers from development corporations. From the Minister's second reading speech, one would consider the bill to be quite harmless. Indeed, one would consider the bill to be good housekeeping appropriate to the changing times. However, if one reads the bill a little more closely, one sees that the Minister, perhaps conveniently or otherwise, omitted certain aspects from his second reading speech.
It seemed to me that Minister did not explain the impact and significance of certain aspects, which were really passed over. I wish to raise three aspects of the bill that ought to have been mentioned. First, the Minister did not mention that clause 23(c) of the bill gives power to the Minister through the Governor to dissolve a development
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corporation without recourse to Parliament. At present the Minister cannot dissolve a development corporation without seeking the approval of Parliament. Hence the present bill seeks the approval of Parliament to dissolve the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation and the Macarthur Development Corporation, the two bodies to which I referred earlier. Under section 5 of the principal Act, the Minister does not require the approval of Parliament to establish a development corporation or elect members to, or alter, the personnel of the governing body of a corporation.
Perhaps that is proper but it is a different matter when it comes to the dissolution of a development corporation. The proposed mechanism, namely that the Minister can simply inform the Governor that a development corporation be set up or dissolved leaves the development corporation open to be used by the Minister and the government of the day as a political pawn. Such corporations could be opened and closed at the political whim of the Minister and the government. For instance, if a Minister is also the member for a particular region and wishes to have a development corporation established in his or her electorate, in order to gain political advantage the Minister can simply say to the Governor, "Close down XYZ development corporation in that area down south and move it up north to my electorate". Conversely, if the development corporation operating in the Minister's electorate opposes the Minister or the government through some of its activities to the extent perhaps that a degree of hostility arises the government and the corporation - indeed, that happened in the early days of the previous Labor Government, as I recall it - under this legislation the Minister can order the closure of the corporation without reference to Parliament.
The Minister could have a go at that nasty development corporation which would not then be protected by Parliament, as I think it ought to be. Parliament ought to have the right to vouch whether a corporation should be dissolved. If the Minister does not like the mechanism of coming to Parliament with a bill similar to this, the Minister could have amended the principal Act by allowing the Governor to dissolve development corporations by regulation. In that way Parliament can still have a say because the regulation can be objected to or it can be altered. The Minister in his reply might tell the House why the Minister who has control of the bill did not opt for the use of regulations. I wonder whether the Minister is aware that without that sort of monitoring development corporations could be abused and manipulated for political purposes. Why is it necessary to change a system which works and, replace it with something that has the potential for abuse?
Secondly, clause 23E of the bill, which the Minister conveniently ignored in his second reading speech, establishes what is to be known as the Ministerial Development Corporation. Who are to be the members of this ministerial corporation? Why is the bill silent on the make-up of this concept? Clause 23E(2) throws little light on this matter. Because we do not know who is going to make up the corporation, one could come to some conclusions - firstly that the ministerial corporation is in fact the Minister himself. If this is the case it becomes an effective shield for the Minister. I have argued that clause 23C would allow the Minister, at whim, to manipulate development corporations. Clause 23E protects the Minister from the blame that would naturally flow from the manipulation allowed under clause 23C. The Minister, when blamed for manipulating development corporations, could say that it was not his doing but that of the Ministerial Development Corporation thereby distancing himself or herself from the deed. Clause 23F(2)(b) contradicts clause 23D of the bill. Clause 23D allows the Ministerial Development Corporation to dispose of the assets of the development corporation. However, clause 23F(2)(b) grants the right to Treasury to take the assets of the dissolved
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corporation - just take them over and absorb them.
The impact of this sleight-of-hand is significant. Obviously, it applies only to successful corporations. For instance, if a corporation has been successful - such as the Albury-Wodonga corporation - and has come to the end of its life expectancy and has, say, $2 million in assets, Treasury - as is presently the case - being strapped for cash, can seize the assets to prop up the budget. The Opposition believes the Minister should be instructed to direct that assets be allocated to the future development of the region in which the corporation has served. The assets could be sold and the money spent on improving the infrastructure in that region. The bill is a clear example of how a Minister could use the Parliament, could tell only half the truth, hoping that honourable members would simply accept what he says. Let me remind the Minister that this is a House of review and, accordingly, we are intent on reviewing what the Minister might have failed to do about development corporations. Because of this disquiet, we intend to closely monitor the operation of the bill, in particular those aspects about which I have spoken. The Opposition feels quite strongly about the dispersal of assets in the ways I have just put to the House. However, the Opposition does support the legislation.
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE [3.54]: I support this bill. Growth centres were a concept developed in the 1960's as an attempt to encourage regional development, largely as a result of increasing concern at the extent to which the State's population was being concentrated in the Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong areas. As a response to these concerns, in 1974 Bathurst-Orange and the Macarthur region were designated growth centres by the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Act. Almost 20 years later, as the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation and the Macarthur Development Corporations are being wound up, honourable members can say that they have been successful. While they may not have had the phenomenal good fortune and international exposure of overseas developments, the Macarthur Development Corporation in particular has overseen a growth in housing, commercial and industrial development, including the relocation of several international companies to the area. Decentralisation and development mean nothing without people, and one of the most worthwhile benefits derived from the growth centre concept was the sense of community for the people in those areas. The last 18 years has seen the development of definable and valuable social infrastructure within the Macarthur region. Similarly, the rivalry between Orange and Bathurst has largely given way to a sense of regional pride and the sharing of services between the two cities.
This legislation recognises that generally the tasks of the Bathurst-Orange and Macarthur Development Corporations have been completed, and that the Growth Centres (Land Acquisition) Act of 1974 has served its purpose. It allows for the establishment of newer and more flexible development corporations in the areas where they are needed in the 90's. This legislation, therefore, as it closes one chapter opens another. Development corporations for the city-west area, Homebush and Honeysuckle point to the recognition by this Government of the importance of improving the urban environment of our largest cities - Sydney and Newcastle. These corporations will be accountable to the Minister for Local Government and will comprise a board. They will have access to the administrative structures and properties expertise of the Properties Services Group. From the outset, these developments will benefit from the management bodies utilising the established processes of government, and co-operating with local councils in the co-ordination of land consolidation, business planning, infrastructure development and marketing strategies. The Development Corporations will operate commercially and will be largely self-funding, relying on land sales to fund infrastructure
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development.
As a Novocastrian, I am particularly excited by the Honeysuckle project, which is the single most important urban redevelopment project to be undertaken in Newcastle, one that I as a member of this Government can be very proud of. I know this view is shared by the honourable member for Newcastle who said in another place on 16th October that this project is a matter of great importance to the people of Newcastle. The Minister for Local Government and Minister for Cooperatives, the Hon. Gerry Peacocke, said last year that the potential for this project matches major waterfront revitalisation projects in London, Vancouver and Boston. Opportunities for development of waterfront land along the southern and western edges of inner Newcastle will see the Government, by way of its extensive surplus landholding, acting as a catalyst for private sector investments, maximisation of the value of public land and minimisation of the cost of providing infrastructure. While the marriage of the Honeysuckle and other projects with development corporations will, I believe, be successful, it will not be permanent. The exercise of growth centre development corporations has, in general, been a successful one for this State. As I said earlier, development and decentralisation mean nothing without people. It is for these reasons that I support a bill which combines lessons learnt, with current knowledge, and an eye toward the future, to make government work for the best outcome for people.
The Hon. R. S. L. JONES [3.57]: On behalf of the Australian Democrats I reluctantly support the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Amendment Bill - reluctantly because I believe that these two growth centres, these development corporations, would have a place in the development of these areas. The Bathurst-Orange and Macarthur areas have developed reasonably well. I believe we should have maintained these corporations and not dissolved them. Although we support the legislation, we do so reluctantly.
Reverend the Hon. F. J. NILE [3.58]: The Call to Australia group supports the bill before the House, the Growth Centres (Development Corporations) Amendment Bill. As has been stated, the main object of the bill is to amend the Growth Centres Development Corporations Act 1974 to dissolve the Bathurst-Orange and Macarthur development corporations, and to enable the creation of new development corporations for vital urban redevelopments. Certainly, that encouragement is necessary in our urban areas. The bill does not come as a shock, because the phase down of the Bathurst-Orange Development Corporation was announced on 7th June, 1989, and the phasing down of the Macarthur Corporation was announced on 18th May, 1990. Those development corporations have now served their purpose. The Government quite properly has proposed a program where activity can be phased down in an orderly manner in order to avoid undue effects on land values in the region, and extend to the staff of the corporations an adequate opportunity to adjust to the proposed changes. For those reasons we are happy to support the bill.
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER (Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy) [4.0], in reply: I wish to reply to a couple of matters raised by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and to thank honourable members for their contributions to the debate. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition raised the power to dissolve a corporation by gazettal notice under section 23C. That power results in removing lengthy delays in the windup of a corporation and it reduces the need for unnecessary bureaucracy, which I know the honourable member will support. Section 23C(3) requires the Minister to be satisfied that the development and planning tasks have been completed. The ministerial corporation is a corporation sole, and is concerned only with the disposal of remaining assets
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following the completion of development and planning tasks. The ministerial corporation is accountable under the Public Finance and Audit Act, the Public Sector Management Act, the Annual Reports Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Therefore, I am sure the Deputy Leader of the Opposition will agree that there is considerable accountability. The long-term debts of the Bathurst, Orange and Macarthur development corporations have been written off and the remaining short-term debts will be paid from the sale of their remaining assets, which also will be used to fund infrastructure in those areas. I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for his comments and all members who contributed to the debate. I commend the bill.
Motion agreed to.
Bill read a second time and passed through remaining stages.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
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PORT MACQUARIE HOSPITAL CONTRACT
The Hon. M. R. EGAN: My question is directed to the Minister for Health and Community Services. How much will the Government pay the consortium building Port Macquarie Hospital for day-bed costs for public patients? How much will the Government pay for facilities? What will be the total cost to the taxpayer for the privatisation of Port Macquarie Hospital? When will the Minister release the details of the contract between the Government and Mayne Nickless Limited?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question and I am pleased that he is showing an interest in this particular issue. I am pleased that the Opposition is showing a renewed interest in privatisation but clearly there is a difference in policy approach between the Leader and the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and between the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and his Federal leader. It is interesting to note that when the Leader of the Opposition addressed the Canberra Press Club he gave his support to private investment in infrastructure and advocated that that was the direction that should be taken. Last week when the Prime Minister brought down his economic statement he advocated private investment in infrastructure. Those two leaders have given complete support to private investment in infrastructure, yet the left wing leader of the New South Wales Labor Party stands out on the left quarter. The remainder of the Labor Party is following a uniformly accepted direction but the left wing of the New South Wales Labor Party adheres to the approach of the 1950s and 1960s.
In the press releases of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in another place, Dr Refshauge has said, "We should stick to the policies of the 1960s and the 1970s". He is yesterday's man. He still adheres to the approach taken by the medical reform group, which he was involved in establishing. It is about time that the Labor Party brought the Deputy Leader into today's era. During the May election honourable members were used to the Labor Party peddling the big lie and grasping any figure to assist its argument. Obviously the party's approach has rubbed off on its union colleagues who have decided to campaign against the privatisation of the Port Macquarie Hospital. The other day Dr Refshauge produced a petition which was said to contain 5,000 names. I decided to write to these people and inform them of the present position and keep them informed. Since then I have received telephone calls from the people I wrote to saying that they have never signed a health petition. Interestingly, many said they had only ever signed one petition in Port Macquarie, concerning the Port Macquarie rock pools. That petition, which was meant for the Port Macquarie council has
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disappeared.
I turn now to the approach taken by the Labor Party. The Labor Party is not even prepared to deal genuinely with the Port Macquarie issue. The unions are not prepared to stand up and support the Labor Party's left wing leader on this issue. The unions are not prepared to support the Labor Party because, as they have said to the Australian Medical Association, and to me, "The unions are not popular in Port Macquarie and for the unions to be associated with this issue would undermine the Labor Party". The union movement has openly stated that it cannot afford to be associated with the Labor Party on this issue. Therefore, the unions have set up front organisations across the State. In Port Macquarie they set up the hospital action group in conjunction with a Teachers Federation organiser from the high school. Having set up that organisation and having sent off some faxes to John Laws, using the school's fax machine, they decided to dump that person and try to find another person to be spokesman for the organisation. They cannot even get their act together there. They decided to organise a meeting. My office was contacted and it said that I was not available to attend the meeting because of other commitments. The unions went to the expense of organising advertising on radio stations which falsely represented that I would be attending the meeting, and that Wendy Machin would be attending. In addition, they went to the expense of printing dodgers, which falsely represented that we would be attending the meeting.
I have had a large number of representations from people who went to that meeting. They were bitterly upset at the false representation made by people associated with the honourable member that I was going to be at the meeting. I met with the executive of the hospital action group. I was pleased to note that it was said in the press that they came out of that meeting expressing satisfaction with what they described as a positive meeting. I have also noticed that there have been some attacks on the financing of this project. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is critical of the fact that on a net present value basis this private project is worth in excess of $40 million over the public approach. He says that this is $2 million out of a $4 billion budget. Let us deal with apples and apples. At the present time in Port Macquarie we are spending $18 million on recurrent services. If we are able to save $2 million a year on services in that area, that allows an increase of around 11.5 per cent in the amount of services that can be provided to people in that area. When this project is completed - and we are providing expanded services - we will be spending some $28 million on recurrent services. If we save $2 million, that is a saving of around 7.5 per cent. If we apply 7.5 per cent productivity across our health budget - I do not indicate that this type of approach will be applied across the health area; it is recognised that it will not be - an additional $280 million would be provided for actual services for people in the State.
I have said on a number of occasions that when the documentation on this project is completed I will be making it publicly available - which the Opposition was not prepared to do when it was in government. It kept the documents on the Harbour tunnel deal secret. We will make the documentation available. The only part of the documentation I might not make publicly available is that which would be regarded as of commercial value and would disadvantage the corporation if it were to tender on other projects. That is accepted. I can recall the explanation of the Labor Party when it came into Opposition as to why it would not make available the documents on the harbour tunnel, namely, because of the commercial in-confidence approach. I am making the documents available but also respecting commercial confidences.
The Opposition is critical of this project. The medical staff council of the hospital and the hospital board are unanimously in support of the project. Local
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community groups support this project. Let us look at what the Labor Party did when it was in government. The demand for a hospital at Port Macquarie was identified 15 years ago. A new hospital was needed 15 years ago. In the 12 years that the Labor Party was in government it did not put pen to paper. This Government is looking at an option which guarantees that this hospital will be available to be used within about 18 months of the work starting as compared with three to five years under a public sector proposal. As I have said time and again to the people of Port Macquarie - and I will say it to the House - I am interested in guaranteeing access to health services. The Government does not have to be the builder and owner of hospitals. The people want services, and that is what this Government will provide.
PORT MACQUARIE HOSPITAL CONTRACT
The Hon. M. R. EGAN: I ask a supplementary question. Why did the Minister not answer any of the four questions I asked? Will he now tell the House how much the Government will pay the consortium building Port Macquarie hospital per bed-day costs for public patients; what facility fee the Government will pay; what will be the total cost to the taxpayer for the privatisation of Port Macquarie hospital; and when will he release the details of the contract between the Government and Mayne Nickless-Jennings?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: I have indicated that the Government has not yet signed a contract on this project. Until the contract is signed, those final figures will not be available.
MICALO ISLAND DEVELOPMENT
The Hon. J. M. SAMIOS: My question without notice is directed to the Minister for Planning and Minister for Energy. Has he approved the Micalo Island proposed development at Yamba on the North Coast? If so, what steps has he taken to ensure the development is compatible with the environment?
The Hon. R. J. WEBSTER: I thank the Hon. J. M. Samios for his question, which deals with a very important development on the North Coast of New South Wales. This development will create an enormous amount of employment. It is a fact that I intend to give the go-ahead to the Micalo Island development at Yamba. As some honourable members may be aware, the project proposes major tourist and recreational developments. The Department of Planning is in the process of finalising the 85 conditions which, when they are agreed upon, are to apply to the project. I will be granting consent to that proposal. The development will include an 18-hole golf course, a club-house, 52 golf lodges and an equestrian centre and training institute.
My decision follows a commission of inquiry into the development, which was conducted by commissioners Simpson and Carleton. The report of the commissioners recommended that the proposal be approved subject to certain conditions. The Department of Planning has recommended that the report of the commission of inquiry be accepted. Following a thorough examination of both the commissioners' report and the department's recommendation, I have agreed with the proposal. There is no doubt in my mind that, for the people of the region, the development will be a real shot in the arm for jobs. The project is estimated to be worth more than $46 million, and more than 70 permanent jobs will become available. I am certain that this news will be welcomed by most members of the community. I have a copy of the editorial from the Daily Examiner which was published following my announcement. It is worth reading that editorial for the benefit of honourable members to give them the true feeling about how
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the community in that area felt about the decision. It reads:
The decision to go ahead with the Micalo Island Resort should not be seen as a victory for the pro-development lobby nor a defeat for the greens. This week's announcement by the Planning Minister, Robert Webster, is simply the result of proper procedures of enquiry into a specific proposal. Mr Webster's decision was based on lengthy and exhaustive investigations into the impact of the development on the area and approval has only been given subject to a myriad of conditions. Residents of Maclean Shire should be relieved such a process was used.
The environmental debate will never be resolved by the polarised public arguments of vested interests. The "jobs versus environment" argument rarely takes into account the merits or otherwise of individual projects which must logically be the deciding factors in the way our region progresses. So much anger has been generated as a result of pressure groups such as the North East Forest Alliance, Valley Watch, the Forest Protection Society and the recently formed Rational Action Against Green Extremism (RAGE) that it is little wonder the general population is confused.
The situation has sunk to such a level that the decision-making abilities of all tiers of government are being jeopardised. Politics has no place in planning our future and protecting our environment. Similarly the slanging matches and personal insults which laughingly pass as environment debate are of no use at all.
As in the case of Micalo Island, appropriate development, sensitive to our economic and environmental needs, will inevitably mean compromise. To reach such solutions, all the facts, including arguments for and against, should be dealt with rationally and without bias. While it is never possible to please everybody, such a process will be for the benefit of the community as a whole.
That editorial exemplifies absolutely what the Government has been about, and what some Opposition members are about. Recently I received a letter from the Federal Minister for Primary Industry, the Hon. Simon Crean, who expressed those sentiments and his continuing dismay at the attitude of extremists in the environmental movement. It is essential for the continuing development and prosperity of our nation that we rid ourselves of some of these ridiculous political tactics used by both sides, and sit down to determine a process to ensure that our country continues to develop in a balanced way. I commend commissioners Simpson and Carleton, for their report was not easily made. Undoubtedly their recommendations will cost the developer more money, but they will ensure that the development is worth while and environmentally sensitive. I commend their decision.
HIV-AIDS AMONG ABORIGINES
Reverend the Hon. F. J. NILE: I ask the Minister for Health and Community Services a question without notice. What urgent action is the Government taking in response to the courageous and responsible recommendation by Professor Fred Hollows, a former Australian of the Year, at the recent AIDS Aboriginal Conference to prevent the auto-genocide of the Aboriginal people especially in outback centres through the horrific impact of the pandemic HIV-AIDS virus in New South Wales?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: Professor Fred Hollows is an outstanding Australian who has done a great deal for the Aborigines of this country. His leadership in that regard is unquestionable. I regret, however, the comments that he made yesterday on the HIV-AIDS issue. To some degree those comments were not well-informed and did not add much to informed and intelligent debate of that issue. Professor Hollows was right to highlight the problems of HIV-AIDS among the Aboriginal population. I cannot speak about the extent of HIV-AIDS in the Northern Territory or the North West of Australia, where Professor Hollows spends much of his time. However, in New South Wales we have a quite widespread program to provide prevention and education programs for Aborigines. The actual extent of HIV-AIDS within the Aboriginal community is not
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sufficiently well known to justify public comment on actual figures. Unfortunately, some groups have been reluctant to identify those figures for fear that others would seek to use them to further malign a minority within the country. But the extent of the problem within the Aboriginal community is not good and it needs to be addressed. A number of Aboriginal health education and promotion programs are being developed and implemented by Aborigines and targeted to the Aboriginal population. Yesterday I announced, in a statement I made on HIV-AIDS, a significant increase in funding for services for people with HIV-AIDS. That announcement included a fairly significant level of increased assistance to the Aboriginal community through a number of Aboriginal health outlets and a number of non-government outlets that provide service to Aborigines.
The Hon. Ann Symonds: Could you identify the press release?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: The list of organisations is four or five pages in length and I shall arrange for all members to receive a full list of all the programs to which I allocated monies. If Professor Hollows' comments serve no more than to highlight the problems of HIV-AIDS among the Aboriginal community, in the forum in which they were made, and to continue to agitate within the Aboriginal community the need to recognise this problem, they have served a purpose. But to the extent that the comments sought to categorise HIV-AIDS as a problem within one section of the community or another, they were ill advised. That is not to say that within the gay community there are not extremists who have sought almost to politicise the HIV-AIDS issue on a sexual basis. Extremist activities of some are undermining the good work of a number of excellent organisations, and I am concerned about that. We must recognise and understand, notwithstanding Professor Hollows' remarks that HIV-AIDS in effect is not a problem in the heterosexual community, that it is a problem and disease also of the heterosexual community. AIDS organisations in New South Wales have given outstanding leadership in trying to ensure proper education and preventive programs.
The Hon. Ann Symonds: You do give credit to Mr Blewett?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: Yes, I recognise the work that he and his advisers have done. But for that work, this disease would be present much more extensively in the heterosexual community, and we would be faced with the sort of problems present for instance in Italy and New York. If Professor Hollows' remarks serve any purpose or offer any benefit, they will highlight the need for us to continue with our education and prevention programs and to recognise that the preventive measures that we have introduced in New South Wales have slowed down and to some extent contained the spread of the disease. But if we become complacent, that disease will break out and spread extensively through the heterosexual community.
TOURISM PROMOTION
The Hon. B. H. VAUGHAN: I direct my question without notice to the Minister for School Education and Youth Affairs, representing the Minister for State Development and Minister for Tourism. How much money has the Government provided for the promotion of this State in the Asian market and in Japan in particular? Does the amount fall below the $8 million, referred to by the Minister for State Development and Minister for Tourism, which the Queensland Government provided for such promotion? If so, why is the Government denying tourism in New South Wales much needed funds?
The Hon. VIRGINIA CHADWICK: I would be more than happy to refer that question to my colleague.
Page 351 DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION QUALITY ASSURANCE UNITS
The Hon. PATRICIA FORSYTHE: My question without notice is directed to the Minister for School Education and Youth Affairs. Will the Minister inform the House how the quality assurance units, announced two weeks ago, will function in the Department of School Education? What is the purpose of these units?
The Hon. VIRGINIA CHADWICK: I thank the Hon. Patricia Forsythe for her important question, which reveals her continuing interest and involvement in public education and education in general in New South Wales. It is true that almost two weeks ago, on the launch of Education 2002, a most important document for public education, an additional announcement was made that we are in the process of establishing what we call quality assurance units. There will be 10 of those units, one in each educational region of New South Wales. Their function in general terms will be to take the temperature of the system so that for the first time ever in public education in New South Wales we will have an accurate representation and means of evaluating the success of our programs and monitoring the effectiveness of measures that we are undertaking in the public education system. I think for most people it would come as a surprise to realise that in well over 100 years of public education in New South Wales we have never been in a position to truly report openly to parents, schools themselves, the community at large, and the taxpayers, just what we are achieving by way of public education.
We could look at important aspects such as, for example, the effectiveness of our girls' education strategy. Are we to look simply to the mechanisms of the past whereby we have judged interest, involvement, commitment and so-called success by the quantum of taxpayers' dollars that are put towards any particular project. Though there have been many fine initiatives in our education system in the past, our work has been largely driven and judged on process and on inputs. The time has well and truly come for us to be mature enough and brave enough to be judged upon the product and upon the outcomes. That is what these quality assurance units are about. We intend that the units will look at approximately 20 per cent of the State schools in any given year. We believe that will be a fair sampling on which we can then accurately report to the people of New South Wales. I would hasten to add and I have been delighted to see that there has been a positive response to the announcement of this initiative. The movement towards quality assurance is not an interventionist program; it will work in co-operation with schools, teachers and local communities. Much of the information that we gain in that process will provide very useful and positive professional feedback to parents, teachers and schools.
The question then arises: what do we do with information? Like many honourable members I noted the question in the editorial of the Sydney Morning Herald recently. Though the editorial was very favourable and very supportive of our moves towards quality assurance, it posed a question which is fair enough, given the somewhat inward looking and secretive approach of the Department of School Education over a long period. The question was: what are we going to do with the information that we receive and will we release it? Though I am not yet in a position to announce the name of any particular person it is my intention to appoint an external person to whom the information gained each year will be sent. That person will analyse the information from each of the 10 regions and report to me and to the director general. I am more than happy to stand here today and say that though I feel sure that we will receive glowing reports in most areas from this testing of ourselves and our system, regardless of what the reports say each year it is my intention that they will be tabled fully in this House.
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GOSFORD CITY COMMUNITY AND INFORMATION SERVICE
The Hon. ELISABETH KIRKBY: My question is directed to the Minister for Health and Community Services. In view of the correspondence between the Minister and the Gosford City Community and Information Service does the Minister intend to correct statements he made on 12th December last year in response to a question without notice asked by me about the closure of youth and other refuges? Why did the Minister state that communication between the board of the Gosford City Community and Information Service and its spokesperson was deficient when the spokesperson acted with the full knowledge of the board of the Gosford City Community and Information Service? Why did the Minister further state that there had been two meetings between the board and his department when there had been only one, on Friday, 6th December, 1991? Is the Minister now prepared to set the record straight? If not, why not?
The Hon. J. P. HANNAFORD: I am able to indicate to the honourable member that a letter has been sent under my signature to the Gosford City Community and Information Service responding to the concerns of the senior vice president, Mrs Wright, in relation to the issues she has raised. Discussion took place between two members of the board and the executive officer of the GCIS on 6th December, 1991, with officers of my department. The Department of Community Services sent a letter to Merle Davis, the chairperson of the board, on 9th December, 1991. Other discussions took place with Anne Sullivan, the executive officer, on 9th and 10th December, 1991, by telephone. Additional information was provided by the executive office of the department by facsimile on 10th December, 1991, to assist the department with its calculation of the organisation's need for further funds. It may be worth noting that two members of the board met with the department on 6th December with the chairperson of the board and the chairperson of the accommodation subcommittee of the board.
It was obvious that the board, in making decisions on the matter following the meeting on 6th December, 1991, was aware of the willingness of the Department of Community Services to consider its need for additional funds. On 11th December, 1991, a number of attempts were made to contact the executive officer by telephone to clarify the outcome of the anticipated meeting with the board on 10th December, 1991, to ascertain whether the board was willing to continue negotiations. I think it was at that point that I had understood that there was a second meeting whereas in fact there was only a first meeting. However, as I indicated, there had been a number of telephone conversations in relation to the matter. Miss Sullivan took a telephone call and advised that the board had made a decision to close the service on 31st December, 1991. The proposed visit which had been planned was therefore not made. I made available additional funds to the service to enable it to continue its operations during a period that would have allowed analysis of the total needs of the service. However, unfortunately the service indicated that it was not in the position to proceed with the conduct of those facilities.
The moment we got that advice we were able to make arrangements with the Centacare Catholic Family Services Organisation and it took over the operation of the services, and the funding which was otherwise to be made available to the service was handed over to Centacare. Those services in fact are now being conducted. It was regrettable that the Gosford City Community and Information Service felt that it was not in a position to continue with the facilities, but I am pleased that Centacare was able to pick up the operation of those facilities and the facilities are now continuing to operate. I indicated on a number of occasions during question time last year that the approach I was taking to these services was that if services contacted the department and indicated
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they were prepared to look at their operations, I would provide funds to allow them to continue on an interim basis until a reorganisation of affairs could be worked out and new funding then finalised if it was apparent that additional funding was needed. A number of organisations have received such funding and are reworking their conduct of service. I recognise that as a result of the award many organisations are under pressure. As a consequence, I have commissioned an organisation to completely review the impact of the award on all funded services so that I will be able to make a better and more informed assessment of the level of additional funding for which I will have to start budgeting to meet the needs of those services. I am informed that that particular report should be available to me in the near future.
POLICE SERVICE IMAGE
The Hon. R. D. DYER: I ask the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council a question without notice. Did the Minister hold a joint press conference last January with the Commissioner of Police to release survey results regarding public perceptions of the Police Service? Did the results of the survey show that fear of victimisation among the elderly, women and ethnic groups had increased significantly in the past 12 months? Why has the Minister refused to release the full results of the survey for public information?
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: The Police Service has in fact released all of the general results of the survey. We have not been prepared to release, I think not inappropriately, information related to individual police districts which is used as a management tool. For example, such information provides the commissioner with the ability to assess whether or not a particular police district is improving or showing a poorer result over a period of time. These surveys have been conducted since the time the coalition parties obtained office and have proved to be extremely beneficial as management tools. The result has shown that there is a significantly increasing view within the community that the Police Service is doing an excellent job and that police can be relied upon, will be there when needed, and so on.
The Hon. R. D. Dyer: It did show that but it also showed this increased fear.
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: It is well known that the level of fear held by the community about its vulnerability with regard to particular crime is always enormously higher than the extent to which the community is disadvantaged. For example, in general terms about half the community do not worry about crime at all; they do not feel that they will be adversely affected by crime. However, the other half of the community have some concern in one form or another that they might be affected adversely by the criminal element. That level of fear in the community is wildly out of proportion to the actual extent to which citizens are adversely affected by crime. Though half the community have that concern only 1 per cent or 2 per cent are adversely affected by crime. In many ways that fear is sensible. The community should be encouraged to be sensibly responsible with regard to unnecessary exposure to activities which might lead to adverse effects from crime. For example, people should be actively encourage to be concerned about wandering down the back streets of the city at night. That activity should not be encouraged, because clearly it raises the potential of mugging or other adverse behaviour. The normal precautions that people take - where they walk at night and how they lock up their homes - are all sensible precautions, are taken generally because of a fear of crime. The fact that the level of that fear is much higher than the actual rate of crime is in many ways not deleterious but beneficial to the community as a whole.
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CENTRAL SCHOOLS RESEARCH
The Hon. D. F. MOPPETT: My question without notice is directed to the Minister for School Education and Youth Affairs. It relates to central schools and the vital issue of their future role in the scheme of education. Has the department undertaken any research on the quality of education in central schools? If that research has been undertaken, what has it shown?
The Hon. VIRGINIA CHADWICK: I thank the honourable member for his question and for his continued interest in education, particularly education opportunities for children in rural New South Wales. It is indeed true that about three years ago the department commissioned research from Charles Sturt University, Mitchell. The university was asked to examine central schools in New South Wales - which I think it is fair to say for many years, and certainly during the term of office of the previous Government, were something akin to educational Cinderellas. Much emphasis was given to the development of primary and secondary schools but little attention and thought was given to central schools. The research was commissioned to ascertain whether central schools were doing a good job, were a viable education option, and were serving a useful function in our rural communities.
I was pleased to receive the extensive and detailed research conducted largely by Don Squires of the university centre for research and teaching in rural education. I and a number of my colleagues, including the Hon. R. T. M. Bull, and many other people who have a strong interest in and connection with education in New South Wales, have spent some time in central schools. The research confirmed what we knew from visiting central schools and speaking with students, parents and teachers: the 62 central schools in New South Wales, with almost 16,000 students, are doing an excellent job that assures the future of central schools. Much has come from the research, and the elements behind the success of central schools have the potential to be used successfully in other areas of the education system. I think other areas of education have much to learn from our central schools.
The tenet at the heart of the strength of central schools is the same as that at the heart of the school renewal school process that the Government is undertaking. There is a strong sense in central schools in small rural communities that the school lies at the heart of its local community and that education is a partnership between the parents, the broader community and the professional school community. It is that sense of identity and pride, which is built in to the central schools and their staff, that is responsible for much of the rationale for the success of central schools. Not only am I very pleased that the research has confirmed my observations and those of others about the worth of central schools, I am pleased also that the rationale that is given for much of the success lies at the heart and is the core philosophy of the schools renewal process. I am pleased that the research that has come from Charles Sturt University assures central schools of a solid future in New South Wales.
SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
The Hon. ELAINE NILE: I direct my question without notice to the Minister for School Education and Youth Affairs. What was the involvement of the of Minister's department in the recruitment of schoolchildren from New South Wales public schools as counsellors for the controversial teenage sex hotline? Does the Minister's department approve of this teenage sex hotline, as the Family Planning Association has now stated it will fund its continued operation? Was the associated so-called Fact and Fantasy Sex
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Diary which was produced by the Family Planning Association distributed in New South Wales schools? Will the Government conduct a public inquiry into the various materials introduced by the Family Planning Association into New South Wales public schools?
The Hon. VIRGINIA CHADWICK: The honourable member's question is representative of a large number of questions, many of which relate to the diary referred to. First, I wish to state clearly a matter that is well known to honourable members in this House, particularly to the Hon. Beryl Evans: I am a member of the Family Planning Association and have been for many years. I believe that, by and large, much of the work of the Family Planning Association is of immense value. However, I believe also that to place that diary in the hands of students without the consent of their parents - students who had no knowledge of what might be in that diary when they opened it up - was not one of the brighter initiatives of the organisation to which I belong. I do not believe that the diary, if it has a place at all, should be in the hands of impressionable young children within our public school system. Neither I nor my department endorsed the diary. I suppose it is one of the inevitable -
The Hon. J. R. Johnson: Have you resigned from the Family Planning Association?
The Hon. VIRGINIA CHADWICK: No, I have not. By and large the work it does is very worth while. Whether I do or do not agree with that diary and whether that was an appropriate initiative are not matters that would lead me to take the action suggested by the Hon. J. R. Johnson. However, may I say that, to the best of my knowledge, there was one school - perhaps there were one or two others - one school in the eastern suburbs which, of its own initiative, became involved in this particular matter. If I, as Minister am serious - and I am - about permitting schools to be self-governing - for the school community to determine which activities it should or should not be involved in - then one of the inevitable consequences is that from time to time schools will embark upon courses of action with which I do not agree. This is one such instance. I do not believe it was appropriate activity for that school and the students to be involved in. To the best of my knowledge, it was confined to one of two and a half thousand schools. The views of the Premier and of the Prime Minister are well known on this matter and it is my understanding that the issue has in fact been resolved. It never was endorsed by me; it never was endorsed by my department. If the matter had come to my attention, I would not have approved of the distribution of the diary throughout the New South Wales school system.
PUBLIC SECTOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE
The Hon. J. W. SHAW: I direct my question to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council. Is the Government actively considering a proposal to create an executive service within the public service from grade 9 up to grade 12? If so, what details can the Minister provide this House as to the rates of pay proposed and whether the officers affected would be removed from the jurisdiction of the Industrial Commission of New South Wales? When will some formal announcement be made on this topic?
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: I have no idea about the matters raised by the honourable member. I am, of course, happy to refer the question to the Premier for his consideration.
CABRAMATTA POLICE NUMBERS
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The Hon. J. F. RYAN: My question is directed to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council. Is the Minister aware of claims that the Cabramatta police patrol is under strength? Can he inform the House of the reasons for the changes in the police numbers in the Cabramatta patrol?
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: I welcome the opportunity to kill off yet another furphy being bandied about by the honourable member for Cabramatta. On 26th February the honourable member for Cabramatta wrote to me seeking information on police staffing levels in the Cabramatta patrol. I was pleasantly surprised that the honourable member had adopted such a civilised approach to this matter. It is most unlike his usual approach. The honourable member for Cabramatta is not renowned for having a softly, softly approach to politics generally. I am sure all honourable members would have read with interest an item on the back page of the Sun-Herald of 1st March last. It is a brief article and I seek the indulgence of honourable members to refresh their memories. The article said:
The fur is flying between Deputy Premier Wal Murray and the Cabramatta MLA John Newman. Newman claimed the Government was not using Federal money provided to compensate flood victims who raised their homes. Wal called him stupid in Parliament and Newman, a karate expert, later privately challenged big Wal to repeat the words outside the House. Wal called the security guards.
I repeat that story to explain my surprise at receiving such a pleasant letter from the honourable member for Cabramatta on 26th February. However, I can report that this diplomatic approach by the honourable member was extremely short-lived. On the very day I received his letter, the honourable member for Cabramatta was spruiking his story to the local press. He found a listener in the Fairfield City Champion, which ran an article that day reporting the claim of the honourable member for Cabramatta's that police numbers at Cabramatta had fallen by 10 since March 1991. It is a shame the honourable member did not await my response to his letter before taking the story to the media. The result is that the story was only half true and has done no one any good. The facts provided by the northwest region commander, Clive McLachlan, and outlined in my letter to the honourable member for Cabramatta on 3rd March this year, are that the Cabramatta police patrol has an authorised strength of 67 and is currently operating on an actual strength of 72 units - units being police officers. The authorised strength will shortly be increased by two with the addition of a station controller and a chief of the detectives. Mr McLachlan further advised me that in April 1991 the suburbs of Bonnyrigg, St Johns Park and Mount Pritchard were transferred from the Cabramatta patrol to the Wetherill Park patrol. Those three suburbs contain approximately 26,000 residents and account for an estimated 30 per cent of crime within the Wetherill Park patrol. Seven police were transferred from Cabramatta to Wetherill Park to offset the increased workload brought about by the boundary changes. I should be surprised if honourable members were to consider such an arrangement unfair or unreasonable. I remind the House that the Cabramatta patrol is operating at a level above its authorised strength.
On the subject of beat police, Mr McLachlan advises me that interaction between Cabramatta, which has 14 beat officers, and Fairfield is excellent. Joint operations are to commence in the Cabramatta area utilising beat police from Fairfield to help combat street crime. Furthermore, 15 police are working from Wetherill Park police station on covert and pro-active operations conducted by the district special operations group, and regularly include the Cabramatta patrol in their activities. It is a comforting thought that local communities want more police on the streets. It is a recognition that community-based policing is working to bring police and the people of New South Wales together to fight crime. Dealing specifically with Cabramatta, my advice from the department is
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that there is no urgent need to increase police numbers that would warrant the transfer of police from other regions. Notwithstanding that, I have been informed that the Human Resources Directorate is currently examining the authorised staffing levels of all police stations in the State. Though I have no early indication of the directorate's findings, I anticipate an effective rationalisation of resources, which will benefit those areas that have witnessed a dramatic increase in policing requirements in recent years.
AGED PERSON ASSAULTS
The Hon. R. S. L. JONES: My question without notice is to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council. Will the Minister consider discussing with Cabinet the possibility of introducing amending legislation to increase penalties for attacks on pensioners? Would it not be possible to single out senior citizens in legislation to afford them greater protection and to increase the deterrent effect of penalties for mugging elderly people?
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: The concept of a special offence directed at those in society who attack elderly people in the certain knowledge that they are unable to fight back, and more importantly in the knowledge that that attack could cause severe damage or even death, is worthy of mature consideration by my Cabinet colleagues. The matter was first raised with me by John Laws on his radio program. I have taken his comments on board. I am not a lawyer, as I have said on many occasions in this House, but it appears to me that the honourable member's question has some value and I intend to pursue the matter. By way of written interjection the Hon. P. F. O'Grady asked "What about gay people"? Those people are perhaps in a slightly different category, because by and large gay people are not elderly -
The Hon. P. F. O'Grady: But they are bashed and killed in their homes.
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: I am not saying that gay people are not bashed. The suggestion is that there be a special penalty imposed on those who bash elderly people. Because of the damage that can be occasioned by the bashing of elderly people I believe there is some merit in the suggestion. I guess gay people represent the full spectrum of society and therefore I doubt a special penalty could be introduced for merely bashing someone because they are gay. I am not attracted to that suggestion.
If honourable members have further questions, I suggest they put them on notice.______
FIREARMS LEGISLATION (AMENDMENT) BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [4.5]: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
This bill, which will amend the Firearms Act and regulations, the Prohibited Weapons Act and regulations and the Crimes Act, has as its primary aim the improvement of public safety by reducing the misuse of firearms in the community. Last year this Parliament established a Joint Select Committee upon Gun Law Reform to generally review firearms laws as a direct and positive response to the tragic circumstances of the "Strathfield massacre". That committee reported to the Parliament in October 1991. The
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Australian Police Ministers Council met in October and November 1991 and thoroughly reviewed legislation relating to the use of firearms throughout Australia with the objective of achieving, at least, agreed minimum national standards. The special Premiers' meeting in Adelaide in November endorsed the agreement achieved by police Ministers. This bill has been framed therefore after extensive public debate and consultation.
The legislation particularly reinforces the Government's absolute commitment to protect women and children who can be at risk from the misuse of firearms in situations of domestic violence. A mandatory obligation will be imposed on police to confiscate firearms from any residential premises where actual or threatened domestic violence has occurred or whose occupants have been involved in a domestic violence incident elsewhere and from persons against whom apprehended violence orders or interim apprehended violence orders have been issued. It will also be mandatory for police to suspend the shooter licence or permit of any person who has committed or is alleged to have committed a domestic violence offence as defined in the Crimes Act. Under the Crimes Act, a domestic violence offence means a personal violence offence committed against:
(a) a person who is or has been married to the person who commits the offence; or
(b) a person who is living with or has lived with the person who commits the offence as his wife or her husband, as the case may be, on a bona fide domestic basis although not married to him or her, as the case may be; or
(c) a person who is living with or has lived ordinarily in the same household as the person who commits the offence-otherwise than merely as a tenant or boarder; or
(d) a person who is or has been a relative - within the meaning of subsection (6) - of the person who commits the offence; or
(e) a person who has or has had an intimate personal relationship with the person who commits the offence.
Police search and seizure powers in relation to firearms when called to any domestic violence situation, irrespective of where the incident occurs, will be strengthened. The legislation aims to reduce the incidence of trauma arising from domestic violence involving firearms and preclude access to firearms in households where there has been an incident of actual or threatened domestic violence irrespective of where the incident occurred. Police will also be required to apply for a search warrant in order to search for and seize firearms from houses whose occupants have been involved in a domestic violence incident where the police have reasonable cause to believe that a firearm is in the house but have been informed by the occupants that there is no firearm in the house. It will be mandatory for police to suspend the firearm licence or permit of a person who has been charged with or has committed or threatened to commit an offence involving domestic violence.
The legislation also requires police to automatically suspend and commence revocation action in respect of holders of firearm licences or permits where apprehended or interim apprehended violence orders have been made. Once a final apprehended violence order is issued there will be no right of appeal against revocation of the shooter licence. Persons who have been subject to an apprehended violence order made against them at any time within 10 years before they apply for a firearm licence or permit will be prohibited from obtaining any licence or permit unless the apprehended violence order has been specifically revoked. Thus an apprehended violence order will have the same effect as a conviction for any of the proscribed offences currently included in the firearms
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legislation.
The Crimes Act will be amended to require police to apply for an apprehended violence order on behalf of a victim of domestic violence in certain circumstances. The Commissioner of Police will issue suitable instructions to police with respect to the administration of the new legislative requirements regarding domestic violence. The joint select committee also made recommendations relating to mental illness and firearms misuse. The Government is reviewing this very difficult and complex issue and there will be full consultation with a wide range of groups within the community. The Government is hopeful, however, that it will be able to address the problems involved and to this end a senior interdepartmental officers' working party has been established by the Cabinet Office. In addition to firearms matters touching domestic violence, the legislation also makes changes to the existing provisions governing the licensing of persons who wish to possess and use firearms.
Shooter licences will be issued only to those persons who can establish a genuine reason to possess or use the relevant category of firearm. The regulations will spell out in detail what will constitute a genuine reason. However, largely based upon the recommendations of the parliamentary joint select committee, it is envisaged that the following will be deemed to be a genuine reason: primary production, business or employment, collecting, sporting members of approved shooting clubs, vermin control, hunting, family heirlooms - issued under a commissioner's permit, animal welfare and animal population control. In an important move that will do much to reduce dramatically the level of firearms in the community, persons applying for a firearms licence for both pistols and longarms on the basis of personal protection or for the protection of their property will not be considered to have a genuine reason.
There will be three categories of shooter licences or permits covering longarms, based on those classes adopted by the Australian Police Ministers Council, which can be expected to be uniformly followed across the nation. They are as follows. Class 1 licences will confer authority to possess and use for any lawful purpose air rifles, rifles, shotguns or rifle-shotgun combinations, other than prohibited weapons and self-loading, centre-fire rifles or self-loading shotguns fitted with an integral or detachable magazine capable of holding more than five rounds. Class 2 licences will confer authority to possess and use for any lawful purpose non-military, self-loading, centre-fire rifles fitted with an integral magazine or with a detachable magazine capable of holding no more than five rounds and all self-loading shotguns fitted with an integral magazine or with a detachable magazine capable of holding no more than five rounds. Finally, a permit is to be issued by the Commissioner of Police which will cover all other firearms including, but not limited to, non-military style self-loading centre-fire rifles with a detachable magazine capable of holding more than five rounds and military style self-loading centre-fire rifles.
Based upon the evidence given to and the recommendations of the joint select committee, shooter licences henceforth will incorporate a photograph and will be issued only to those persons who can establish a genuine reason to possess or use the relevant category of firearm. For convenience, photographic licences will be issued in conjunction with the Roads and Traffic Authority driver licence system. Class 1 licences will be issued for an unlimited period subject to photo renewal every five years while class 2 licences and commissioner's permits will be issued for five years and then be subject to complete re-application. Personal pistol licences, or class 1(a) licences, will no longer be available. There is no demonstrated reason why there should be a proliferation of hand guns in the community. Personal protection or protection of property is no longer
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an acceptable genuine reason for a personal pistol licence. What is an acceptable genuine reason and what is not, will be defined in the regulations to this legislation, as I have already mentioned. Those persons with a genuine reason for possessing and using a pistol will be able to make application within an alternative licence category, for example, business pistol licence, government pistol licence or target pistol shooter licence.
To reduce the risk of misuse of firearms, particularly in the home, stringent requirements have been included in the legislation relating to the safe and secure storage of firearms. Persons who possess a firearm will be required to take all reasonable precautions to ensure its safe keeping. They will have to ensure either that the bolt or firing mechanism, where possible, is removed from the balance of the firearm, that the bolt or firing mechanism is not stored with the balance of the firearm, that no ammunition is in the firearm, that no ammunition is stored with the firearm or that the firearm is stored with the ammunition in a secure, locked storage approved, or of a type approved by the Commissioner of Police.
The Hon. Ann Symonds: How are you going to monitor that?
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING: I will tell you. Firearms safety training in the safe possession, use and storage of firearms is already mandatory. The firearms safety awareness course, which is already established and functioning, provides to all intending new shooters seeking a shooter licence the opportunity for instruction in the basic safety principles applying to firearms. The three principal safety awareness areas identified for new shooters when handling firearms are as follows: at home, when travelling, and when in use in the field. Intending applicants apply to their nearest organised shooting community representative, who is usually a firearms safety inspector accredited under this scheme, to undertake the firearms safety awareness course. When the applicant passes the course, a certificate of competency is issued as evidence that the person named therein has satisfactorily passed an examination in the safe use of firearms. The applicant may then approach his nearest police station and apply for a shooter licence, which may be issued after the necessary 28-day cooling-off period and a criminal record inquiry. These existing arrangements for firearms safety training are considered appropriate.
Licensing provisions will extend to government agencies and their employees with respect to acquisition, disposal, possession and use of firearms. Members of the Police Service, prison officers and members of the armed services will be the only government employees exempted from these new provisions. Naval reserve cadets, the Australian Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps will be allowed to carry self-loading rifles for the purposes of the activities of the corps or cadets and, in accordance with any guidelines issued by the Commissioner of Police, without the need to hold a licence or permit. The legislation will also require dealers, manufacturers and importers of firearms in New South Wales to provide details at regular intervals to the Commissioner of Police of firearms forwarded to dealers or sold within New South Wales. It will be an offence to send or receive a firearm through the mail, thus requiring firearms to be forwarded by a secure form of delivery.
Persons may only purchase a firearm or ammunition which corresponds to the category of firearm for which that person is licensed. It will also be an offence to possess ammunition for a firearm unless the person holds a licence for a firearm which takes that ammunition. Holders of a firearms licence or permit who are convicted of the offence of not notifying a change in their usual residential address and who did not notify the change within 28 days after it occurred will be disqualified from holding a licence or
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permit for five years. New offences will be created under the Crimes Act making it an offence for a person to enter private property possessing or using a firearm without permission of the owner or occupier or without a lawful purpose or reasonable excuse. Amendments will be made to the Prohibited Weapons Act which will give power to the Commissioner of Police, acting within guidelines established by regulation, and not the Minister for Police to issue permits with respect to prohibited weapons and articles. The legislation will also significantly extend the range of weapons included in the schedule of prohibited weapons under the Prohibited Weapons Act.
Provision has been made, however, to allow primary producers in possession of certain self-loading rifles and shotguns which will become illegal under this legislation to continue to possess and use their firearms, but not to sell them, subject to the firearm being used only in relation to their employment or business as a primary producer. It will also be subject to the magazine being permanently modified to a maximum capacity of five rounds. This provision will exist until the expiration of the term of their current licence or permit, at which time they will be entitled to apply for a class 2 licence. The Commissioner of Police will be empowered to issue permits to persons whose business or employment is not solely as a primary producer but who have lawfully possessed certain firearms which will become prohibited weapons under this legislation and who have an approved genuine reason to continue to possess and use the firearm for five years or until 30th June, 1997, whichever is the shorter period. Persons who possess any firearm which cannot be lawfully possessed under the new legislation will be required to surrender their firearm to the Commissioner of Police without delay. Appropriate compensation for surrendered firearms will be determined by an expert independent group.
An approach has been made to the Prime Minister for Commonwealth compensation with the States on a dollar for dollar basis, but to date no response has been received. In addition, the Commissioner of Police will have a discretion to waive any future licence or permit fee payable before 30th June, 1997, by any person who surrenders a firearm as part or full compensation towards the value of the firearm. The Government is of the view that there must be an equitable balance between safeguarding the community from the misuse of firearms, with a particular focus on domestic violence and the lawful rights of those persons who have a genuine reason to use or possess firearms legitimately. By introducing these legislative initiatives, the Government has taken a strong, positive action in accordance with the recommendations of the joint select committee and the Australian Police Ministers Council and also the domestic violence recommendations of the National Committee on Violence.
The legislation is broadly based on the recommendations of the joint select committee. The committee deliberated on the issues on a non-partisan basis and was able to reach consensus decisions. The committee considered submissions and took evidence from a broad spectrum of individuals and organisations. Many of the issues considered by the committee were most difficult and potentially divisive not only within the committee itself but within the community as a whole. The effect of the legislation will be to restrict the level of gun ownership in the community to those persons who can establish a genuine reason to possess or use a firearm. In the longer term the Government anticipates that the amended legislation will bring about a significant cultural change in the community regarding the possession and use of firearms. The legislation will restrict the ownership of firearms. However, it is not a denial of the rights of legitimate shooters to possess and use firearms for which they are appropriately licensed. In addition, the legislation will remove from the community the large number of firearms
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currently held in many homes by persons solely for personal protection reasons. As I mentioned previously, the work which has preceded the development of this legislation is unique. I pay tribute to the non-partisan approach and consensus achieved by the parliamentary Joint Select Committee upon Gun Law Reform. The Government is confident that this legislation will be similarly supported on a non-partisan basis. I commend the bill.
Debate adjourned on motion by the Hon R. D. Dyer.
HOLY APOSTOLIC CATHOLIC ASSYRIAN CHURCH OF THE EAST PROPERTY TRUST BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [5.22]: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
I seek leave to have my second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
The purpose of this bill is to constitute the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Property Trust as a statutory body, to define the trust's powers, duties and functions, and to provide for the vesting of property in the trust. The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East is truly one of the original Christian churches. The earliest attempt in the church to form a governing constitution was in the years A.D. 65 to A.D. 90. This was approximately the time when the Gospels were being written, placing the Assyrian Church at the very birth of Christianity. The factor distinguishing the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East from the other emerging religions of the time is the fact that the history and development of the church was wholly contained within the Assyrian nation. It is indeed unique for a Christian church to evolve independently of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox churches, and within the Ottoman Empire. In fact, it was not until the Assyrians assumed a role in international politics by allying themselves with the British during World War I that the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East came to prominence as a Christian religion. Following World War I the first diocese of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East was established in Australia.
With this background in mind I now turn to the provisions of the bill. The bill provides for the creation of a statutory trust to be known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Property Trust and invests it with certain powers in relation to dealings with property and the investment of funds. It empowers the holding of property by the trust, the co-operative use of church property, the blending of trust funds and the variation of trusts. By this bill the trust may be appointed the executor or administrator of an estate. This bill, like the previous bill, has been prepared in accordance with the Government's policy of assisting churches to better administer their temporal affairs. It avoids the costs of transferring church property to new trustees every time a trustee dies or retires and enables the church to better invest its funds. The provisions of this bill are consistent with the approach taken in other property trust legislation. As honourable members will recall, the Russian Orthodox Church Property Trust Act received bipartisan support - a matter which has already been mentioned this evening. This bill will assist the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East in Australia to further its religious and charitable dealings.
I commend the bill.
The Hon. R. D. DYER [5.23]: The Opposition is pleased to indicate its support for the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Property Trust Bill. The proposed legislation is in conformity with the policies of the Government and previous governments in assisting the various churches to administer their property affairs in a
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convenient and less expensive way than would otherwise be the case. Were it not for legislation such as this, it would be necessary to appoint new trustees each time a trustee of a church dies or retires. That process can be relatively difficult and expensive given that costs are incurred when property owned by a church has to be vested in new trustees following the death or retirement of previous trustees. All of the churches in this country, in particular those in New South Wales, have the benefit of such legislation and it is appropriate that similar legislation should be available to the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. I note with interest that Assyrians began migrating to this country in the early 1960s and in larger numbers in the 1970s and 1980s. They are continuing to migrate from the Middle East, primarily from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon. I am reliably informed that about 12,000 to 13,000 Assyrians are in Australia, many residing in the Smithfield electorate represented by Mr Carl Scully, who claims that approximately 8,000 persons of Assyrian origin reside in the Fairfield local government area.
The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East has an ancient place in history. I note that the Attorney General in the other place said that the earliest attempt made within this church to form a governing constitution was during the period A.D. 65 to A.D. 90, at a time approximately when the Gospels were being written. The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East can place itself almost at the birth of Christianity. I understand that the church has been wholly contained, during its development, within the Assyrian nation and has evolved independently of both Rome and the Eastern Orthodox churches within the Ottoman Empire and independently of the other mainstream aspects of Christianity. After World War I the first diocese of this church was established in Australia. The adherents of this church are good and honoured citizens of the State of New South Wales. On behalf of the Opposition I am happy to indicate the support of the Australian Labor Party for the proposed property trust legislation which gives convenient form and assistance to the property affairs of the church and will save it considerable future expense and difficulty.
The Hon. J. M. SAMIOS [5.28]: I support the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Property Trust Bill. The purpose of the bill is to constitute the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East Property Trust as a statutory body to define the trust's powers, duties and functions and to provide for the vesting of property in the trust. The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East has an ancient history dating back to the powerful Assyrian nation which occupied the northern part of Iraq in eastern Mesopotamia. For most honourable members Assyria is equated with the following line of poetry they learned at school:
The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold.
The original name of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church was Church of the East, which by A.D. 90 had 19 episcopal sees all the way from Mesopotamia to the Caspian Sea and India. All the fathers of the early Christian Church in Rome, later known as the Latin Church, such as the controversial figure Tatian the Assyrian, Yostinos or Justin the Martyr, Melito Irnaaeus and others who followed St Paul were Assyrians or Syrians, Aramaic-speaking people, missionaries of the Church of the East. During the first half of the fifth century the Church of the East was shaken by a theological controversy resulting in a schism when Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, in A.D. 428 taught that Jesus Christ had two distinct natures, divine and human.
Today most Christian religions accept the concept of His being the divine and
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human although there are the monophysites such as the Armenian church and the Coptic church that still maintain the belief in the one nature of Christ. Though Nestorius was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, his teachings spread and by 451 most of the eastern part of the Church of the East had become Nestorian, rejecting the Council of Ephesus. Honourable members would be aware of the seven ecumenical councils which played such a pivotal role in the history of the Christian Church. They were at Nicea in 325, Constantinople in 381, Ephesus in 431, Chalcedon in 451, Constantinople in 553, Constantinople in 680-681 and Nicea in 787. As a result of events at the Council of Ephesus in 431 the Church of the East has recognised the decisions of only the first, second and Chalcedon ecumenical councils. The present position of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East is somewhat complex - as the Hon. J. R. Johnson would say - in that it is conducted under the ecumenical aegis of His Holiness Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV, whose patriarchate is in the United States but who has a see in Iraq, where it is known as the Nistorian Church of the East. There it is headed by an archbishop.
Here in the antipodes the church is headed by His Grace Bishop Mar Meelis Zaia in Sydney. The Church has within its establishment two churches in Sydney, including the Cathedral of St Hurmizd. It has a Church in Melbourne and a further Church in Auckland. Today the Assyrian Church is a member of the World Council of Churches based in Geneva and here in Australia it is a member of the Australian Council of Churches. I am informed that it is also seeking overseas to become a member of the Middle East Council of Churches, a very important structure which has within its ranks a number of churches including the Orthodox churches. The mass migration program which commenced in 1948 brought in its wake a divergence of new migrants groups included in which in the 1960s and 1970s were the Assyrians, most of whom live in Sydney and Melbourne. As previous speakers have said, their numbers approximate 12,000 - 8,500 in Sydney living in Smithfield and Greystanes and 3,500 in Melbourne. Despite the short period since their arrival, members of the Assyrian community have provided for a number of church properties. The church will benefit from the provisions of this bill, which will provide for a Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East property trust, which will enable the church to better administer its temporal affairs. That is, it will avoid the cost of transferring church property to new trustees every time a trustee dies or retires and will enable the church to better invest its funds.
Honourable members will be aware that this bill is but one of a number of bills providing for the better administration of various church groups. This course of legislative enactments was initiated with the passing of the Russian Orthodox Church Property Act 1992, which recently came into effect. It is being followed by the Antioch Orthodox bill, which I think has now passed the lower House, and this bill. Other bills will follow relating to the Orthodox family of churches. In this regard I pay tribute to the Attorney General and his predecessor, the Hon. John Dowd, for undertaking legislative enactments pivotal to the ecclesiastical structure which provide so many important spiritual, welfare, cultural and educational needs for so many Australians of non-English speaking background. These churches are an integral part of Australian society and add to the social cohesion and stability that are so important in our multicultural society. Accordingly, I have much pleasure in supporting the bill.
The Hon. FRANCA ARENA [5.35]: I support the remarks of my honourable colleagues and give my full support to this bill.
Reverend the Hon. F. J. NILE [5.36]: On behalf of the Call to Australia group I am pleased to support the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East
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Property Trust Bill. This bill will enable the church to have its own property trust as a statutory body. The church is one of the original Christian churches. The earliest attempt in the church's life to form a governing constitution was as far back as A.D. 65 to A.D. 90. The Church of the East, as this branch of the Aramaic speaking Christianity came to be known, was officially founded by the apostles St Peter, St Thomas, St Thaddeus and St Mari of the 70 Disciples. Much of the language used by Our Lord was Aramaic. The church evolved within the Assyrian nation, living within the Persian Empire, and it grew independently of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church and later within the Ottoman Empire. In fact it was not until the Assyrians allied themselves during World War I that this church came to prominence and was known to the Western world. Assyrians began migrating to Australia in the early 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and they continue to migrate from the Middle East to this day. Mainly they are from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon. In fact there are now 12,000 to 13,000 Assyrians in Australia. His Grace Bishop Mar Meelis Zaia and solicitor Mr Michael Flynn both have worked very hard for many years to ensure that this legislation reaches the statute book of this Parliament. This bill will enable the church to further its religious and charitable purposes by providing a better administrative structure, allowing for the more efficient use of church property and to avoid the cost of transferring church property to new trustees each time a trustee dies or retires. It also will avoid the necessity of compliance with the provisions of the Corporations Law which are designed for commercial rather than religious organisations and provide many other benefits.
The Assyrian people of the State are very grateful for the bill and have asked me to pass on their appreciation to the Government. They have advised me that the development of their church is a sign of the freedom and democracy they are enjoying in Australia. They lost much of their freedom in Iraq. They have advised me also that for the past 20 years or so there has been a great deal of interference by the Saddam Hussein regime in the affairs of the church, even preventing the head of the church from returning to his patriarchal see in Bagdad, Iraq. That regime has created a puppet head to represent the Assyrian people falsely, thereby misleading the Western world that this church is enjoying freedom under Saddam Hussein's leadership. The Assyrian people of this State are delighted and grateful that the bill will assist the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, and is passing through the Parliament. The church, which will be the true and only representative of the Assyrian Christian church in this country, is affiliated with the Australian Council of Churches. The bill will help to further its religious and charitable dealings. I pass on the thanks of the head of that church, Bishop Mar Meelis Zaia, which were conveyed to me on his behalf by the Reverend Deacon Emmanuel Yousif.
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [5.40], in reply: I thank all honourable members for their contributions. I commend the bill.
Motion agreed to.
Bill read a second time and passed through remaining stages.
ASSOCIATIONS INCORPORATION (AMENDMENT) BILL
Second Reading
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services and
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Vice-President of the Executive Council) [5.41]: I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.
Leave granted.
The Associations Incorporation (Amendment) Bill 1992 will amend the Associations Incorporation Act 1984 to simplify the incorporation process, to remove unnecessary regulatory burdens under the Act and to rectify certain deficiencies. The Associations Incorporation Act was introduced to provide associations with a simple and inexpensive means of establishing a legal entity. The Act creates a corporate status and grants limited liability to members. In September 1990, a consultative paper reviewing the Act was widely distributed by the former Business and Consumer Affairs Agency. This bill incorporates amendments to rectify various deficiencies in the Act identified by the review. Generally, an association whose principal object is not to trade or to secure pecuniary gain for its members is eligible to apply for incorporation. These amendments address procedural and substantive problems which have emerged since the Act first came into operation.
The Associations Incorporation Act provides that members may be individuals or corporations. This has proved a problem for many groups who wanted to incorporate under the Act. Often an unincorporated body may wish to be a member of an incorporated association, but this is impossible under the present Act. Such a body must nominate an individual to be a member. This is an undesirable situation, especially for groups with a strong sense of identity, such as ethnic community groups, who wish to speak as a whole, not through an individual. The amendment enables unincorporated bodies to be members of incorporated associations. The Act provides that the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs may wind up an incorporated association. However, there is no mechanism for voluntary winding up. The bill provides this mechanism, subject to the association meeting certain requirements as to payment of debts and appropriateness of distribution of assets.
Section 72 of the Act currently allows appeals to the Supreme Court against decisions of the commissioner. Any person aggrieved by a decision, act or omission of the commissioner under the Act, may appeal. For instance, a person may appeal because he or she disagrees with the commissioner's refusal to grant a certificate of incorporation to an association under section 10, or with the commissioner's decision to cancel incorporation of an association under section 53. Obviously such a costly appeal procedure is financially impossible in many cases - effectively preventing an appeal. The Act regulates many different types of groups, rich and poor, but all share the element that the principal object of the association is not trade or to secure pecuniary gain. It is appropriate therefore to ensure that access to an appeal mechanism is as inexpensive as possible, subject to retention of proper legal procedures. Accordingly, the bill provides that appeals will be to the Local Court. This will provide a speedier, less expensive, more informal forum for appeal in place of the Supreme Court.
An area of some difficulty which has emerged since the start of the Act is that of determination of the internal disputes of an organisation. Organisations incorporated under the Act sometimes have a large number of members. For example, the Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales - ECC - represents some 400 organisations. Obviously, in an organisation of such a size it is beneficial for the rules to stipulate some mechanism for resolution of internal disputes. In the absence of special arrangements in the association rules, the only forum currently available for the determination of association disputes is the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and it is available only in a limited range of disputes. The bill provides that the rules of an incorporated association must make provision for the resolution of internal disputes between members and between the association and its members. It is anticipated that the model rules will be altered by regulation to provide for resolution of such disputes by commercial arbitration. When the model rules are changed, an association will still be free to make its own different dispute resolution rules if it so wishes. The model rules simply provide a guide for associations which do not have the resources or desire to depart from the general formula. However, irrespective of what procedure is selected, the bill provides that all associations in the future must incorporate a dispute resolution procedure in the rules.
Under the Act, associations must inform the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs of changes in committee members. The amendments delete this requirement. Instead, the organisation is given responsibility for keeping its own records, in line with recognition of the competence and
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maturity of such organisations. The bill provides that associations under the Act must maintain a public register of committee members and must maintain proper accounting records and minutes of proceedings at meetings. There is provision for a regulation-making power to enable further stipulations as to maintenance of, and access to, these records if it is deemed necessary to do so in the future. Clause 4 of schedule 2 to the Act has been recast to ensure that there is a smooth transition of rights and obligations on incorporation. This overcomes the previous difficulty, perceived by the insurance industry, of a hiatus in liability for claims which are made after incorporation for pre-incorporation events. The redrafting simplifies the language of schedule 2 and brings the Act into line with similar provisions in later Acts such as the State Bank (Corporatisation) Act 1989.
Finally, the bill frees associations from regulatory duties under the Act which are now seen as unnecessarily burdensome. For example, the bill removes the requirement that an incorporated association must notify the Commissioner of Trusts of details on becoming a trustee. Another instance of deregulation is that the bill removes the requirement that on the winding up of an incorporated association, the surplus property of the association must be vested in a similar association. Of course, such distribution of surplus property is subject to safeguards against the members simply splitting the assets among themselves. Those safeguards include the provision that all unexpended government grants must be returned to the authority that supplied them or that authority's nominee. As well, the commissioner must approve the proposed distribution. In short, the bill contains amendments to the Associations Incorporation Act which will streamline the Act and recognise the coming of age of those associations incorporated in New South Wales.
I commend the bill to the House.
The Hon. R. D. DYER [5.41]: The Opposition supports the Associations Incorporation (Amendment) Bill. The principal Act, the Associations Incorporation Act, was introduced by the previous Labor Government in 1984 and proclaimed in 1985. It provides associations which would otherwise have been unincorporated with a simple and inexpensive means of establishing themselves as legal entities, in other words of incorporating. It should be pointed out that incorporation under the principal Act is certainly not compulsory. Associations have a choice as to whether they incorporate under the legislation or whether they remain unincorporated. This bill addresses a number of procedural and important substantive problems which have emerged since the principal Act commenced, as I said, in 1985.
The amending provisions include an expansion of the provision for membership of bodies incorporated under the Act from individuals and corporations to encompass unincorporated bodies. The legislation provides also for the simplification of winding up procedures, including the removal of requirements that surplus property must be vested in a similar organisation. It provides for utilisation of the Local Court as a forum to hear appeals from decisions of the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs. The final aspect of the bill I wish to mention is that it contains a requirement for associations to maintain proper accounting records, a register of members, and minutes of meetings. Essentially the legislation represents fine tuning of the existing legislation. The Opposition is pleased that unincorporated associations are availing themselves of the principal Act. We are pleased to indicate our support for this amending legislation, which will bring into effect improvements which have been seen to be necessary since the practical operation of the Act commenced in 1985. With those few words, the Opposition is delighted to indicate its support for the legislation.
The Hon. HELEN SHAM-HO [5.44]: I support the Associations Incorporation (Amendment) Bill, which amends the Associations Incorporation Act 1984. As the Hon. R. D. Dyer said, that Act was proclaimed in 1985. The provisions of the Act resulted from the recommendations of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission which in 1982 recommended the establishment of a scheme for incorporation of non-profit
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organisations. The Act commenced operation on 1st July, 1985, and provided a voluntary, simple and inexpensive means of establishing a legal entity for associations whose principal aim is not to trade or make a profit. Many community organisations are of such a nature and are now recognised by the law to be independent legal entities. That means they do not have to be incorporated by royal charter or an Act of Parliament such as the Companies Code, which is costly and complicated and has deterred many community groups from incorporating. The Act has been monitored during the seven years since the commencement of its operation. I have helped many community organisations to incorporate - the Australian-Chinese Forum, the Friends of Home Care Service and the Chinese Herbalist Association. Incorporation under the Act, of course, is not compulsory, as associations may choose to operate as unincorporated bodies or incorporate under some other legislation, for example, the Corporations Law or the Co-operatives Act.
As I said, the Act has been monitored and subjected to a consultative process. The Department of Business and Consumer Affairs distributed a consultative paper containing amendments designed to address procedural and substantive difficulties which became apparent from the administration of the Act. I understand that this paper was circulated to approximately 28 interested organisations and that the amendments in the bill result from responses to the consultative paper. The amendments range over the entire scope of the Act. At present the Act permits an association formed or carried on for any lawful object and consisting of not less than five members to incorporate under the Act. A member is defined as a person, that is, either a natural person or a body corporate, and therefore does not include an unincorporated organisation.
This provision prevents some bodies which have unincorporated organisations among their members from incorporating under the Act. One example of such a peak body is the Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales, which represents approximately 400 ethnic organisations. At this point I should like to add that the Ethnic Communities Council is a good peak organisation which should be supported. A number of its members are not incorporated. At present unincorporated associations must be represented on peak bodies by a person in his or her individual capacity rather than the unincorporated association itself being able to be a member in its own right. This bill amends the Act to permit the membership of an unincorporated association to include unincorporated organisations as set out in item (1)(c) of schedule 1.
The other amendment relates to the winding up of an association. Section 53 of the Act requires surplus property to be vested in a similar organisation, whether incorporated or otherwise. Surplus property is defined in the Act as the property remaining after the satisfaction of debts incurred in the course of winding up. New South Wales is the only State which requires surplus property to be vested in a similar association. The associations incorporation legislation of the other States leaves the method of distribution largely to the discretion of the members of the association. The South Australian Act contains a specific prohibition against distribution of property to members or former members of the association. The Western Australian Act also contains a similar prohibition. This bill changes the present restriction as stated in section 53(2A). The amendment will prohibit the distribution of surplus property to members or former members, either directly or indirectly, except where the distribution is to a member or former member which is an unincorporated association having rules that prevent the distribution of assets or income to its members; allows the manner of distribution to be determined by a specific resolution of members; and requires all distribution to be approved by the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs.
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Another positive amendment relates to the appeal mechanism. Section 72 of the Act provides that a person aggrieved by the refusal of the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs to incorporate an association or to register a document, or by any other action or decision of the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, may appeal to the Supreme Court. As has been said before, that is a very costly procedure. Internal conflicts between members of an incorporated association have to be settled in a court. Because of problems with court delays that is not altogether satisfactory. The bill now provides for Local Courts to determine appeals, thereby enhancing access to the court by providing a less expensive, speedier avenue for appeal than is provided by the current appeal to the Supreme Court. Another aspect - and although it is a housekeeping matter it is important, because it increases accountability - is the amendment that requires an incorporated association to maintain a register of members, accounting records and minutes of meetings. In short, the bill will improve the operation and administration of the Act and rectify existing problems and deficiencies. I support the bill.
The Hon. ELISABETH KIRKBY [5.52]: The Australian Democrats support most of the provisions of the Associations Incorporation (Amendment) Bill because they remove a number of deficiencies in the Associations Incorporation Act. The principle of incorporation allows groups with a set of rules, at least five members and a lawful common purpose - other than making the members wealthier - to have a corporate status. Such groups do not need to rely on individual members to do things in their own names for the groups. Furthermore, members are granted limited liability. In return for these benefits, the Associations Incorporation Act imposes certain rules of conduct. This bill seeks to address procedural and substantive problems contained in the Act. Most of these amendments are obviously beneficial, but I wish to query others. The bill will enable unincorporated bodies to be members of incorporated associations. At present, only individuals or corporations may become members. The amendment will benefit ethnic groups and other groups with a strong sense of identity. Appeals against decisions of the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs - for instance, if he refuses to grant a certificate of incorporation - will in future be referred to the Local Court rather than to the Supreme Court. Local Court proceedings are generally less expensive than Supreme Court proceedings.
Furthermore, on the winding up of an association, surplus property will no longer have to be transferred to an association with similar goals but may be distributed - subject to approval by the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs - in accordance with a special resolution of the association concerned. The bill provides also a mechanism for the voluntary winding up of associations on application to the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs. This will be subject to the association meeting requirements for the payment of debts and the appropriate distribution of assets. Surplus property will be dealt with in the same way. It will be necessary for the rules of an incorporated association to make provision for the resolution of internal disputes between members, and between the association and its members. I express some concern, however, about certain provisions in the bill which appear to reduce the accountability of incorporated associations. Associations will no longer be required to inform the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs of changes in committee membership. Associations will not be required to inform the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs on becoming a trustee. Instead, associations have only to maintain a public register of committee members, together with proper accounting records and minutes of proceedings.
Committee members are essentially the governing body of an association and it is important that they be held accountable. After all, it is the committee members who under certain conditions are held liable for debts incurred by an association. Associations
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that become trustees will surely be handling larger amounts of money and property. Therefore I believe that trustees status should not be hidden. While the bill requires proper accounting records and procedures and minutes to be maintained, it removes the automatic scrutiny of the Commissioner for Consumer of Affairs. The Government has provided a regulation-making power for further stipulation as to the maintenance of and access to the records of an association. I ask the Minister to indicate in what way notification of these changes to the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs would have constituted a great burden in the first place. I cannot understand the need for their removal. However, these are only a few concerns and they do not in any way prevent the Australian Democrats from supporting this legislation. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I support the bill.
Reverend the Hon. F. J. NILE [5.57]: The Call to Australia group fully supports the Associations Incorporation (Amendment) Bill, which will amend the Associations Incorporation Act 1984. It is designed to simplify the incorporation process, to remove unnecessary regulatory burdens under the Act, and to rectify certain deficiencies. The original Act was introduced to provide associations with a simple and inexpensive means of establishing a legal entity. The bill creates a corporate status and grants limited liability to members. As a background to the bill, in September 1990 a consultative paper was distributed by the former Business and Consumer Affairs Agency to many groups in the community. As a result of that consultation, these amendments were proposed. An association, under the Act, must be one whose principal object is not to trade or secure pecuniary gain for its members.
It was necessary to have an inexpensive appeal mechanism whereby appeals could be heard by the Local Court, which would be a speedier, less expensive and more informal forum than the Supreme Court. Also of concern was the method of resolving internal disputes within an organisation. The bill provides that the rules of an incorporated association must make provision for the resolution of internal disputes between members and between the association and its members. It is anticipated that the rules will be altered to provide for resolution of such disputes by commercial arbitration. As part of the Government's policy of deregulation, the bill simplifies a number of areas. It will remove the requirement that an incorporated association must notify the Commissioner of Trusts of details on becoming a trustee. It will remove the requirement that on the winding up of an incorporated association, the surplus property of the association must be vested in a similar association. This will prevent members merely splitting the assets among themselves. In addition there is the safeguard that all unexpended government grants must be returned to the authority that supplied them or that authority's nominee. The commissioner must approve any proposed distribution. Given the vast number of organisations in this State that will benefit from this legislation the Call to Australia group supports the bill.
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [6.1], in reply: I thank honourable members for their support of the legislation. In relation to the matters raised by the Hon. Elisabeth Kirkby I am advised that the only trusts allowed are those which are non-profit making. The commissioner has extensive powers of inspection of the register of members. The response to the consultative paper suggested that for basically non-profit making bodies - amateur bodies - the notification to the commissioner of changes in council membership was considered to be onerous. It was deemed not necessary to impose this burden. As a quid pro quo it should be remembered that for the first time legislation will support the duty to keep proper accounts. With those brief comments I commend the bill.
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Motion agreed to.
Bill read a second time and passed through remaining stages.
CONSTITUTION (FIXED TERM PARLIAMENTS) AMENDMENT BILL
Motion by the Hon. E. P. P. Pickering agreed to:
That the Constitution (Fixed Term Parliaments) Amendment Bill, received in the Legislative Council from the Legislative Assembly, be referred to the Joint Select Committee upon Fixed Term Parliaments.
Message
Message forwarded to the Legislative Assembly advising it of the resolution.
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE UPON ROAD SAFETY
Report
The Hon. BERYL EVANS [6.4]: I desire to lay upon the table of the House the Nineteenth Report of the Joint Standing Committee upon Road Safety entitled "Alcohol and Other Drugs on New South Wales Roads: 1. The Problem and Countermeasures", dated March 1992.
Ordered to be printed.
The Hon. BERYL EVANS, by leave: The Joint Standing Committee upon Road Safety has reviewed the extent to which drink-driving and drug-driving pose a road safety risk in New South Wales, and has reviewed the countermeasures that have been taken to address those problems. The extent of drug-driving and its associated problems remain unknown. The committee identified that almost $600,000 of public monies allocated to road safety research from 1985 to 1990 has been spent for the specific purpose of establishing the nature of the drug-driving problem. However, the committee was concerned particularly with the failure to finalise a report of this drug-driving research program. The committee recommended that the Office of Public Management and the Premier's Department investigate the circumstances surrounding the establishment and management of the program by the former Traffic Authority, now known as the Roads and Traffic Authority. The Staysafe committee found that as a result of the difficulties in establishing the nature of drug-driving in New South Wales the development of effective countermeasures for drug-driving has been few and fragmented. There is a need for effective co-ordination of drug-driving research activities and countermeasure strategies. To this end, the committee has called for the establishment of a drug-driving task force to ensure that there is adequate planning in this area.
Staysafe examined the role of alcohol and road safety. Driving while affected by alcohol is a major road safety problem in New South Wales. The committee is satisfied that the introduction in 1982 of random breath testing for the presence of alcohol was associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of drink-driving. However, the committee is unsure whether random breath testing can continue to be used in a manner that maximises its effectiveness as a drink-driving countermeasure, despite the maintenance of a high number of random breath tests being administered annually by police. The committee has identified a need to reassess the policies and procedures underlying the management and operation of the random breath testing program.
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Staysafe is concerned also about a lack of co-ordination of drink-driving countermeasures. In particular it has noted a need to develop long-term advertising and public relations policies and strategies that address the different facets of drink-driving. The Roads and Traffic Authority has advised that it is taking steps to ensure effective planning in this area. Overall, the committee concluded that drink-driving research and policy in New South Wales is in need of substantial review. Staysafe identified a need for better consultation between the parties involved in alcohol and road safety. In particular, the committee believes that the liquor industry is becoming increasingly active in promoting the safe use of its products, and this should be encouraged. To this end, the committee has recommended that nominees of the liquor industry be invited to serve on road safety advisory and co-ordination bodies.
The former chairman of the Joint Standing Committee upon Road Safety, now the Chief Secretary and Minister for Administrative Services, established a high level co-ordination council for the liquor industry, the Liquor Industry Ministerial Advisory Council. Staysafe believes that effective consultation over concerns with alcohol and road safety can be achieved through this peak body. If we are serious about alcohol and road safety, we must address the issue through measures that focus on the consumption of alcohol as well as measures aimed at the drink-driver. One measure that the committee supports is to try to induce changes in the consumption of alcohol by encouraging low alcohol beverages and no alcohol beverages. To this end, the committee recommended that the State licence fee on light beers - defined as beers containing between 1.15 per cent and less than 3.8 per cent alcohol content - be reduced to 5 per cent, and the fee on low alcohol beers - defined as beers containing less than 1.5 per cent alcohol content - be abolished completely. Other States have taken similar courses of action. The Victorian and South Australian governments have abolished taxes on beers with an alcohol content less than 3.8 per cent. The intent here is to say, one can still drink as much in quantity, but will consume less alcohol by volume.
The committee was also impressed by the action taken by the liquor industry to widen the range of products available on licensed premises to include non-alcoholic beverages, better catering food, and so on. The committee encourages such moves and has recommended that non-alcoholic cocktails always be available and clearly advertised or placed in public view in licensed premises to encourage safe drinking by those who are to drive after leaving the premises. I could continue to speak about a number of quite specific recommendations and matters that were considered by the committee in putting together this report - some include programs such as the home safely program, the encouragement of designated drivers and the introduction of drink-driving educational materials into teacher-training curricula - but these specific matters are addressed in the report.
The first inquiry of the Staysafe committee was into alcohol, other drugs and road safety. The report from that inquiry recommended a trial introduction of random breath testing. In the report I am tabling today, the Staysafe committee has returned to the broad topic of the effect of alcohol and other drugs on road safety. The committee has decided to report in two reports on the problems caused by alcohol and other drugs in New South Wales. The first part of its inquiry is documented in the report titled "Alcohol and Other Drugs on New South Wales Roads. 1. The Problem and Countermeasures". The inquiry will continue, and the Staysafe committee will issue the second part of its findings in another report. The second report will examine the road safety problems posed by chronic drinkers and the sanctions that are aimed at deterring drivers who have been detected driving with an illegal blood alcohol concentration. This continued inquiry will examine the measures and programs that deal with the
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rehabilitation of the convicted drink-driver. The Staysafe committee acknowledges the diligence and enthusiasm of its committee secretariat; the Director of Staysafe, Mr Ian Faulks; the Clerk of Staysafe, Mr Gary O'Rourke; and the Staysafe stenographer, Ms Vanessa Lovett.
ADJOURNMENT
The Hon. E. P. PICKERING (Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Vice-President of the Executive Council) [6.12]: I move:
That this House do now adjourn.
AUSTRALIA AS A REPUBLIC
The Hon. FRANCA ARENA [6.12]: Much has been said and written recently about the desirability of Australia becoming a republic. A Saulwick poll, published by the Sydney Morning Herald on 29th February, and Newspoll, published by the Australian on 4th March, affirmed that the majority of Australians now want a republic. I have no doubt that when the question is put to the Australian people in a referendum it will be carried by the majority of people in the majority of States. This will give us, as a country, a true feeling of national identity. In the meantime, I call on the State and Federal governments to amend the law to allow people to swear allegiance to Australia. At present new citizens, members of Parliament, public servants, and others are not allowed, when making a formal oath or affirmation, even to mention the word "Australia". When I was re-elected last May, I tried to insert the word "Australia" in my oath of allegiance, but I was told by the Deputy Clerk that I was not allowed to. I was not allowed to swear allegiance to my own country. As we approach the twenty-first century, it is time for us to re-assess where our loyalties lie and whether we should continue to use an oath of allegiance which is inimical to many Australians. The enforced legal allegiance to the British Crown impedes the full flowering of the spirit of the Australian national identity in our rapidly changing and richly diverse nation. I call on the Government of New South Wales and the Federal Government to re-assess the present oath of allegiance and to give new citizens, public servants, military officials, et cetera, the opportunity to swear loyalty and allegiance to our beloved country, Australia.
SYDNEY DRAINAGE SYSTEM
The Hon. ELISABETH KIRKBY [6.13]: I wish to bring to the attention of the House the urgent need for an overhaul of the drainage system in metropolitan Sydney. According to Dr David Robinson, Business Manager of Stormwater at the Water Board, the system - much of which was installed over 100 years ago - is inadequate and deteriorating. First, the stormwater system in Sydney has a limited hydrological capacity. Provision was never made for significant flooding, so even to be able to manage moderate floods a massive upgrading would be necessary. Second, the old approach to stormwater management was to dispose of stormwater runoff as quickly as possible. Dr Robinson said:
No thought was given to the downstream impacts, to the problems of stormwater quality, or to the effect that this was having on the ultimate receiving waters.
It comes as no surprise that studies undertaken by the Water Board have shown that the quality of urban stormwater runoff is very poor. Materials washed off the catchment and sewer overflows are discharged into the system, polluting beaches and degrading the aquatic ecosystem. Dr Robinson therefore believes that we have two distinct goals: first,
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the established drainage system must be upgraded to meet contemporary flood standards and to satisfy evolving water quality objectives; and, second, all major new developments must be undertaken with a full understanding of how they impact upon the water cycle and what deleterious effects will follow if this is not properly managed. The existing stresses on the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system are extremely serious, and a holistic management approach is needed. At present, the system is further plagued by the lack of a single body or mechanism to co-ordinate the activities of the players in the system, which include numerous local councils, the Water Board, the Department of Planning, and what was the State Pollution Control Commission. Dr Robinson argues the following:
The current institutional framework for drainage is not inducive to reform, efficient operating and co-operation between interested parties, nor is it structured to ensure social equity and environmental sustainability.
A clear stormwater strategy acceptable to all parties must be established. Dr Robinson continues:
Stormwater management has traditionally exploited the environment but this cannot continue without significant consequences.
Dr Robinson suggests that the way drainage is currently financed needs to be reassessed. He says:
Clear linkages must be established between the demand for and the price of the service. The movement towards a catchment based pricing structure is a desirable way to achieve this end.
I know that the Government is moving towards total catchment management, and I believe that this move should be expedited and should not be further delayed. It is proper to put on record that in the month of February there was as much rain in Sydney as we had throughout the whole of 1991. That is a very significant amount of rain. Also the severe flooding in certain parts of the metropolitan area is an expense to the Government. Calling upon the emergency services adds to the expense to the Government and therefore to the taxpayer. I would like the work of Dr Robinson to be taken on board by the Government and for his recommendations to be implemented as a matter of priority.
CHILD PROTECTION COUNCIL
The Hon. Dr B. P. V. PEZZUTTI [6.18]: I am concerned about the annual reports of the New South Wales Child Protection Council, of 1988 to 1991. They are the first such report that I have been able to see. It is most unfortunate that the Child Protection Council has released reports which contain much emotional rhetoric and which lack any objective or balanced analysis of the facts of this important topic. I am disappointed that the important work undertaken by the staff in the area of child protection has been devalued. The council has access to information which clearly shows that New South Wales has the most comprehensive child protection systems of all States in Australia and, for that matter, most western countries. The first critical statement quoted from the reports is that there has been a decrease in the existing resources available to child protection services. This is not the case.
I am surprised that the Child Protection Council did not use the readily available budget statement of the Department of Community Services which shows that, rather than suffering budget cuts, child protection services will benefit from modest increases in funding this year. In 1990-91 expenditure on the child protection program was $27.7 million, and for 1991-92, $30.8 million has been allocated. The achievements from the
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resources provided towards child protection are significant. Welfare statistic figures record that New South Wales is most effectively identifying, reporting and responding to child abuse. According to the most recent national welfare statistics report, 40 per cent of reported child abuse cases in Australia are reported in New South Wales though this State has only 35 per cent of the child population of Australia. This supports my belief that the New South Wales community has got the message about child protection and has confidence that notification of child abuse will be taken seriously and responded to.
During 1991 staff of the Department of Community Services worked with 11,773 confirmed cases of child abuse. When children are no longer considered to be at risk of abuse and appropriate support to victims has been provided, the department ceases its involvement. In 1991 all government departments having a role in child protection services contributed to the development of the interagency guidelines for child protection, an activity which was co-ordinated by the Child Protection Council. These guidelines clarify expectations on government departments and agencies in their roles in child protection and the need for co-ordination of services. Workers in departments such as community services, health, school education and the Police Service understand the obligations placed on them to prevent and to respond to child abuse. This co-operation improves response times and aims to reduce a child's distress when protective action is required. The council stated that isolated families have become even more isolated as services have been cut through the services of DCS offices and the dramatic reduction in the number of staff who are now expected to carry out generalist duties. Since staff of the department primarily work with families in their own homes there can be little justification in any assertion that families which experience physical isolation are disadvantaged by the office closures which occurred in 1989. The department continues to provide services out of 77 local offices in New South Wales.
The staffing of the department has increased significantly over the past four years. In 1977-78 there were 556 field workers. This has been increased to an average of 675 field workers employed in 1990-91. Further, casework hours of primary case workers increased from 31,269 hours in 1987-88 to 44,549 hours in 1990-91 while notification rates have not increased significantly. Along with these improvements, more workers who have tertiary qualification in welfare have been employed through the local recruitment of staff. The Department of Community Services has also been able to fulfil its commitment to employing people from identified cultural groups. There are, for example, 55 identified Aboriginal casework positions. The department is acting to decrease not only geographic isolation but also cultural and linguistic isolation of community groups. The council claims that many experienced and competent staff are leaving the department dissolutioned and demoralised. Nothing could be further from the truth. Raising this issue in debate is demoralising for staff since it insinuates that the professionalism of child protection work has decreased. Child protection work remains a core business of the Department of Community Services. Staff entering the department as caseworkers are more qualified now than ever before. The basic tertiary qualification considered essential for new caseworkers has changed in the past four years so that now only workers with a degree or equivalent in social work, psychology or other human service delivery - [Time expired.]
BUNDAGEN FLORA RESERVE SAND MINING
The Hon. R. S. L. JONES [6.23]: I have cause to draw the attention of the House to an area currently being sand mined on the North Coast of New South Wales. Portion 344 adjoins the Bundagen Flora Reserve and has been recognised by the National
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Parks and Wildlife Service as the second most important remaining area of littoral rainforest in the State. A sand extraction industry was given approval in 1978 in what has been described as fairly dubious circumstances. The two partners involved in the company were shire councillors on Coffs Harbour City Council at a time when the impending Environmental Planning and Assessment Act was being circulated in draft form. No environmental impact study, prior to this Act, has ever taken place. CSR Readymix acquired the operation in 1988, has access to the resource under section 109 of the Act, and has existing usage rights. Since its sale, as what could be described as a family business, the operation has expanded considerably and has impacted upon the remaining stands of littoral rainforest.
That a company in New South Wales can push a crisscross of roads into a rainforest in 1992 and hide behind a clause or a claim to have existing usage rights is wrong. Extensive activity has recently occurred in a section of the property immediately adjacent to Bundagaree Creek. This road activity has affected watercourses next to the rainforest and appears to have occurred within the 100 metre buffer strip required by State Environmental Planning Policy No. 26 - Littoral Rainforest. This policy requires that council consent be obtained for any development involving damage or destruction of native flora. If Coffs Harbour City Council has given its consent to this destruction, it has been negligent in its duty to protect such a valuable area. Certain members of that council have already demonstrated their contempt for the environment, as evidenced by their futile attempts to foist nineteenth century technology on the people of their city in the form of an ocean sewage outfall.
Road activities have caused erosion 90 centimetres deep in some places adjacent to the flora reserve. Weeds are replacing native species in areas that have been cleared and in areas that have been roaded. Nightshade and Parramatta grass are prevalent. Lantana, bitou bush and many other weeds are taking hold. The overall integrity of the area is at risk from the expanding lake system at the actual sand mining site. There is evidence of die-back and the seemingly deliberate destruction of rainforest along Bundagaree Creek. Palms fringing the sand dunes behind the beach appear to be under stress. A huge strangler fig photographed and noted as a habitat tree in 1982 has died, possibly as a result of waterlogging due to the damming effect that roading has had on watercourses in the area, according to a horticulturalist and tree surgeon who visited the site recently. Existing and planned extraction over the next 10 to 40 years will jeopardise the adjacent Bundagen Flora Reserve and nearby wetlands yet, the council is reluctant to act as the company can operate under so-called existing use rights and does not have to submit a new development application or even carry out and environmental impact statement.
Existing use rights is clearly a deficiency in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. An environmental impact statement should be mandatory for any designated development regardless of when it was approved, and especially in an area such as this - a remnant pocket of rare littoral rainforest. The council must inspect this operation with representatives of the Forestry Commission and National Parks and Wildlife Service at the earliest possible opportunity to ensure that this operation does no further damage to the rainforest. Some time ago, a fire intended to dispose of a huge pile of cleared timber on the property was lit on a Friday afternoon and left unattended. Over the weekend, according to local eyewitnesses, a howling south-westerly blew up and the fire escaped into the edge of the forest, burning as far as five metres up tree trunks. When locals and firefighters arrived on the scene, they had to battle with the wind to extinguish the flames on the edges of the forest. The fire was headed toward the village on the property known as "Bundagen", a property purchased at great expense by individuals to protect the rainforest from destruction. "Total criminal negligence" was
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how one local resident described the actions of the person or persons responsible for leaving the fire unattended. A 1989 Forestry Commission report on activities on portion 344 stated that:
The developer should also make himself familiar with the Soil Conservation Service's standard erosion mitigation conditions for logging and clearing. These require a 20 metre filter strip to be left along any water course having a catchment area of 100 hectares or more. Quarrying activity I inspected had loose fill with this distance of the swamp bordering Bundagaree creek. Our interpretation, for the purpose of logging is that such -
[Time expired.]
Motion agreed to.
House adjourned at 6.28 p.m.