STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (16:07): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to make minor amendments of a statute law revision nature to various acts. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (16:07): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The bill makes minor technical amendments to various acts after the enactment of the Statutes Amendment (Domestic Partners) Act 2006, the South Australian Cooperative and Community Housing Act 2007 and the Local Government Act 1999. The amendments either correct minor drafting errors or are consequential on legislation passed later than the domestic partners reform. The bill amends seven acts, and I seek leave to have the balance of the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

First, it amends the Criminal Assets Confiscation Act 2005 to correct references in the definitions of 'proceeds' and 'instruments' of crime. The reference to the De Facto Relationships Act 1996 needs correction because that Act has been renamed the Domestic Partners Property Act 1996.

Second, it amends the Dental Practice Act 2001 consequentially upon the amendments recently made by the Pharmacy Practice Act 2007. The Pharmacy Practice Act, by Schedule 1, amends the Dental Practice Act to insert required definitions into section 69, governing Part 7, which is, relevantly, concerned with various protections against corruption. The new law deletes obsolete definitions from section 3. The Schedule, however, does not delete the former definition of 'spouse', and it should. The definition is not needed because the term is defined in section 69, as amended, being the only place where it is used.

Third, it amends the Domestic Partners Property Act itself to make minor consequential changes that were overlooked when that Act was amended. In some places, the expression 'de facto' partner still remains where the reference should be to a 'domestic' partner.

Fourth, it amends the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 to include a reference to a 'domestic partner' in the definition of a 'relative'. This is relevant to the definition of an 'associate' for the purposes of conflicts of interest for members of the board of the Fire and Emergency Services Commission. That is, if a board member would have a conflict of interest because of the involvement of his spouse in a matter coming before the Board, the same will apply in the case of involvement of a domestic partner. The same will be true for members of the Bushfire Prevention Advisory Committee.

Fifth, it amends the Local Government Act, in two ways. The first amendment is to section 182A, dealing with postponement of council rates for seniors. Postponement is only available if the land is owned entirely by the ratepayer or by the ratepayer together with a spouse. That should also include a domestic partner. Second, there is an amendment to Schedule 1A, about stormwater management. Section 20(4) was inserted in error as the Authority is not caught by section 33 of the Public Corporations Act.

Sixth, it amends the Passenger Transport Act 1994 to remove definitions of the terms 'relative' and 'spouse'. It has been noticed that the Act does not otherwise use those terms.

Finally, the Bill amends the South Australian Cooperative and Community Housing Act to correct references to the 'Authority' to refer, as appropriate, either to the Minister or the South Australian Housing Trust. This follows from the amendments last year that removed references to 'the Authority' from the Act.

I commend the Bill to the House.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

This clause is formal.

2—Amendment of Acts specified in Schedule 1

This clause provides that the Acts specified in Schedule 1 are amended in the manner indicated in that Schedule. Subclause (2) is a device for avoiding conflict between the amendments to an Act that may intervene between the passage of this measure and the bringing into operation of the Schedule.

Schedule 1—Amendments

The Schedule specifies the Acts and proposed amendments to those Acts.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Redmond.