Statutes Amendment (SACAT) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 4 August 2016.)

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (17:00): The opposition will support the Statutes Amendment (SACAT) Amendment Bill 2016, as it is consequentially necessary to deal with the outcome of the bill we have just passed. On the assumption that that follows its normal passage, this is required. Can I say, however, how deeply disappointed I am that, when opening the SACAT bill, we are not transferring the next trove of jurisdictions that the government promised they would transfer after Guardianship and the Residential Tenancies Tribunal. On 17 May this year, the Attorney-General made a ministerial statement in which he confirmed SACAT's establishment and its transfer of these jurisdictions, together with the Valuer-General disputes, which the opposition pushed to be included. He said:

Since commencing operation, SACAT has been faced with challenges associated with the centralisation of separate decision-making bodies into a single tribunal. Challenges include the operational challenges of converting from a paper-based working model to an electronic paperless case management system, and workload issues associated with a more accessible tribunal.

He went on to say that, as a result, there was going to be a go-slow progression of this bill. It has obviously gone to completely glacial inaction. That is very concerning because we are the last jurisdiction in Australia to have an administrative tribunal. We have literally dozens of jurisdictions waiting to be transferred. The District Court is so overburdened that it has two-year waiting lists for trials. We are below the complement of judges in our superior courts; yet, the government persists in not getting this tribunal up and running.

It would have been acceptable if the two areas that were being transferred were actually going to be relocated into another building but, in fact, we had an upgrade of two chambers—for a District Court judge and a Supreme Court judge to have some new rooms and redecoration—and we had a change of a sign above the courtrooms that operated in exactly the same places. The Guardianship Board still operates at Collinswood in the ABC building. The Residential Tenancies Tribunal still operates in the same premises. They literally had to change the headings of the paperwork and the sign above the door.

It is nonsense to think that this government has not been able to progress an important area of reform. We fully supported the government to do it. This started back in 2013, and two and a bit jurisdictions have been transferred—that is all, out of hundreds of areas of reform that were to be transferred. I just cannot believe that the government could be so incompetent that we are opening up this bill to accommodate an expansion of a model in relation to employment law and we do nothing to deal with what are supposed to be all the benefits of this tribunal in the other model. It is very disappointing. The mark out of 10 is minus five.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (17:03): Again, a tongue-lashing that I will not be able to forget in a while, like the other one I got earlier today. I assure the deputy leader (member for Bragg), that I am going to take a photocopy of that and send it to those with whom I work and say, 'Look, every time you slow one of my things down, I cop one of these.' It reminds me, actually, of a scene in, I think, The Philosopher's Stone, when Ron Weasley receives a Howler from his mother. It might have been the other one, when he took that car that he was not supposed to take. I cannot remember the detail.

The point is that I am as frustrated as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is about how slow this is, I really am. It is frustrating for me that things take so long. I am pleased though that some of the people who should be hearing this are now obviously within earshot because this is the sort of thing that should have happened ages ago and has not. I accept the criticism, harsh though it is, that things should have moved more quickly.

Nobody is more disappointed than me that SACAT is taking so long to get running at its full strength, but what I have done, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, is something I hope you will approve of. Recently, I called all of the people I needed to speak to into a room and I said, 'Sooner or later, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is going to get stuck into me about how long this damn thing is taking. I want action.' They promised me that would happen, and I have just checked a few moments ago, and I am told that, very soon, I do not know if we have any idea how soon 'very soon' is so I can put it on Hansard—

Ms Chapman: Put that in his performance contract.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Yes, it might be in a contractual document that certain people receive. That is a good idea actually, thank you. I thank the deputy leader for that very good idea. Anyway, I hope I will have something here before too long, which means this year, in a week or two, maybe two weeks, which actually transfers the balance of the staff across to SACAT with switches so that we can switch it on as soon as the admin arrangements are done. I do not enjoy these scoldings, but I do act upon them and I do go back to those who I work with and say, 'I have been scolded again. I cannot take much more of this.'

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: You are not misleading the house, are you?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I really do not like being chastised for being slow or not getting on with it—that does not sit comfortably with me—so I am going to be taking a copy of this Hansard. Some people probably did not hear the full contribution, and I think they need to hear it so they understand that, when we say we are going to do something, we damn well have to do it. It is fair enough for the deputy leader to scold me about the fact that we have taken too long, but I am reliably informed that, this year, the problem to which she has referred will be fixed.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (17:07): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.