Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move government amendments 10, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 as circulated together:

(10) Clause 14, page 19 (after line 7), at the end of the clause, add:

Burden of proof

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), the person who imposes, or proposes to impose, the condition, requirement or practice has the burden of proving that the condition, requirement or practice is reasonable.

(12) Clause 19, page 23 (after line 26), at the end of the clause, add:

Conduct to which this section does not apply

(3) This section does not apply to reasonable management action:

(a) carried out to comply with legal obligations under Australian law; or

(b) authorised under Australian law.

(17) Page 40 (after line 11), after clause 44, insert:

44A Notice of decisions to be published

(1) The Commission, not later than one month after it makes a decision under section 44, must publish on its website a notice of the making of the decision:

(a) setting out its findings on material questions of facts; and

(b) referring to the evidence on which those findings were based; and

(c) giving the reasons for the making of the decision; and

(d) containing a statement to the effect that, subject to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975, application may be made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of the decision to which the notice relates by or on behalf of any person or persons whose interests are affected by the decision.

(2) Any failure to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) in relation to a decision does not affect the validity of the decision.

(18) Clause 47, page 40 (line 26), omit "or the Minister".

(19) Clause 48, page 41 (line 5), omit "section 47;", substitute "section 47.".

(20) Clause 48, page 41 (line 6), omit paragraph (c).

(21) Clause 68, page 56 (line 3), omit "to the extent that the law", substitute "that".

The group of amendments before the House at the moment deals with a range of what might be described as, essentially, procedural or administrative matters—for example, the addition of a clause which says conduct in this section does not apply to reasonable management action carried out to comply with legal obligations under Australian law. There's a requirement that notice of decisions must be published. They can fairly be described as sensible procedural amendments that I'd suggest are unlikely to be controversial.

See this speech in context