Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (15:41): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: The Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill 2018 aims to reduce red tape and simplify regulation for businesses and consumers. The state government is committed to lowering the cost of doing business in South Australia. We are committed to creating an environment in which our businesses can operate competitively in the global economy.

The government's red-tape reduction strategy is about supporting businesses by putting into place efficient processes. This approach supports innovation in how government regulates and interacts with business to the greatest extent possible. Regulatory barriers can also hinder competition and prevent small businesses from starting up. Inefficient regulation costs more than just time and money; it makes the economy less responsive to economic trends and global market forces.

Amendments to 40 acts are included in the bill and include changes to 27 acts to add the option of publishing government notices online. Twelve obsolete or unnecessary acts are proposed for repeal and the remaining changes support red-tape reduction, most notably in relation to transport, licensing and registration. The bill contains some important reforms which I will now detail.

A significant component of the bill is the various amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act 1959. The package of initiatives reflects an ongoing commitment to supporting passenger transport, motor vehicle and goods transport improvements to support the local economy. The transport reforms in this bill include enabling automatic progression of a motorcycle licence after a period of 12 months—that is, removing the need for clients to attend a Service SA centre to have engine capacity restrictions removed from a motorcycle licence after completing 12 months on a restricted motorcycle licence—and providing more flexibility in the accepted means of verifying a learner's test that has been passed.

This means that an applicant for a learner's permit will not be required to produce a certificate. Changes will also allow testing to be conducted by more delegated government employees. This will add to flexibility and create efficiencies.

The bill will amend the Road Traffic Act 1961 to allow low-risk public events to occur without the need for closing off public roads. The amendments to the Aquaculture Act 2001 will extend the maximum production lease term that can be given from 20 years to 30 years, making the lease terms more attractive to financial institutions. The amendments will also clarify that if the public register includes a notation that a specified person has an interest in the lease, that person must also be provided with a copy of the written notice sent to the lessee where the minister proposes to cancel the lease.

The Fisheries Management Act 2007 will be amended to clarify that a court has a clear discretion to reduce the number of demerit points that would otherwise apply if found guilty of offences under the act where a person is liable to be disqualified from holding a fisheries licence and that disqualification would cause a level of hardship disproportionate to the offence committed. The amendments will also provide a head of power to make regulations that will allow greater flexibility in the prescription of fees in future such that they may be prescribed to apply in different fishing seasons or may include methods of calculation or be varied according to specified factors.

The Irrigation Act 2009 will be amended to facilitate new investment in South Australia's irrigated agriculture sector by enabling irrigation trusts to adopt more efficient and fit-for-purpose business models. This is an industry-driven proposal responding to market barriers under the existing legislative scheme that will positively impact on irrigators' water supply and business productivity.

The Real Property Act 1886 will be amended to ensure the Registrar-General has the power to mandate electronic conveyancing in line with policy objectives. A further amendment will also allow a revocation of power of attorney, or the death of a grantor of power of attorney, to be noted on the electronic copy of the duplicate or copy of a power of attorney. The Dog Fence Act 1946 will be amended to reduce red tape by allowing the minister to establish, vary the functions of and abolish local dog fence boards by declaration. These powers are currently assigned to the Governor. The amendment has been recommended by the Dog Fence Board.

Provisions in the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 will be clarified relating to the appointment of the director of national parks and wildlife. Currently, the act does not include a provision for the appointment of the director of national parks and wildlife. The appointment of the director will be simplified by introducing a process whereby the minister may appoint a person to the office of the director of national parks and wildlife and a mechanism is provided whereby, if the director is absent and unable to discharge official duties, then the minister may appoint an employee to act in the role.

The bill includes amendments to 27 acts to create flexibility and include an option to publish notices online. The public notices reform aims to decrease the cost associated with public notices advertisement and the time taken to publish those notices. Where it is considered to be the best option, publication of notices in newspapers will continue to play an important role, for example, in rural and remote communities where internet access is not always available.

This Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill 2018 proposes the repeal of 12 spent and redundant acts. These will be removed from the state's statute book as they have fulfilled their purpose or are no longer required. For example, two similar acts, the Bank Merger (National/BNZ) Act 1997 and the Westpac/Challenge Act 1996 will both be repealed. These two acts enabled the transfer of assets and liabilities to new banking structures and, as such, have served their purpose. Two rather antiquated pieces of legislation will also be repealed: the Statistics Act 1935 and the Redundant Officers Fund Act 1936.

The amendments and repeals in the bill are the result of concerted and extensive engagement and collaboration with the business sector and community at large to deliver beneficial reforms that improve the competitiveness of the state. This engagement was done through the government's YourSAy platform, face-to-face meetings with peak industry groups, an online survey of business as well as encouraging written submissions from small business owners and individuals.

The changes announced continue the government's regulatory reform agenda. The bill is a demonstration of the government's commitment to continuously look for ways to reduce red-tape burden on business in the state and to improve government processes to support the economy and services to the community. The Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill 2018 is another important step in removing unnecessary red tape. It removes the regulatory and administrative burden for business and for the community and improves the state's competitiveness. I commend the bill to the house. I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

This clause is formal.

2—Commencement

This clause provides that the measure will commence on the day on which it receives the Governor's assent. However, some specified provisions will commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

3—Amendment provisions

This clause is formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Aerodrome Fees Act 1998

4—Amendment of section 6—Aerodrome operator may fix fees for arrivals, departures etc

The proposed amendment provides that if an aerodrome operator fixes fees, a notice setting out the fees must be published by the operator in the Gazette. The notice must also be published on the operator's website, in a periodical publication prescribed for the purpose or in a daily newspaper circulating in the State.

Part 3—Amendment of Agricultural and Veterinary Products (Control of Use) Act 2002

5—Amendment of section 20—Manner of making order

The proposed amendment provides that as soon as practicable after a trade protection order addressed as referred to in section 20(1)(b) is made, a notice setting out the date on which the notice is published, the terms of the order and the persons to be bound by the order must be published by the Minister in a manner and form that, in the opinion of the Minister, will be most likely to bring the order to the attention of the persons bound by it.

Part 4—Amendment of Air Transport (Route Licensing—Passenger Services) Act 2002

6—Amendment of section 5—Declared routes

This proposed amendment provides that the Minister must ensure that a copy of the relevant notice relating to a declaration under section 5 is published—

on a website determined by the Minister; or

in a newspaper circulating generally in the State; or

in a newspaper circulating generally in Australia.

Part 5—Amendment of Aquaculture Act 2001

7—Amendment of section 25B—Cancellation of lease

The proposed amendment requires the Minister to give a specified person with an interest in an aquaculture lease noted on the public register a copy of the written notice given to the lessee relating to the proposed cancellation of the lease.

8—Amendment of section 28—Granting of corresponding licence for pilot lease

The proposed amendment allows public notice of the proposed grant of a pilot lease to be published on a website determined by the Minister instead of in a newspaper circulating generally in the State.

9—Amendment of section 35—Granting of production leases and corresponding licences in public call areas

The proposed amendments allow public notice of the proposed grant of a production lease and corresponding licence to be published on a website determined by the Minister instead of in a newspaper circulating generally in the State.

10—Amendment of section 36—Granting of production leases and corresponding licences if public call not required

The proposed amendment allows public notice of the proposed grant of a production lease and corresponding licence in respect of an aquaculture zone or part of an aquaculture zone not designated as a public call area to be published on a website determined by the Minister instead of in a newspaper circulating generally in the State.

11—Amendment of section 38—Term and renewal of production leases

Currently an aquaculture production lease can be issued or renewed for a term of 20 years, or such lesser period as is specified in the lease. The proposed amendments will enable production leases to be issued or renewed for terms of up to 30 years and will allow the Minister to extend the term of an existing production lease, on application by the lease holder, by such period as the Minister thinks fit (but only once and not beyond the thirtieth anniversary of the day on which the lease was granted or renewed).

12—Amendment of section 39A—Granting of research leases and corresponding licences

The proposed amendment allows public notice of the proposed grant of a research lease and corresponding licence to be published on a website determined by the Minister instead of in a newspaper circulating generally in the State.

13—Amendment of section 50—Grant of licences other than corresponding licences

The proposed amendment allows public notice of the proposed grant of an aquaculture licence other than a corresponding licence to be published on a website determined by the Minister instead of in a newspaper circulating generally in the State.

14—Amendment of section 60—Reviews

The proposed amendment corrects a drafting error.

Part 6—Amendment of Associations Incorporation Act 1985

15—Amendment of section 43A—Application for deregistration

This proposed amendment would allow the Commission to publish a notice of an application under section 43A in a manner and form determined by the Commission to be most appropriate in the circumstances.

16—Amendment of section 44—Defunct associations

This amendment would allow the Commission, by notice published in a manner and form determined by the Commission to be most appropriate in the circumstances, to give notice requiring an association to show good cause why it should not be dissolved.

Part 7—Amendment of AustralAsia Railway (Third Party Access) Act 1999

17—Amendment of Schedule—AustralAsia Railway (Third Party Access) Code

The regulator must undertake public consultation when the regulator is undertaking a review or considering adopting a guideline. The amendment would provide the regulator with the option of publishing on a website or in a newspaper a notice about the matter on which consultation is to occur.

Part 8—Repeal of Bank Merger (National/BNZ) Act 1997

18—Repeal of Bank Merger (National/BNZ) Act 1997

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 9—Repeal of Corporal Punishment Abolition Act 1971

19—Repeal of Corporal Punishment Abolition Act 1971

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 10—Amendment of Correctional Services Act 1982

20—Amendment of section 81E—Notice to victims to be published

This proposed amendment requires the CE to publish in the Gazette a notice notifying victims. The CE must also publish the notice on a website determined by the CE or in a daily newspaper circulating generally in South Australia and in a daily newspaper circulating generally in Australia.

Part 11—Amendment of Crown Land Management Act 2009

21—Insertion of section 18A

This clause inserts a new provision requiring the consent of the Minister responsible for the administration of the Crown Land Management Act 2009 before a council resolves to exclude dedicated land from classification as community land in the circumstances described in section 193(4)(a) of the Local Government Act 1999.

Part 12—Amendment of Dog Fence Act 1946

22—Substitution of section 35A

New section 35A provides for the Minister, on the recommendation of the board, by notice in the Gazette, to establish a local dog fence board constituted of the persons specified in the notice for the area inside a dog fence specified in the notice, with the powers and duties specified in the notice.

23—Substitution of section 35C

New section 35C allows the Minister, on the recommendation of the board, by further notice in the Gazette—

to amend or vary a notice under section 35A; or

to abolish a local board and make provision for incidental matters.

Part 13—Repeal of Economic Development Act 1993

24—Repeal of Economic Development Act 1993

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 14—Amendment of Emergency Services Funding Act 1998

25—Amendment of section 20—Sale of land for non-payment of levy

The proposed amendment gives the Commissioner of State Taxation the option to advertise notice of an auction on a website determined by the Commissioner.

Part 15—Amendment of Environment Protection Act 1993

26—Amendment of section 28—Normal procedure for making policies

27—Amendment of section 39—Notice and submissions in respect of applications for environmental authorisations

The amendments proposed would provide for the option of publishing notices on a website or in a newspaper.

28—Amendment of section 46—Notice and submissions in respect of proposed variations of conditions

This amendment would provide the option to cause public notice of a proposed variation to be published in a manner and form determined by the Authority to be most appropriate in the circumstances.

29—Amendment of section 69B—Sale and supply of beverages in containers

A correction is made to the penalty provision in section 69B of the principal Act (incorrectly specified by a recent amendment Act—the Environment Protection (Waste Reform) Amendment Act—as $4,000). It is proposed to be returned to its previous level of $30,000.

Part 16—Amendment of Explosives Act 1936

30—Amendment of section 25—Power to sell explosives

The amendment would allow a call for public tender under the section to be published on a website determined by the Director or in a newspaper.

Part 17—Amendment of Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005

31—Amendment of section 78—Fire danger season

The amendment would allow the Chief Officer's order fixing a fire danger season to be published in the Gazette and also on a website, in a State-wide newspaper or in a local newspaper.

32—Amendment of section 105F—Private land

A notice to take specific action may be published on a website or in a local newspaper if the responsible person cannot be served personally or by post.

Part 18—Amendment of Fisheries Management Act 2007

33—Amendment of section 44—Procedure for preparing management plans

The proposed amendment allows public notice of the Minister's intention to prepare a management plan to be published on a website determined by the Minister instead of in a newspaper circulating generally in the State.

34—Amendment of section 54—Application for licence, permit or registration

The proposed amendments remove the requirement for applications to be signed and provide for fees to be prescribed by the regulations rather than fixed by regulation.

35—Amendment of section 57—Transfer of licence or permit

The proposed amendments remove the requirement for applications to be signed and provide for fees to be prescribed by the regulations rather than fixed by regulation.

36—Amendment of section 64—Applications for registration

The proposed amendments remove the requirement for applications to be signed and provide for fees to be prescribed by the regulations rather than fixed by regulation.

37—Amendment of section 68—Issue of duplicate authority

The proposed amendment provides for fees to be prescribed by regulation rather than fixed by regulations.

38—Amendment of section 104—Demerit points for certain offences

This proposed amendment provides a court with guidance in deciding whether to reduce the number of demerit points incurred by a person on being found guilty or expiating an offence.

39—Amendment of section 116—Registers

The proposed amendments provide for fees to be prescribed by regulation rather than fixed by regulations.

40—Amendment of section 127—General

The proposed amendments make it clear that the regulations may—

prescribe fees for the purposes of the principal Act and regulate the payment, refund, waiver or reduction of such fees; and

prescribe various methods for the calculation of various fees; and

prescribe fees which may be differential, varying according to any factor stated in the regulations; and

prescribe amounts payable for the late payment of fees under the principal Act.

Part 19—Amendment of Gaming Machines Act 1992

41—Amendment of section 29—Certain applications require advertisement

The proposed change provides that the required notice—

must be published in the Gazette and on a website; and

may be published in a State-wide newspaper or in a local newspaper.

42—Amendment of section 42A—Advertisement of certain applications and objections

The publication by the applicant of notice must be advertised in the Gazette and on a website or in a State-wide newspaper.

Part 20—Amendment of Geographical Names Act 1991

43—Amendment of section 11B—Assignment of geographical name

This clause amends section 11B by establishing the publication requirements for a notice under subsection (2) to be in the Gazette and on a website or in a local newspaper.

Part 21—Amendment of Government Business Enterprises (Competition) Act 1996

44—Amendment of section 11—Public notice of investigation

This clause substitutes section 11(1) of the principal Act to provide that the Commissioner may determine the manner and form of a notice of investigation.

Part 22—Amendment of Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) Act 2013

45—Amendment of section 10—Other declarations for purposes of Heavy Vehicle National Law in this jurisdiction

This amendment updates the references to reflect recent changes to the Law to declare the Magistrates Court to be the relevant tribunal or court for the purposes of section 590D as well as section 556 of the Law.

Part 23—Repeal of Housing Loans Redemption Fund Act 1962

46—Repeal of Housing Loans Redemption Fund Act 1962

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 24—Amendment of Impounding Act 1920

47—Amendment of section 25—Notice of impounding

The amendment will allow for the publication of a notice to be in a newspaper or on the Department's website.

48—Amendment of section 26—Poundkeeper may charge for service of notice

49—Amendment of section 32—Proceedings prior to sale by poundkeeper of unclaimed cattle

50—Amendment of section 33—Time and mode of sale of impounded cattle

The other proposed amendments are consequential on the changes made to section 25 of the principal Act.

Part 25—Amendment of Irrigation Act 2009

51—Amendment of section 14—Dissolution on application

52—Amendment of section 15—Dissolution on Minister's initiative

The proposed amendments to sections 14 and 15 of the principal Act facilitate the vesting or attachment of irrigation trust property, rights and liabilities in 1 or more persons on the dissolution of the trust. However, if that is not practicable or appropriate, the property, rights and liabilities will vest in or attach to the Crown or an agency or instrumentality of the Crown (including a Minister), as specified by the Minister.

53—Repeal of section 16

This clause repeals section 16 of the principal Act. Section 16 concerns the disposal of property on the dissolution of a trust. Those matters are now covered by the amendments to sections 14 and 15.

Part 26—Repeal of Liens on Fruit Act 1923

54—Repeal of Liens on Fruit Act 1923

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 27—Amendment of Livestock Act 1997

55—Amendment of section 37—Gazette notices

This clause amends the provision to enable the relevant notice to be published on a website determined by the Minister.

Part 28—Amendment of Local Government Act 1999

56—Amendment of section 44—Delegations

Section 44 currently requires councils to review delegations in force under the section at least once in every financial year. As amended by this clause, the section will instead require councils to review delegations within 12 months after the conclusion of each periodic election.

Part 29—Amendment of Marine Parks Act 2007

57—Amendment of section 14—Procedure for making or amending management plans

Publication procedures are updated and simplified in this amendment with Gazette and newspaper notices replaced by notices on a website determined by the Minister.

Part 30—Amendment of Maritime Services (Access) Act 2000

58—Amendment of section 43—Review and expiry of Part

The amendments by this clause to section 43 of the principal Act alter the publishing requirements for giving notice of a review of the operation of Part 3 of the Act as it applies to particular industries.

Part 31—Amendment of Motor Vehicles Act 1959

59—Amendment of section 38A—Reduced fees for pensioner entitlement card holders

This clause amends section 38A to remove the reference to the 'State concession card' which no longer exists.

60—Amendment of section 38AB—Registration fees for trailers owned by pensioner entitlement card holders

This clause amends section 38AB to remove the reference to the 'State concession card' which no longer exists.

61—Amendment of section 47C—Return, recovery etc of number plates

This clause amends section 47C so that the Registrar is not required to direct the owner of a motor vehicle to return number plates to the Registrar when the registration of the vehicle expires, is void or is cancelled other than on the owner's application. The amendment will allow the Registrar to direct the owner to destroy the plates or ensure that they are securely stored so that they cannot be affixed to a motor vehicle that is driven on a road or allowed to stand on a road.

62—Substitution of section 72

This clause substitutes section 72.

72—Classification of licences

Subsection (1) provides that a licence must be assigned 1 or more prescribed classifications.

Subsection (2) provides that subject to the Act, if a person applies for the grant or renewal of a licence and the licence is granted or renewed (as the case may be), the Registrar must ensure that the licence is assigned the classification for which the person has applied.

Subsection (3) provides that if—

(a) an applicant for the renewal of a licence applies for the licence to be assigned any further or other classification; and

(b) the Registrar is satisfied that the applicant is competent to drive a motor vehicle in respect of which that further or other classification is required under this Act,

the Registrar must ensure that the licence, if renewed, is assigned that further or other classification.

Subsection (4) provides that if the Registrar is satisfied that a person who holds a licence is competent to drive motor vehicles for which a licence assigned a further or other classification is required under this Act, the Registrar must ensure that the licence is assigned the appropriate further or other classification.

Subsection (5) provides that the Registrar may, for the purposes of this section, require a person who holds a licence or applies for the grant or renewal of a licence to provide evidence to the satisfaction of the Registrar of the person's competency to drive motor vehicles for which a particular classification is required under this Act.

Subsection (6) provides that the regulations may provide that, for the purposes of this Act, a person is to be taken to hold a licence that is assigned a particular classification if the person has held a licence of some other classification for a prescribed period (the qualifying period).

Subsection (7) provides that, subject to the regulations, a classification assigned to a licence must be endorsed on the licence.

Subsection (8) provides that for the purposes of the Act, in determining whether a person has held a licence for the qualifying period, any period during which—

(a) the person's licence was suspended; or

(b) the person was disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence in this State or in another State or Territory of the Commonwealth,

is not to be taken into account.

63—Amendment of section 79—Examination of applicant for licence or learner's permit

This clause amends section 79 to allow the Registrar to accept evidence (other than a certificate) that an applicant has passed a theoretical examination. It also broadens the definition of tester to include persons or classes of persons to be authorised by the Registrar as testers.

64—Amendment of section 80—Ability or fitness to be granted or hold licence or permit

65—Amendment of section 141—Evidence by certificate etc

66—Amendment of section 145—Regulations

These clauses make minor amendments that are consequential on the substitution of section 72.

Part 32—Amendment of National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972

67—Amendment of section 5—Interpretation

The definition of Director is updated reflecting new appointment procedures in section 11A. Public notice is defined as notice published on a website determined by the Minister.

68—Insertion of section 11A

New section 11A (headed Director of National Parks and Wildlife) is inserted governing the appointment of the Director.

69—Amendment of section 38—Management plans

Publication of the notice in subsection (3) need now only be on a website determined by the Minister, and not in the Gazette or a newspaper.

70—Amendment of section 41A—Alteration of boundaries of reserves

Publication of the notice in subsection (2) need now only be on a website determined by the Minister, and not in the Gazette or a newspaper.

71—Amendment of section 49A—Permits for commercial purposes

Publication of the notice in subsection (1) and the recommendations in subsection (4) need now only be on a website determined by the Minister, and not in a newspaper.

72—Amendment of section 60D—Code of management

Publication of the notice in subsection (5) need now only be on a website determined by the Minister, and not in the Gazette or a newspaper. Publication of the notice in subsection (7) need now only be on a website determined by the Minister, and not in a newspaper.

73—Amendment of section 60I—Plan of management

Publication of the notices in subsections (4) and (7) need now only be on a website determined by the Minister, and not in the Gazette or a newspaper.

Part 33—Amendment of Payroll Tax Act 2009

74—Section 95—Assessment if no probate within 6 months of death

This proposed amendment replaces the requirement to publish the notice in a newspaper with a requirement to publish the notice on a website, with publishing in a newspaper to be optional.

Part 34—Amendment of Petroleum Products Regulation Act 1995

75—Amendment of section 34—Controls during periods of restriction

This amendment would allow notice of directions to be published in the Gazette, on a website determined by the Minister or in a newspaper.

76—Amendment of section 38—Publication of desirable principles for conserving petroleum

This amendment would allow desirable principles to be observed to be published in the Gazette, on a website determined by the Minister or in a newspaper.

Part 35—Amendment of Phylloxera and Grape Industry Act 1995

77—Amendment of section 18—Duty to prepare and maintain five year plan

This amendment would allow the Board to publish a notice of the date, time, place and purpose of a public meeting on a website determined by the Board or in a newspaper circulating generally throughout the State (or both).

Part 36—Amendment of Prices Act 1948

78—Amendment of section 12—Accounts and records in relation to certain declared goods and services

The proposed amendment would allow the choice between publishing the notice in the Gazette, or in a newspaper, or on the Commissioner's website.

Part 37—Amendment of Primary Industry Funding Schemes Act 1998

79—Amendment of section 9—Management plan for fund

This clause would allow the person or body administering the fund to publish notice of a public meeting to be convened in a manner and form that, in the opinion of the person or body, will be most likely to bring the notice to the attention of members of the public.

Part 38—Amendment of Public Assemblies Act 1972

80—Amendment of section 4—Notice of assembly

This amendment would provide for the option of publishing a copy of an objection to an assembly on a website determined by the Minister.

Part 39—Amendment of Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) Act 2012

81—Amendment of section 7—Exclusion of legislation of this jurisdiction

The amendment made to section 7 by this clause clarifies that certain South Australian Acts do not apply the Act, the Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) or to instruments made under the Law except as applied by the Law.

Part 40—Amendment of Railways (Operations and Access) Act 1997

82—Amendment of section 7A—Review and expiry of access regime

The amendment provides for the regulator to give reasonable notice of the review of the access regime, by publishing a notice in a manner and form determined by the regulator to be most appropriate in the circumstances, inviting written submissions on the matters under review within a reasonable time specified for the purpose in the notice.

Part 41—Amendment of Real Property Act 1886

83—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

This amendment makes it clear that a form approved by the Registrar-General may be an electronic form.

84—Amendment of section 54—Form of instruments and manner of lodgement

Under section 54, the Registrar-General may not register an instrument that does not comply with the Act and is not in the appropriate form. Under the section as amended by this clause, the Registrar-General may also approve the manner in which instruments are to be lodged.

85—Insertion of section 160A

The effect of this proposed new section is that a requirement for entry of a note of the revocation of a power of attorney, or of the death of the grantor of a power of attorney, to be made on the duplicate or copy of the power of attorney will be satisfied if a note of the revocation or death is entered on an electronic copy of the duplicate or copy.

Part 42—Repeal of Redundant Officers Fund Act 1936

86—Repeal of Redundant Officers Fund Act 1936

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 43—Amendment of Road Traffic Act 1961

87—Amendment of section 33—Road closing and exemptions for certain events

This clause amends section 33 so that on the application of any person interested, the Minister may declare an event to be an event to which section 33 applies and may do either or both of the following:

make an order directing that specified roads (being roads on which the event is to be held or roads that, in the Minister's opinion, should be closed for the purposes of the event) be closed to traffic for a period specified in, or determined in accordance with, the order;

make an order directing that persons participating in the event be exempted, in relation to specified roads, from the duty to observe an enactment, regulation or by-law prescribing a rule to be observed on roads by pedestrians or drivers of vehicles.

Part 44—Repeal of Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1921

88—Repeal of Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1921

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 45—Repeal of Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (South Australia) Act 1971

89—Repeal of Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (South Australia) Act 1971

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 46—Repeal of Statistics Act 1935

90—Repeal of Statistics Act 1935

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 47—Repeal of Statutory Salaries and Fees Act 1947

91—Repeal of Statutory Salaries and Fees Act 1947

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 48—Amendment of Summary Offences Act 1953

92—Amendment of section 72A—Power to conduct metal detector searches etc

This amendment would give the Commissioner of Police the option of publishing a notice of a declaration under section 72A on the Commissioner's website or in a newspaper.

Part 49—Amendment of Taxation Administration Act 1996

93—Amendment of section 4—Meaning of taxation laws

94—Amendment of section 110—Offences by persons involved in management of corporations

The purpose of these amendments is to remove reference to the Debits Tax Act 1994 and the Financial Institutions Duty Act 1983, both of which have been repealed.

Part 50—Repeal of War Service Rights (State Employees) Act 1945

95—Repeal of War Service Rights (State Employees) Act 1945

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 51—Repeal of Westpac/Challenge Act 1996

96—Repeal of Westpac/Challenge Act 1996

This Act is to be repealed.

Part 52—Amendment of Wilderness Protection Act 1992

97—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

The definition of public notice is amended to mean notice published on a website determined by the Minister, and no longer means notice published in the Gazette.

98—Amendment of section 12—Wilderness code of management

This is a consequential amendment preserving the status quo with respect to public notification of the adoption of a revised or substituted code of management (namely by notice in the Gazette).

99—Amendment of section 16—Prevention of certain activities

This amendment gives the Minister discretion to publish a notice under subsection (7) in a newspaper or on the Minister's website, whichever medium the Minister considers appropriate in the circumstances.

100—Amendment of section 31—Plans of management

This is a consequential amendment preserving the status quo with respect to public notification of the adoption of plan of management (namely by notice in the Gazette).

101—Amendment of section 33—Prohibited areas

This amendment preserves the status quo with respect to public notification of the declaration of prohibited areas or variation or revocation of such declarations (namely by notice in the Gazette) but also adds a requirement for the notifications to be on a website determined by the Minister.

Part 53—Amendment of Work Health and Safety Act 2012

102—Amendment of section 274—Approved codes of practice

This amendment would provide the Minister with the option of publishing notice of the approval, variation or revocation of a code of practice on a website or in a newspaper as well as in the Gazette.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (15:50): I rise to make a contribution as the opposition's lead speaker on the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill 2018. This bill has been in existence for quite some time. Its title indicates that it has been around since at least the previous calendar year but, in fact, longer than that. It is the culmination of an effort of consultation, work and examination, not by this government but by the former Labor government, of a number of acts which could be repealed to not only reduce the number of outdated statutes on the parliament's books, so to speak, but also remove the application of the outdated requirements of those acts on the community of South Australia.

As we saw, particularly in the last calendar year, much of the legislative agenda of the former Labor government—which unfortunately did not manage to make its way through both houses of parliament before the last state election—was recaptured, dusted off, rebadged and claimed as the child, as it were, of the legislative efforts of the new Liberal government. I do not take umbrage at any of the descriptions the minister has provided with regard to the detail of the bill. However, I have to say that since the last election there has been quite a lot of communication between those organisations that potentially will be impacted by the successful passage of this bill.

Many of the changes in this bill, as the minister has just advised us, relate to the advertising requirements of government agencies and departments in promulgating decisions that they make from time to time throughout the community. It would be of no surprise to many that when these acts were first written as bills, the most common means of communication was by the public notices section of the local newspaper in a community, rather than by Facebook, Instagram or indeed websites or so on. What we see now is the impact of this bill; many dozens of regional newspapers fear losing an important part of their newspaper, and that is the contributions from government agencies to the public notices section.

I will admit that some amendments here include the repeal of acts such as the Liens on Fruit Act. It probably does not get a regular guernsey nowadays, and the reason for that to hang around has probably long been expended. But there are other amendments that, the bill proposes that would see, as the minister has just described, 27 acts being amended to provide for a new and different discretion for a government agency, or the minister to which it reports, to choose how they publish these notices.

While it might be more contemporary to provide the option for a minister to choose to publish on a government website as opposed to the local newspaper, I think two things are likely to happen if that option is exercised. It pains me to say this, but I think we can recognise that there are some government websites that are not highly trafficked and, for example, not highly trafficked for recent news. I suspect that people would have perhaps found out more information from their local newspaper about the consultation process on the government's proposed three-year ban on snapper fishing than they would have from the fisheries subcategory on the PIRSA website. That would be my guess.

If that is a reasonable example, and I believe it is, then that probably holds true for many forms of decision and updates that may be made from time to time, or that are indeed required by law on a regular basis, that need publication throughout the community. I can say that the opposition has been contacted by many papers, including The Murray Pioneer, TheLoxton News, TheRiver News, The Bunyip, The Leader,The Courier, TheTranscontinental, the Barossa and Light Herald, the Border Chronicle, TheBorder Watch, the Coastal Leader, even the Coober PedyRegional Times, the Eyre Peninsula Tribune, The Flinders News,The Islander, the Mid NorthBroadcaster, TheMurray Valley Standard, the Naracoorte Herald, the Northern Argus, TheBorder Times,ThePlains Producer, the Port Lincoln Times, The Recorder, The Times, Yorke PeninsulaCountry Times, the Whyalla News, TheSouth Eastern Times, The Pennant, the West Coast Sentinel and TheSouthern Argus as well as the Northern Argus.

Many of the concerns they raised are about the loss to their particular news outlet, their newspaper, their periodical, of having the benefit of the requirement that relevant public notices are included in their publication; I think we should be honest, not just because of the newsworthiness of many of these public notices. Of course, we are not just talking about snapper bans, which may or may not happen once or twice, but also things that happen of at least as great an import and reasonably regularly. For example, that might be changes to air routes in regional South Australia.

Publication of these sorts of matters needs to be promulgated in the source of information and news with which members of regional and sometimes remote communities are familiar and have become accustomed. Unfortunately, the bill gives a discretion to relevant ministers to choose not to make those advertisements in those papers but instead just publish on a website. Indeed, the website is not specified.

Of course, I think we can all admit it is most likely that it will be the relevant government website, and that is not unreasonable in that scenario. They may choose to publish on a non-government website. They may choose to publish on a news website, perhaps in the local Messengeror Adelaidenow or any of those news outlets that I have just read into Hansard that maintain a website. But my belief is that that is still to the detriment of the ability for those regional communities to get their news from the news source they trust.

I must be honest that, I am certainly not alone in thinking this and I am not referring to my opposition colleagues. This was actually drawn to our attention and to my attention following conversations that had actually happened with the member for Mount Gambier. The impetus to amend the bill to ensure that there is still a requirement to publish in these regional news outlets, in these local papers, is an initiative of the member for Mount Gambier as well, indeed prior to the opposition forming the view that this action needed to be taken. That is why the opposition has placed on file 44 amendments to ensure that the bill can be amended in relevant places merely to remove that discretion from the minister or his agency to choose not to advertise in a government department.

The minister did say that this was about reducing a red-tape burden on business. I think it is probably fair to say that for the repeal of the Liens on Fruit Act that is the case. Unfortunately, in the other 27 cases, where 27 acts are being amended to remove the publication requirements in local papers, I think it is to remove a cost burden on government agencies. That may be desirable for some in this place, presumably those on the other side rather than on this side or, presumably, on the crossbench, but that is to the detriment of those papers even more. Not only is important relevant news being removed from their papers but also an important revenue source.

There is nothing wrong with that. I think we should be open and up-front and honest about the fact that this is an important source of advertising revenue for these papers. It is an important source of revenue for these papers because it has ever been thus. If we have created such a symbiotic relationship between the government and these local news outlets, then to break it merely for a cost-saving initiative for this government I do not think is a good way forward, given the representations that I have heard over the last 18 months.

I will quickly, and probably to some extent rightly, be accused of some sort of change of position or backflip or, I dare say, inconsistency. I know we do not use the H word in this place. I think the former member for Playford used to talk about something with a forked tongue, whatever that meant.

I am sure that those allegations will come quickly from the minister, indeed maybe from others on that side of the house, and I should cop those slings and arrows because, yes, I was a member of the government, as I boasted earlier, that did initiate and introduce this bill into this place before the last election. Nonetheless, that does not detract from the importance of moving and supporting these amendments. I look forward, I hope, to the government's support for my amendments.

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (16:02): I also acknowledge that I am the lead speaker for my party on this bill, the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill.

An honourable member interjecting:

Mr BELL: Yes, our joint party room meetings are quite interesting. In all seriousness, there is a lot in this bill that I quite simply agree with. I think it makes great inroads into not only simplifying but also modernising 40 acts, and I welcome that type of review. In fact, think it was Kerry Packer who said that one thing politicians could do every time they introduced a new bit of legislation was look at which bit of legislation they could remove and the country would be a lot better off.

However, there is a hidden part in this bill which I really want to draw regional members' attention to because it is regional members who are going to have to face their local media, their local papers, to explain why they voted for a bill that is going to damage their business and, in my opinion, reduce communication between the government and a local community.

In fact, I will go as far as to say that regional papers may look back at this very moment and realise this was a pivotal moment for their business in regional communities because if amendments are not made this is another nail in the coffin of regional papers. It gives the ability for 27 acts to change the way that the state government advertises in local papers in matters that are considered to be of public relevance.

Unfortunately, if we play this through, and knowing a little bit about how government works, even ministers with very good intentions who say, 'We will make sure that we keep advertising in local papers, but we will also put the notices online,' will eventually not even know that a public notice has gone out because the department will make the decision. Over time, we will see less and less advertising of public notices in regional papers.

These are regional papers that are struggling at the moment yet employ regional people. Not only do they employ regional people but they play a very important role in the connection between Adelaide, government and their region. South Australia is unique in many ways, but one of the ways it is unique is that we really are a one-city state, and a lot of things go on in Adelaide that need to be communicated to regional areas. Regional papers are an integral part of a regional community, not only communicating public notices from the government but also informing regional communities how they can have their say in the goings-on in Adelaide.

I will find it a bit strange if regional members vote against these 44 amendments that are tabled at the moment because it is sending a very mixed message to their regional communities. Regional papers obviously employ regional people. Regional people, particularly the older set, may not be computer literate so, if we start putting all the notices that affect their life online or in an electronic form and do not advertise in regional papers, we are at risk of alienating a segment of our communities and certainly denigrating their ability to have their say.

Some people say to me that that is not the intent of this and that the intent is to give online as another option. I have no problem with that, as long as it is still mandated that public notices and communication from departments occur in print form in local media because as soon as you remove that mandate, whether it is the day after legislation is passed or a month after or a year after or five years after, there is no mandated requirement under legislation that the government of the day advertise public notices in local papers, and that slide will begin and then continue.

We have some very good ministers who come from the regions who I am sure believe they will be advertising their department's activities in print form, but we cannot rest on that, that that is going to be the case going forward for all ministers and perhaps even future ministers. I think the amendments are sensible and I think they get the balance right. I challenge regional members, if they are listening to this and have not had a good look at this legislation, to very quickly understand what they will be passing if this legislation passes unamended.

It is those members, particularly regional members, who will need to talk to their regional papers about why they have removed this part from the bill going forward and have not supported the amendments which I think are fair, reasonable and sensible. It is regional communities, in my opinion, who are going to be affected by this. We have not heard a lot around that yet. I have certainly had most of the papers come to see me and express their concerns.

I think part of our job here as MPs is to change legislation, to keep it up to date and current with modern times, but it is also our responsibility to stand up and speak out on behalf of our communities—in my case, it is a regional community—about the people and the businesses impacted by the changes to legislation. Many MPs I have spoken to were not even aware of this potential impact to their local paper. I ask, in closing, that regional members look at these amendments very closely and vote accordingly to support their regions.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (16:11): I rise to speak on the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill 2018. As has been ably presented and acknowledged by the parliament, this is a bill that had been largely replicated from a bill that was introduced but not finalised by the previous government, and it is in the line of a number of bills that have been presented, ostensibly to reduce red tape and to simplify regulation for individual members of the community as consumers but also business.

I think it is fair to say that, whilst the individual aspects of the provisions seem to be without controversy, there is the question of giving the option in this bill to enable governments to choose the manner and form of public notices, whether that be electronic or printed papers, which we have heard a bit about already, newspapers, as we have often known, but also magazines and association and industry publications. They are all different means by which one can provide information to the public, and more particularly to the people or industries that are interested in the particular reforms that occur.

Obviously, we have historically come from circumstances in our parliamentary life from having a town crier stand outside the parliament with 'Hear ye, hear ye! These are the outlines of the legislation which the parliament has passed.' Fortunately, those days are over and we have a number of different ways in which we provide those communications.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: When did that happen at Kingscote?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: The poor old member for Lee, he is so isolated, isn't he, from the real world. But in any event—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: So that happened in Kingscote, did it? What year did that stop happening in Kingscote?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Let me go back to—

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —standing outside of parliament. I do not know of any other parliament houses in South Australia other than this one.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Was it Penneshaw? Sorry, Penneshaw, was it?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: Parliament House. Other parliament houses, standing outside other parliament houses.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: So in the regional communities where we are trying to—

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order, member for Lee! Please.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Or did your analogy fall over?

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Member for Lee! Please.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: From that information, sometimes the notices were then affixed to public noticeboards outside civic centres, such as councils, to advise of changes of the laws and regulations, but there is no question that we have moved now to a standard where electronic, recording, publication and transactional work have utilised the provisions of electronic technology.

Let me just give you one example in relation to the long list of proposed areas of reform. Under this bill, the Real Property Act 1886 will be amended to ensure that the Registrar-General has the power to mandate electronic conveyancing in line with policy objectives. A further amendment will also allow revocation of the power of attorney, or the death of a guarantor with the power of attorney, to be noted on the electronic copy of the duplicate or copy of a power of attorney.

Members who were in the parliament during the time of the former attorney-general will recall a significant period of reform which transferred conveyancing transactions in relation to real property—that is, land—to be converted to the old paper certificates of title and documents to be registered at the lands titles office were to be personally submitted, recorded, marked and approved to a period of midway. Now, electronic transactions are undertaken; in fact, we had to set up in legislation a new way in which documents could be certified because there would not necessarily be a signature of the transferor or transferee.

It could be done by an agent, but it had to be done under a certain certification procedure. Often, that was the solicitor or broker, for example, of one of the parties to the transaction. We had to go through a number of different ways as to how we might deal with that if, for example, one of the transactional parties resided in Ceduna or anywhere else in regional South Australia. They would have to go through this new process and do it in a way that was not going to create a greater level of complexity for parties in those circumstances.

In the lead-up to the former government's decision to sell the South Australian lands titles services to a private company, all these electronic conveyancing reforms were progressed. I recall that we saw the death of parchment certificate of title, which was a sad day for some who had undertaken transactions in the old way, but this is progress.

Whilst the member for Lee has, I think, acknowledged that perhaps, in light of the previous iteration of this bill his government at the time had been progressing, he now seems to be coming into a period of enlightenment, saying that he would walk away from that commitment as a member of that cabinet to bring it to the parliament. Suddenly, opposition has brought some refreshment to his understanding of what is important to regional South Australia, and he presents to us a new—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Do you know what would be refreshing? Somebody else talking.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —period of enlightenment that he has reached. Well, I am pleased that he has actually understood that there are significant issues in regional communities, and one of them is employment. There is a need for us to progress the state to ensure that we do give young people, including those in regional South Australia, the opportunity for employment. That should obviously be supported. I am not quite sure why—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —in all of the areas—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): The Deputy Premier has the call. Member for Lee, please, that is enough.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —of promoting—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Please, that's enough. The Deputy Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —electronic transactions and modernising—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Member for Lee!

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —and developing, under the Real Property Act, all these obligations that could be converted in an electronic matter—selling off the lands titles services, that now, suddenly, in opposition he has had this light bulb of enlightenment to say that we need to change that approach. When we tell the people of South Australia about all the electronic reforms that are coming through in bills such as this, we must remove from government departments or ministers who undertake essentially the advertising of public notices—including in that, of course, reformed laws—any choice, that they are to be struck out from having any choice as to how that is to occur and they must therefore give publication by notices in the local newspapers.

I remind the house that even our own Gazette is electronic. It now electronically records the notices, including our legislation from here, regulations and other public notices. Some people may still get a hard copy of the publication. I still keep hard copies of the publications of bills that we have as I just find that a little bit easier to manage; some might still with the Gazette.

In the time I have been here, the Gazette has been available online. I do not doubt it is relied upon on a regular basis; I expect that many industry associations regularly look each week at the Gazette. Journalists, members of parliament and people in government departments would go through the electronic version of the Gazette to identify where there have been important public notices relevant to whatever their organisation or department may be.

As the Attorney-General, I have responsibility for the Attorney-General's Department and the Chief Justice has responsibility for the Courts Administration Authority. Between us, these divisions of our government, as such, have a large amount of work to do to educate the public about law reform and changes in relation to both policy and parliamentary reform: where amendments are to apply, where there is to be a new process to undertake and whether there have been higher or lower fees to pay. All these things quite often come through the Attorney-General's Department and some of them through the Courts Administration Authority.

There are other agencies for which I am responsible: the Small Business Commissioner, Consumer and Business Services and the Public Trustee. These are all agencies that have quite a lot of documentation on behalf of the group that they are looking after, and they need to regularly publish updates, keep the public informed and, in addition to that, advise a number of other agencies in government of their obligations as a result of reforms. We do quite a lot of work in the Attorney-General's Department particularly.

Advertising costs are now all available online and there is a lot of public notice expenditure and advertising to inform the public of this. The mode in which it is delivered is also a mix. I frequently look at that list—we have regular reports on it—and I am sometimes a bit shocked at the level of cost to keep the public informed. Again, consistent with previous governments, there is a very significant component to allow that to be electronic.

I am advised from agencies that if I were to look at just one industry area that I have a lot to do with, the Law Society of South Australia, that they, too, regularly traverse the electronic version of the Gazette. They obviously read through the material that we put on notice to ensure that they are up to date with what law changes there are and what bills are coming through. There is a lot of electronic transaction and there is a lot of advertising of this information to the public, which is done in that form.

The suggestion that there needs to be consideration and protection of country newspapers that are going to be in dire straits, it seems, if this election is allowed to continue—and presumably that decisions are made or choices are made to elect to not have used printed publications—is a little bit of a mystery. The reason I say that is not that I suggest that country newspapers are not under some financial pressure. I do not doubt that they are.

Certainly, as I grew up, the local published newspaper, The Islander, was a publication which I think pretty much every household purchased each week and which was read in hard copy. Electronic copies were not available, and local news was an important means, I suppose, by which the community maintained its community interaction. There was everything from the usual classified ads to sports results, to matters of importance, notices from the council, births, deaths and marriages and all the local advertising about what product was available, whether it was new tractor tyres or new plants that you could buy. These are all things that, at a local level, are important.

In fact, in my day there used to be a little column written by a lady who would basically put out all the gossip in the district, which I think was probably read by everybody in the community; nevertheless, that happened. We move to a time when that same paper is available electronically, and a number of people in the community choose to get their information that way; in fact, I still do today.

I think that we have to accept that there has been a transition in those communities themselves and that, irrespective of the question of offering electronic publication as an alternate means, the fact is that these papers themselves have moved to provide their product in different forms of their own choice. I do not doubt that it is for them to keep up with their readership and to ensure that they are able to continue to engage with generations that are more savvy and more interested in getting their information electronically. That has been occurring any way. That is not actually going to change.

I recall that there was a time when the member for Mount Gambier, for example, raised the potential plight in respect of The Border Watch, another well known regional paper. I think it used to be owned by Alan Scott, or should I say the late Alan Scott, when he used to own the television and the radio station all at once. I think he was the only media mogul in the country at the time who actually owned all forms of medium in a country region. In any event, no doubt it is still a well-read and well-loved paper available electronically.

Again, this has been replicated today, but on the latest data I am advised that in 2017-18 public notice expenditure in The Border Watch, The South Eastern Times and The Pennant was $7,858.92, and to the year to date to April—so it is not the full year—that is, for this financial year, which has now concluded, it was already, as at April 2019, $12,786.68. That indicates to me that, in fact, the revenue has not diminished; in fact, it is on its way under those estimates of probably doubling just in the last two years.

I think what is important is whether a case is put to the parliament that for some reason this particular area of employment, I suppose, is facing 21^st century challenges, namely, the redundancy of employment as a result of changed technology. It is an unenviable situation in lots of areas. If there is going to be a case for us as a parliament to say, 'We are going to carve out this particular area in this particular region to provide that,' then I think we need to have the data to support both a diminution of income and a risk of unemployment.

Using that example, I credit the member for Mount Gambier for going to the trouble of identifying where there was a vulnerability in his local area. I think up to 2½ full-time jobs were at risk as a result of the potential loss of revenue in that work. If that is the case, good on the member for raising it—at least he has done his homework about what the risk is—but it seems to me that there is an inconsistency of information in relation to that. In that case, it sits against a backdrop of local papers that have elected to go into electronic form themselves.

I have not in any way gone to my department to request or instruct (assuming I even have the power to do that at this point) how we would notify all these legal changes and notices that we are obliged to do in the Attorney-General's Department. I know there is a lot of it. I see reports on it. Therefore, I can only assume that has continued to be by the same methods and choices made consistent with previous administrations. I know that, as a new government, we now have very strict rules in relation to advertising—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, sir: time.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN: —who should be in it and the compliance of that, but I need to be persuaded.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: The Deputy Premier's time has expired.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (16:31): I would like to make a contribution to this debate. I certainly support the comments made by the member for Lee and also the member for Mount Gambier on this matter. Last week, for example, I was in Ceduna for local government regional meetings, as I go to the regions for my shadow portfolio area. One thing I always do when I go to regional areas is purchase a copy of the local newspaper because I can get an insight of what is happening in that particular community, what has recently happened, etc.

Also, through the letters columns, I can get an interesting view of what the community think. There are a whole range of things to pick up in the local newspaper. For example, I picked up copies of the West Coast Sentinel, Eyre Peninsula Tribune and Port Lincoln Times. When I am in the Riverland, I pick up copies of The Loxton News,The River News, The Murray Pioneer and The Murray Valley Standard, and I think there is also one called The Border Chronicle, which covers the Karoonda area.

The Hon. T.J. Whetstone:The Border Times.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO:The Border Times. I always try to purchase a copy of the local newspaper. I think one is also an online paper. Locally, I get a copy of The Bunyip, the local paper, and I purchase copies of The Leader, the Barossa Herald and also the Plains Producer. This is one way for me to keep in touch with what is happening in the community where I live and also in the regional communities. From time to time, I pop into the library here and read the regional newspapers.

Regional, rural and local papers play an important role in reporting what is happening in those communities. They chronicle major events and activities and they also provide a document of record, if you like, and that is very important. They also record the cultural history of the area. In my view, they play a very important role in our society and they are very important to those local communities.

As the Attorney-General has mentioned, she is aware, as we all are, that there are city-based newspapers but that the ones in the country are facing some challenges in terms of revenues, etc., to keep them alive and viable. Equally, like the city-based papers, they are trying to modernise. A lot of them now have some sort of social media component, websites, etc. They are trying to keep up with the times, but it is very hard to go from one format, which has been invested in quite heavily, to another format or platform without major loss of assets and capital for that business.

We have an important role in supporting these newspapers because their demise would be a sad loss for the community. The choice available to us in this place is that we can support amendments which help make a difference and help protect—I do not think 'protect' is the right word; I think the language to use is 'support'. Governments use the procurement process time and time again to achieve certain political, economic and social policy outcomes. There is nothing new about that. This is a case where the government should be using their procurement capacity to support local small businesses in regional and rural South Australia for the reasons I have outlined in terms of the important role they play.

Despite what has been said, any amendments that ensure that government use their procurement power to support these businesses is very important not only in the sense that we keep these small businesses viable in these small communities, where every job is extremely important because the opportunities for employment are less so, but also in terms of social policy outcome—that we support these papers that enable our history to be chronicled for future use.

With those few comments, I would certainly support any amendment and call on other members to support any amendment that helps maintain and support these small businesses in our communities because they play an important role for a whole range of reasons.

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (16:36): I would like to start by declaring an interest to the house. Members can apprise themselves of it on the register of interests, but I am a potential beneficiary of a trust that owns a regional newspaper, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, and I should make that known right from the outset.

It is commendable that the government is attempting to reduce red tape and simplify regulation for businesses and consumers. It is a wonderful thing and pleasing to see this initiative from the government to try to make things easier for all the business owners out there. The government's red-tape reduction strategy is about supporting businesses by putting in place more efficient processes, and this hopefully will improve business and give opportunity for growth out there in our regional areas.

I would like to commend the member for Mount Gambier for his contribution. He is clearly well in touch with the local newspaper in his local community and seems to have a great handle on the situation. Ever so briefly, I would like to highlight the importance of regional newspapers in their communities and highlight that they remain a vital mechanism for communication out to our regions and are heavily relied upon by regional constituents to apprise themselves of the news and developments happening within their region at any given time.

I can only relate back to my previous experience about the newspaper and, hopefully with the permission of the owner, I can reveal some statistics about the Country Times and its circulation. I know for a fact that there are 7,000 Country Times papers printed per week on a Tuesday and, when we make the assumption that there are three readers per house, that equates to roughly 21,000 readers per week, or at least over 20,000 readers in circulation.

The geography of the circulation of the Country Times is roughly similar to that of Narungga, slightly smaller but roughly similar, and we know that, with 25,000 voters per electorate, it covers quite a high percentage of the voters who are reading the paper every week. The circulation is still relatively high and the readership is still really strong. It covers a really wide variety of readers, and a lot of people wake up to it or get it in the afternoon on Tuesdays and rely on the news on the classifieds in there.

Advertising is the lifeblood of regional papers and, in order to ensure that they can continue to operate profitably, we need to make sure that that advertising stream is preserved. That is not all government advertising. Obviously it is preferable that that money come from private businesses in the area spruiking their wares and promoting themselves in the paper but, as has been made clear today, all advertising is appreciated, be it private sector or government. A small amount of advertising that comes in from these ads that are detailed in this act are appreciated; no matter how small the money may be, it is appreciated by the owners of these small regional family-owned businesses in a lot of instances.

As part of being in government, we have an obligation to make things easier for business and to ensure that they can continue to be profitable and that is no different for newspapers. Politicians love getting their photo in the paper, so we need to make sure that we continue to empower regional newspapers to continue to provide that platform for us to get our photo in there and cop the bagging from our mates when it does appear.

Unfortunately, I have very little faith in the departments to accurately decide where they should advertise in any given situation. Since being elected to parliament, I have had an experience only 18 months in of a new mining tenement lease announcement. The mine was south of Wallaroo and the advertisement was placed in the Port Pirie Recorder. No-one from the surrounding area where the mine was proposed was afforded the opportunity to read the advertisement because it was placed in a paper that was not circulated anywhere near where the actual mine was proposed. That is one example of a shortcoming, potentially, with this system. I have very little faith in the departments to administer it properly and to exercise their discretion reliably.

It is true that regional papers, or all papers, are trending toward a more online database, but the fact of the matter is if the advertisement is not placed in the paper then it will not appear either online or in hard copy. We need to ensure that we continue to maintain these revenue streams and continue to keep regional papers profitable.

Fortunately, I have great confidence in the ministers on this side of the house to exercise their discretion properly. I am sure they will continue to advertise in regional papers wherever necessary, whenever necessary and perhaps even more often than was done previously. That being the case—

The Hon. A. Piccolo: What about future ministers?

Mr ELLIS: Tony, are you suggesting you are not going to? If you ever get over here, you are not going to?

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

Mr ELLIS: There you go.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Member for Light!

Mr ELLIS: The member for Light, if ever afforded the opportunity to sit on this side, is going to cancel advertising.

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order! Member for Narungga, if you could please not respond to interjections.

Mr ELLIS: Another reason to ensure we continue to sit on the government benches.

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

Mr ELLIS: That being the case, I have great confidence in ministers on this side that they will continue to advertise in regional papers and, as such, I support the bill and look forward to its passage through the house.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:42): Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker, and what a fine job you are doing this afternoon. I rise to support the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill and notice that there are a reasonable amount of amendments that have been filed by the member for Lee and the member for Mount Gambier.

I want to go over a bit of what this simplify bill is seeking to do. It is amending 27 acts and it is also adding the option of publishing notices online, and there is a lot of discussion around publishing and whether it is publishing in rural papers or not. The bill will give government departments the discretion to publish notices online in regional newspapers, newspapers circulating across the state, as well as in the Government Gazette, and the ability, as has been so roundly put by the member for Narungga, to publish notices in regional local newspapers remains available to government departments. It is interesting that the bill is virtually the same bill as had been introduced by the former Labor government.

Mr Brown: Is that a reason to support it or oppose it?

Mr PEDERICK: You can speak. The rationale for the amendments from the member for Lee could be to minimise any potential impact on advertising revenue of regional publications. However, the majority of the proposed amendments do not relate to regional newspapers and instead pertain to public notices in the Government Gazette or a statewide newspaper. Obviously, because many of us like me, the member for Hammond, represent regional areas, I have regional newspapers that are vital to our area, whether it is The Border Times, TheMurray Valley Standard, The Southern Argus—

An honourable member: A great paper.

Mr PEDERICK: —yes, absolutely—or The Times, Victor Harbor, which I used a bit more when I was representing the areas around Goolwa and Currency Creek. There is also a range of small community publications like The Lakelander at Meningie and the Mannum Mag, obviously in Mannum, and we have one that goes out in Milang. These are all vital tools to get information out to people.

From having a look within our own government departments, the simple advice indicates that regional newspapers are not utilised to a large degree for the purposes of publishing the applicable government information. As such, the impact on regional newspapers of any change in publication format by government departments, should they do so, is not as large as has been put by some members in this place.

We have ministers and departments already indicating that they will continue to advertise in regional newspapers. They will make that choice to make sure they get that message to regional readers and constituents to make sure they get the news. Analysis of government expenditure indicates that only 28 per cent of all expenditure on state government public notices in this state relates to regional publications. Yes, it is still money going into our regional economies, going into our regional areas, supporting those areas. I note that papers have struggled and some have done a better job than others in enhancing online news. As someone who is closer to 60 than 50, accessing online sometimes can be a drama.

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: You don't look it.

Mr PEDERICK: Thank you, member for Unley. It has been a transition for all newspapers. Even major publications like The Advertiser in South Australia and The Australian, the national paper, have had to learn how to adapt to the online world. That has been a matter of course because more and more people get their news online. In fact, I subscribe to a range of newspapers online. I get TheMurray Valley Standard online, I get The Advertiser online and I get the Stock Journal online. There is a range of other publications that you can get online; some you still cannot but most you can.

It has changed everything to a different world, getting away from whether it is a spreadsheet version or the paper versions that we have been used to. I think they will still be utilised for a long time to come, but it has taken quite a bit of change and adaptation by papers, whether they are publications from country areas, regional areas or mainly state publications like The Advertiser and The Australian on a national basis.

The quantum of public notice spending in the 2017-18 financial year by state government on an individual regional publication did not exceed $12,700. That refutes claims by some members in this place who are saying that it could lead to the loss of 2½ full-time equivalent jobs. As I said before, the government has recently determined to ensure advertising occurs in the regional press.

We have certainly done that in the payroll tax campaign and the compulsory third-party choice campaign. Certainly, payroll tax was great news for South Australians. We could advertise right throughout the state so that, for owners of small businesses with an average of up to 25 employees, lifting the limit where payroll tax comes into play to $1.5 million means that on average an employer hiring 25 people would not have to pay any payroll tax at all.

In regard to compulsory third party, there is a choice when you register your vehicle or vehicles. You can choose your compulsory third party insurer, and that was certainly good news that was absolutely advertised in the regional press. I note that the Treasurer met with representatives from regional newspapers and talked about the quantums of advertising. He advised those people from regional press that a number of agencies will continue to advertise in regional papers, and I think they will.

I am the Chair of the Environment, Resources and Development Committee. The member for Playford and the member for MacKillop in this place are members of that committee. We advertised recently in Eyre Peninsula papers and, I believe, the Port Pirie paper. I do not even know what the Port Pirie paper would be, but papers in that Iron Triangle region and in Port Lincoln I believe—

Mr Teague:The Recorder.

Mr PEDERICK:The Recorder is the paper in Port Pirie. We are going to Whyalla on Friday week to host an inquiry into our recycling reference for the Environment, Resources and Development Committee and we certainly got quite a bit of interest and advertising in those local papers to make sure that we get that output to ensure that the local people are well informed of our arrival.

The simple fact is that it is not just print or online versions where you can get your word out. As we all know in this place, you obviously can use airwaves and television. Especially in a local area, it is fantastic if you have access to local television. That is just mint. We do not have as much as we used to have. We used to have WIN TV around the place. There is still a little bit of local TV, but I have local radio with 5MU and Power FM. I know that several members in this place utilise those mediums to get the message out.

I think it is about the appropriateness at the time of when, how and why you want to get that message out. As part of the total mix of all these items of press and availability, I think that regional newspapers will be well utilised in the future, certainly by this side of the house anyway, because we know and we understand regional areas. We know the vitality of having those jobs in regional areas, no matter what work it is, including those jobs that happen in regional press.

It is especially vital for my area. I do not know how many papers are printed in Murray Bridge by The Murray Valley Standard presses. I think there would be a paper getting printed nearly every night there to be distributed right around the state. The interesting fact is that—I do not know how far down the reserve list The Murray Valley Standard printers are—they have the capacity of backing up The Advertiser print run if they need to.

The Hon. D.G. Pisoni: Just move it all there.

Mr PEDERICK: We could. We could move it all into Hammond. Certainly, they have the capacity. It is my understanding that they are able to print The Advertiser. They obviously do not have the capacity of The Advertiser printers, but they can certainly fire up if they have plenty of notice to get an edition of The Advertiser out, so, yes, they are vital services for our state and we certainly believe in the overall simplification of legislation.

As I said, we are amending multiple acts with the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill and we are determined to make it easier to govern and to give people choice. Choice is one of those icons of the Liberal Party. It is a bit hard for those on the other side to understand choice. We have a conscience vote at the moment on another matter, and it is interesting. Without trying to reflect too much on the other matter, I am not mentioning it by name, when it came to working out whether people wanted to speak on it or they had to have a briefing, they turned up and someone spoke for about five minutes and—

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: We sort out our differences behind closed doors; that's the difference.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

Mr PEDERICK: But when they have a difference, they cannot even make up their mind if they have a difference or not.

An honourable member: Bring it on.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr Harvey): Order!

Mr PEDERICK: Anyway, I digress. I salute the fact that we have this legislation before the house and that we are looking to simplify and get things right so that government can act in a smoother way and that we can have choice and rely on our ministers and our departments to make the appropriate decisions in regard to advertising and the Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Simplify) Bill. I commend the bill to the house.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (16:56): I rise to commend the bill to the house. I am grateful for the opportunity to do so, and I will address some remarks in a moment to the topic that is preoccupying the bulk of the time in the debate in relation to reforms to modernise the capacity for publication in the modern form.

But, before I do, it is important to highlight that this is indeed a 'simplify' bill which will have the effect of amending or repealing a great number of pieces of legislation, many of which have become redundant over the course of the last century. It is well that we act in this place to clean up the books where there is material in legislation that has well and truly past its use-by date. Just to illustrate that, it may serve to highlight the repeal that is the subject of clause 88, which has the effect of repealing the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1921. It is a short act. I might read it in its entirety. The operative section of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1921 is section (2), which reads as follows:

2—Removal of certain disqualifications arising on account of sex

(1) A person shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage from being appointed as, or from performing the duties and exercising the functions of—

(a) a public notary; or

(b) a justice of the peace.

(2) This Act shall have the same effect as if it had come into operation on the sixth day of July, 1915.

It is somewhat quaint, and one sees immediately that in 2019 one would certainly hope there is absolutely no purpose to be served any longer by a piece of legislation that sets out the positive removal of any pre-existing disqualification of a person who might otherwise be qualified to perform in those public roles, so there we are.

From time to time, these processes provide us with the opportunity to simplify the legislative books and bring this legislature and the legislation of the state into the 21^st century. I am glad to see that clause 88 of the bill is not the subject of any controversy, and I understand it will be supported in its passage through this house.

There is some controversy in the course of the debate in relation to the modernisation of the publishing requirements in relation to certain official notices. That occupies a number of the parts of this bill that would amend various pieces of legislation that require the publication of notices. I might perhaps, by way of illustration, reflect on a recent significant moment in our state's history in relation to electoral matters. It involved the significant publication of notices in metropolitan and rural newspapers in two stages. I do so to illustrate how the attitude of those on the on the other side might vary from time to time.

In December 2015, the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, published notices indicating the commencement of the work it was to undertake in the course of the 2016 distribution. It published notices in the metropolitan newspapers such as The Advertiser, the Sunday Mail, The Weekend Australian and many of the Messenger newspapers throughout the metropolitan area. The commission also published notices in a wide range of country newspapers, many of which have already been referred to in the course of the debate. They included the fine newspapers that were published weekly in my electorate of Heysen: The Courier, The Weekender Herald, and, thirdly, as has been adverted to by the member for Hammond, Strathalbyn's The Southern Argus.

The Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission went ahead and did that in December 2015 with a view to ensuring that the public was well informed about the process that was underway. It was uncontroversial at the time. It is a matter of public record now that the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission went about its work throughout the course of 2016 and published a final report in late 2016.

That report was the subject of an appeal by the Labor Party because the Labor Party found that the report had finally and eventually belled the cat on what had been going on over the preceding 40 years. It was a finding of the commission that there had been an electoral imbalance in South Australia over 40 years, with the result that Labor was unfairly succeeding electorally in the vast bulk of elections that had taken place in the preceding 40 years.

The Labor Party did not like those findings, so much so that they instituted an unprecedented appeal against the findings of the boundaries commission very early in 2017. The Labor Party, having instituted the appeal, sought to be heard by the full Supreme Court. Not only that—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order: the member for Heysen, while normally interesting to the parliament, is unfortunately breaching standing order 128, that is, indulging in irrelevance.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Duluk): Thank you very much, member for Lee. I do not uphold that point of order. I am listening intently to the member for Heysen and always value his contribution in the house.

Mr TEAGUE: Have patience, I would urge the member for Lee; I am coming to it. I am eminently relevant and you will see why in just a moment. The Labor Party did not like the idea of having a boundaries commission outcome that, for once in 40 years, produced fair boundaries, so much so that they instituted an unprecedented appeal to the Supreme Court. Not only that, but they insisted that the appeal was so important that it be heard by five judges—not the usual three, but five judges. They had their wish granted and—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order: I know that the member for Heysen is relatively new to this place, but it is important to maintain within the lines your remarks when it comes to the debate on a bill. I know that keeping things within a boundary—for example, a motor vehicle parked in a car park—is a challenge for the member for Heysen and that he is now struggling similarly with the precepts of this debate.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Duluk): To be fair to the member for Heysen, Wilson's do not leave us too much space. Thank you, member for Lee. I will urge the member for Heysen to stay as relevant as he can and should be to the bill before the house, but of course it is an omnibus broad bill, so I expect a broad contribution.

Mr TEAGUE: I thank the Acting Speaker for his guidance and assure the house that I will well and truly stay on the rails. On the very same day that the Labor Party was granted its wish of a five-member Supreme Court bench to hear its unprecedented appeal against the finding of the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission that produced, for the first time in 40 years, fair electoral boundaries in this state upon which to prosecute an election, orders were made for the publication of notices in newspapers throughout the state.

Those orders were the subject of consideration in the course of directions hearings and there was submission made by parties on the appropriateness, scope and size of notices to be published. What was interesting about the difference between what happened when the commission started its work at the end of 2015 and the notices that it went ahead and published in newspapers was that that was at the commission's cost. However, when it came to the publication of public notices in newspapers at the time of the appeal, that was to be at the Labor Party's cost.

So, when it came to a requirement that there be a publication in Adelaide's main metropolitan newspaper, The Advertiser, and when there was discussion about whether it would be appropriate to publish in The Australian and a discussion about the appropriate scope and size of publications to be made in the various country newspapers around the state, the Labor Party took a very keen interest in the cost that was going to entail, the cost the Labor Party was going to have to incur in publishing these notices. My distinct recollection of their attitude at that stage was that the fewer hard-copy publications they would have to foot the bill for, the better.

They thought, 'Well, the public is going to be very adequately informed about this with a minimum amount of publication. We won't want to tell too many people about this' because, firstly, perhaps they were not too proud of themselves in mounting this legal argument. They were not too keen on facing the everyday South Australian and facing up to the sort of argument that they were mounting before the Supreme Court. Secondly, when it comes to having to bear the cost out of your own pocket, it would appear the attitude was very different in early 2017 on the part of the Labor Party to the cost of publication from what it was when it was the commission that had to go about doing the publishing.

That is an illustration of how one's attitude might change depending on one's point of view about the appropriateness of certain forms of publication, their scope and the cost of doing so. Of course, what is important for the government of the day, and for the responsible relevant departments who are charged with publication of important notices pursuant to legislation, is that they must go about doing so in the best interests of informing the public relevantly of the contents of those notices.

The fact is that we are well and truly now—19 years, in fact—into the 21^st century. In the course of our journey into this century, we have seen really rapid technological development. We have seen changes in the norms in terms of people's behaviour, how they consume media and how they go about informing themselves of the issues of the day.

I might say that I am no different from many of my generation, who grew up with hard-copy newspapers as the only way to get hold of the published print media of the day. What I have seen over the course of my growing up into adulthood is that now I find it most convenient for just about all purposes to see and to read the newspaper coverage, whether it be the metropolitan coverage or the material published in my local Hills newspapers, or indeed newspapers globally, on my screen, on my phone, on my tablet or on my computer.

That, of course, provides the opportunity for me, if there is a topic of interest, to easily pick it up and to circulate it to other people I know who I think might find the subject matter interesting. It means the material can come directly to me and be in my hand, wherever I am and instantaneously, and it offers the capacity for those who are charged with informing the public to meet the reader where they are at all times of the day and night, not just in the traditional way at the time that the hard-copy form might be published and distributed.

With those observations, I certainly want to endorse our embrace of this 21^st century, now almost one-fifth of the way through as it is. I hope that the remaining four-fifths of this 21^st century might be navigated with a confident attitude towards the technologies that are now well and truly available to us and used by large numbers of South Australians in particular.

I said at the outset that there are three newspapers of particular significance in my electorate of Heysen. I want to reflect on the importance of those three publications in particular because they illustrate how the evolution of the consumption of press media tells us a story about local communities and the receipt of news and notices in those local communities over time. The Weekender Herald; The Courier newspaper, published out of Mount Barker but very well distributed throughout Heysen; and The Southern Argus, published at Strathalbyn and a very important publication for that town, all have a central role to play in ensuring that news, notices and issues of the day are made available to people in my local communities of Heysen.

Indeed, so much so that I can say with a fair amount of confidence that a large number of people in Heysen would read one, two or all three of those newspapers on a regular basis, subscribe to them and follow the news published in those newspapers, well ahead of any engagement with the metropolitan newspapers, so central are they to day-to-day life through the Hills. I commend those three newspapers in particular amongst so many others that are published throughout the regions of country South Australia.

I encourage the steps that have been taken by them to be increasingly available in electronic form, increasingly available in a way that permits the sorts of advantages that we have been talking about in terms of the development of technology over time. There will always be those who enjoy picking up the hard copy, as I have done at my local Bridgewater service station over many years—it is the first thing you see when you walk in at Bridgewater—but for many, it will be a move to the electronic, and the legislation should reflect that. With those brief words, I commend the bill to the house.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (17:17): I also rise to support the bill. I have seen many changes in my lifetime in the way we receive our information in life. Computers were first introduced to my school while I was there. One classroom of computers was introduced in my last year at school, which was a completely foreign thing to me. I then went to university and learned some different things there as well. I learned how to program in dBase. I have that knowledge, but I have never used it and I never will because the whole evolution of the internet, computing, etc., has gone well beyond that point.

The debate in the chamber around this bill has very much been focused on communication in country papers. I think we are missing the point of what this is actually doing. This is trying to get the notice to as many people who want to see that notice as possible. Mandating it to be somewhere where people no longer go to get that information does not achieve that. It just sends money into a particular industry, which is not giving the benefit of what we want from communicating that notice to people.

I was very intrigued by a story in today's Adelaide Advertiser on the top of their first classifieds page that promotes their new website. They are transitioning their death notices, birth notices and any other tribute notices to a webpage rather than having the main birth and death pages in their classifieds. They are going to allow people to actually access the 33 newspapers that News Corp has throughout their network across Australia, to actually go on there to see what birth and death notices, etc., are there, which means that people will have a wider access.

While looking there, I looked at the next couple of pages, page 43 in the paper, and was amazed to see still in the paper—and I suspect it is because they are required to—the transport movements that are occurring in and out of Adelaide Airport and out of the port of Adelaide and other regional ports around South Australia, seeing the ship movements across the state.

I find it very strange to still have that in the newspaper. How many of us in this chamber would have checked to see what time their fight leaves in the newspaper the last time they flew on a plane? I would have thought they might go to a website or an app where they actually get a really up-to-date time of when the plane might leave, rather than rely on what is printed in the newspaper for the times flights leave Adelaide Airport.

Information needs to be much more current, and the communication to people needs to be understood and made more available by their being able to go to points where they can receive that information. I certainly read The Advertiser online as my method of reading that paper. Very rarely do I buy a hard copy of the paper these days.

I was interested on a Saturday to notice an ad for a select committee that was operating out of the other place. I happened to run into someone who was actually interested in that and mentioned the ad to them and asked whether they had they seen it. They had not. They did not know that they could see those ads in papers; that is not where they thought they would look for something like that.

They asked me whether I could I send them a copy. They asked for a copy by email. They did not ask for a printed copy. They did not want to go and buy a newspaper. They wanted the information electronically. We need to make it available to people in a form that they want to receive that information.

There are also many other things in the bill that I think are very important to simplify and repeal, such as some of those things that are on the statutes that are no longer needed. To clean up all this in a bill is important. With those few words, I very much support this bill.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (17:22): Thank you very much, Mr Acting Speaker, and what a fine job! I have not heard a peep out of those not contributing during your chairmanship—the fear of God you have placed over the chamber.

It has been a great debate, and I really do appreciate members' contributions, although the member for Lee's conversion on the road to Damascus does remain a mystery. It is very clear in this bill that the majority of the proposed amendments do not relate to regional newspapers and instead pertain to public notices in the Government Gazette or statewide newspaper, which is obviously The Advertiser.

Perhaps after this debate the member for Lee should be known as Murdoch Mullighan. He seems to be going in to bat for the statewide newspaper, which is itself moving into a very strong online presence. The other curiosity, of course, is that these amendments were absent when the Labor Party handled this bill prior to the election, and they were even absent in the upper house when the bill went through after the election, so the motivation of the opposition on this is curious.

I just want to respond to some of the commentary about the advertising in regional newspapers. Remember, in most instances there is no obligation now for the government to be spending money advertising in the classifieds or public notices, if you like, of government papers. Already this government has made a commitment without obligation through law, but obligation through service, to increase expenditure in regional media since we have been in office.

Of the $496,457.65 that was spent in 2016-17, $171,427.91 was spent in regional South Australia. In the next year, 2017, which of course was another year when Labor was in office, there was a total advertising budget of $511,502.82 of which $165,424.65 was spent in regional South Australia. Hence, something happened in March last year: there was a change of government and of a total expenditure of $510,660.05 for the 2018-19 year, $225,528.25 was spent in public notices in regional newspapers.

But there is more: since May, with the budgeted advertising expense for the Skilled Careers—Your Passion campaign, we are spending $104,000 in regional media in South Australia. So this government does not require any legislation to force it to have an interest in regional South Australia because that is the backbone of our community. We understand the contribution that regional South Australia makes. We are going through a transition, and that is why the Minister for Education is revolutionising the digital economy and digital education in our schools in South Australia.

By the end of this financial year, we will have gone from what we inherited—the worst connected digital schools in the country—to the best connected digital schools in the country. All our schools, those in regional South Australia and those in metropolitan South Australia, will have fibre connection through a deal that was very well negotiated by the Department for Education to ensure that students in our schools have the best outcome. Then, of course, we have rolled out GigCity and we have expanded to Mount Gambier through the fibre network and into Whyalla, so we have connected GigCity in Adelaide through to Mount Gambier and Whyalla.

We are enabling regional South Australia to come into the 21^st century. Yes, that may have happened, as the member for Heysen pointed out, 19 years after the beginning of the 21^st century, but it did happen and it took this government to make it happen because we are committed to innovation, we are committed to reform and we will make sure that during that reform process we will continue to support regional South Australia.

The member for Narungga made a very strong point when he said that he understood that this government, these ministers, understand the support there is for regional South Australia, and we will continue with that support as we go through the transition. We have proven that. Since we came to office we have spent more money in the public notices without any legal obligation to do so. We do not need that legal obligation.

It would be a pity to hold up this bill. It is going to free up the regulatory environment here in South Australia. It has bipartisan support, it is very similar to the bill that was introduced into the parliament by the previous government. We have made some improvements to that bill and we are reintroducing it. It got through the other place, when there was a perfect opportunity for the Labor Party to put forward these amendments in the upper house. Yet it has waited until the debate reached the House of Assembly before it even raised any concern.

It really does make you wonder what the country cabinets were all about over the last 16 years. We heard about how important they were for those on the other side in understanding what is important to regional South Australia, yet something they say is important now that they are in opposition that they did not attend to when it first came to the parliament this session but are attending to now all of a sudden is an important issue.

I reinforce the fact that we are committed to supporting regional media; we have done that. We have increased expenditure significantly in supporting regional media, and we have not needed legislation in order to do that because we are committed to regional South Australia.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

In committee.

Clause 1.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I move:

That progress be reported.

The committee divided on the motion:

Ayes 23

Noes 20

Majority 3

Progress thus reported; committee to sit again.