BUSINESS NAMES REGISTRATION (TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS) BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 1 March 2012.)

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (17:15): The carriage of this legislation will only take a few minutes—

Ms Chapman: That's what you said last time.

Mr GOLDSWORTHY: Only because the member for Croydon started interjecting, and he was spurring me on. I advise the house that I am the lead speaker on behalf of the opposition in relation to this bill. This is a consequential piece of legislation to the commonwealth powers bill that we just debated. You could call it an omnibus bill if you turned your mind to it, because it looks to amend a whole range of acts: Bank Merger (BankSA and Advance Bank) Act, Bank Merger (National/BNZ) Act, Building Work Contractors Act, Motor Vehicles Act, and the Partnership Act. I will not run through the whole list but there are a number of other acts that the bill is looking to amend.

There are a couple of points I want to raise and, as I said, it is a consequential piece of legislation and it supports the commonwealth powers bill. I obviously do not need to traverse what that bill looks to achieve as we have just spent the last 10 or 15 minutes talking about it. It addresses the transitional and consequential issues arising from the change to the new national regime. It makes a number of consequential amendments to state legislation, and it is a precautionary measure to enable the ability to deal with unforeseen issues that may arise. There is a provision in the bill to allow the making of regulations of a saving and transitional nature. That is an important aspect of the bill because one does not always know what may arise as a consequence of matters when powers are transferred from the state to the commonwealth.

The opposition received the briefing in conjunction with one on the other bill from the departmental officers and ministerial staff, and we certainly appreciate the information that we gained from that briefing. Some questions were raised in those briefings, and we appreciate the response received from the department via the minister's office. I think, all in all, this is an example of how the opposition and the government can work in tandem on a piece of legislation that is relatively uncomplicated and looks to achieve some beneficial outcomes for the community here in South Australia.

As we all know, the opposition does not oppose every piece of legislation that the government introduces but we look to improve and amend legislation as we see fit, or we look to oppose and vote down legislation that we believe to be unwarranted, unnecessary or would deliver an outcome to the state that is not called for. In relation to these two pieces of legislation, I think they are worthy of support in unamended form, and there is no intention to go into committee on this bill. As a consequence, I inform the house that the opposition supports this bill.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (17:20): Again I thank the honourable member for his contribution in this matter. I have to say it is refreshing to have the honourable member with his ecumenical approach to legislation.

Mr Goldsworthy: Not always, John.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: It is refreshing. You may not know this, Mr Acting Speaker, but one of his colleagues in another place does not have this ecumenical approach and seems to pick fault with every comma, full stop and apostrophe. Refreshingly, the member for Kavel has a more sophisticated approach to legislative matters and prefers to deal with the big picture and not be distracted by matters of insignificant and irrelevant detail because he is a big picture man.

I pay due credit to him because he has actually seen that this is an important reform and, to his and the opposition's credit, he is embracing that and he is doing it in a wholehearted fashion and I congratulate him, and members of the opposition, for this. I agree with the honourable member that this is the way we should do business more often. I would like to pass on, if I have his permission, to members of my own staff and to the public servants who were involved in the briefings, how much they were appreciated by the opposition, because I think they need to know.

Mr Goldsworthy: They are here.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Just in case they are not all here. Just in case they are not all here I would like to be able to convey to them your appreciation, because they do not always get thanked, member for Kavel. Some people do not thank them and, again, you have been extremely courteous in your dealings with my advisers and the public servants involved. So, with those few words, I do not believe we need to go to committee and I think we can move on.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (17:23): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.