Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I table a supplementary explanatory memorandum relating to the government amendments to be moved to this bill. I seek leave to move government amendments (1) to (4) on sheet QL223 together.

Leave granted.

I move the government amendments:

(1) Schedule 1, item 29, page 12 (after line 28), at the end of section 34E, add:

(3) The Chief Executive Officer must not delegate a function or power to an employee of the Council unless the Chief Executive Officer is satisfied that the employee has the appropriate training, qualifications, skills or experience to perform the function or exercise the power (as the case requires).

(2) Schedule 1, item 33, page 17 (after line 10), at the end of section 36, add:

(5) The executive committee must not delegate a function or power to an employee of the Council unless the executive committee is satisfied that the employee has the appropriate training, qualifications, skills or experience to perform the function or exercise the power (as the case requires).

(3) Schedule 1, page 17 (before line 11), before item 34, insert:

33A After subsection 38(5)

Insert:

(5A) A lease granted under this section must:

(a) be in writing; and

(b) include the term of the lease; and

(c) include the other terms and conditions of the lease.

(4) Schedule 1, item 52, page 21 (line 13), omit "before, at or".

I'm pleased to provide further information on the tabled government amendments to this bill. These amendments have stemmed from suggestions made by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills and colleagues across the chamber relating to delegation and leasing provisions. I'd like to thank the committee and my colleagues for their close consideration of the bill and for their valuable feedback and suggestions.

Two amendments to the bill have been tabled relating to delegations as per the request of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee in November 2022. We propose to amend section 34E(1) and section 36(1) of the bill to add that the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council CEO and the executive committee must be satisfied, when exercising their delegation power, that the person that they are delegating to has the appropriate training, qualifications, skills or experience. This will ensure that the CEO and the executive committee will turn their minds to relevant factors before delegating their powers.

An additional two amendments to the bill have been tabled relating to leasing provisions, following valuable discussions with colleagues from across the chamber. Firstly, we propose to amend section 38 of the Aboriginal Land Grant (Jervis Bay Territory) Act 1986 to ensure that all leases granted by the council must be in writing, include the term of the lease and include the terms and conditions of the lease. This will help ensure clarity of leaseholders' rights and the council's obligation under leases. Secondly, we propose to amend item 52 of the bill to ensure that the ACT's Residential Tenancy Act 1997 will only be disapplied to new leases of 40 years or more—that is, leases granted after passage of the bill. This will ensure that no council members will lose the protection of the Residential Tenancy Act 1997 unless voluntarily entering into new homeownership style leases after the bill passes. The council has been advised that minimum housing standards will be met before it grants any homeownership style leases, and the recent government commitment of $45.1 million will ensure that all houses can be brought up to a reasonable state of repair and that new houses will be constructed. The investment will be rolled out in partnership between government and the council.

As has been the case throughout this bill's co-design process, the council's executive committee has confirmed their support for these proposed amendments, all of which are in keeping with the intent of the reforms to the act. The most recent discussions government representatives had with the council's executive committee took place in March this year in Wreck Bay Village. I commend the amendments to the chamber.

Question agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Bill reported with amendments; report adopted.