Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I table further explanatory memoranda relating to the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2006. In addressing some of the issues that have been raised in the debate, I thank senators for their contribution to the debate on this piece of legislation. I would just like to correct a couple of things that have been put on the record, particularly by Senator Carr, in relation to the Ergas report and the report of the review of enforcement of industrial property rights of the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property.

It is important to note that, contrary to what Senator Carr said, the key recommendations of the Ergas and the ACIP reports were enacted in 2001 by the Patents Amendment Act 2001. These changes to the patents legislation have operated effectively for some years now, and this bill implements the majority of the residual recommendations of those two reports. It is important to put on record that there has in fact been progress since those two reports were brought down in 2000. In 2001, the initial work was done. The implementation of these recommendations that we are looking at today was delayed by the negotiation of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement and by other competing government priorities, so there is a legitimate reason for the process that has occurred to this point.

As has been indicated during the debate, there are some recommendations that are outstanding at this point, but that is because recommendations of some other recent reports into the intellectual property system affect the implementation of some of the recommendations. The government continues to do further work on progressing these outstanding recommendations. They are on the government’s legislation program and will be implemented in the near future. Having said that, I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.