David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move government amendments (19) and (20) on sheet BM290 together:

(19) Clause 58, page 71 (line 3) to page 72 (line 8), omit the clause, substitute:

58 Keeping and retaining records

Permit holders under Part 2

(1) A person must keep records of supplies that the person makes under a permit given to the person under section 11.

(2) A person must keep records of arrangements that the person makes under a permit given to the person under section 16.

Approval holders under section 27

(3) A person who holds an approval under section 27 must keep records of activities that the person does that are prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.

Form of records

(4) Records under this section must contain the information prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection. The regulations may prescribe different information for different kinds of records.

Retention of records

(5) The person must retain the records for a period of 5 years.

Offence

(6) A person commits an offence if:

(a) the person is subject to a requirement under this section; and

(b) the person contravenes the requirement.

Penalty: 30 penalty units.

(7) An offence against subsection (6) is an offence of strict liability.

Note: For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code.

(8) Section 15.4 of the Criminal Code (extended geographical jurisdiction—category D) applies to an offence against subsection (6).

(20) Clause 59, page 72 (line 11), omit "make", substitute "keep".

In response to concerns raised during consultation and in response to recommendation (5) of the Senate committee's preliminary report, the record-keeping requirements have been eased. They now focus on the requirement to keep records rather than to make individual records for activities. This is consistent with existing good business practice of keeping records. Amendment (19) substitutes a new clause 58, which provides for the keeping and retaining of records. Amendment (20) makes a consequential amendment to the wording in clause 59. The amendments will reduce the administrative burden on industry and the academic and research sectors. The record-keeping requirements are intentionally broad and provide that the person must only keep records of the relevant activity that the person does, rather than making records within the prescribed time frame. The regulations will prescribe the information that is to be included in a record. The regulations are currently being redrafted to reflect these amendments. I commend the amendments to the Senate.