Bills

Coorong Environmental Trust Bill

Final Stages

Consideration in committee of message No. 160 from the House of Assembly.

(Continued from 27 October 2021.)

Amendment No. 1:

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I move:

That the Legislative Council disagrees to amendment No. 1 made by the House of Assembly.

I note, on this Coorong Environmental Trust Bill, that this is a bill of some years in the making and that in the other place some amendments were drafted on the floor and agreed there. However, because they did not go through parliamentary counsel, certainly amendment No. 1 has some unforeseen consequences about the commencement clause, and I will just anticipate the debate, given the lateness of the hour and to remind and refresh members on what is going on here.

The intent of what was attempted to be moved in the other place is enacted with amendment No. 2, redrafted by parliamentary counsel to keep in good faith the changes that were made in that chamber. Amendment No. 3 will also be disagreed to.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I might do a cognate debate on each of the amendments just to advise that, at this stage, the government supports the bill as passed in the House of Assembly and therefore will not be supporting amendments in this chamber. Essentially, we believe that the amendments do improve the legislation, for instance, in matters where the trust will be accountable to parliament and so is the relevant minister. We believe it is appropriate that the minister have some say on the board's make-up to ensure that people are suitably experienced and representative.

The proposal that five are not appointed by the minister means that there is a large independence from government, while at the same time the trust is accountable to parliament. Given the lateness of the hour, I think these matters have been debated. We also have some concern about the timing of implementation in that we do not see the need to delay the appointment of members of the trust for any particular reason.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I can indicate that we will be supporting the proposed amendments from the Greens. The rushed nature of amendments that came from the lower house, I am advised, make it somewhat unworkable and it needs to be fixed up, in our view, in this chamber.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: I indicate on behalf of SA-Best that we will also be supporting the amendments by the Hon. Tammy Franks.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I want to very specifically say that my advice from parliamentary counsel is that this is unprecedented wording for a commencement clause and it will have unforeseen consequences under the Acts Interpretation Act. They have grave concerns about the way that this particular amendment was drafted. It is about the commencement clause.

In terms of the discussion and debate that the government just put up about the minister, the way the minister has drafted that in the other place means that he may well appoint—and we agree with his ability to appoint—an additional person. He already did have the ability to appoint one of them, but his wording means that, if he seeks to take somebody off the board, it will be ineffective; in fact, they can ignore his will.

So if he wants what he wants, he will support the parliamentary counsel drafted amendments that I am now putting, which effect what the minister's intention was and the agreement that was made there, but if the government wishes to ignore the advice of parliamentary counsel and set a precedent around the commencement clause here, I will be quite gobsmacked, I have to say.

Motion carried.

Amendment No. 2:

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I move:

That the Legislative Council disagrees to amendment No. 2 made by the House of Assembly but makes the alternate amendments in lieu thereof.

Motion carried.

Amendment No. 3

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I move:

That the Legislative Council disagrees to amendment No. 3 made by the House of Assembly.

Motion carried.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: I move:

That a committee consisting of the Hon. I.K. Hunter, the Hon. C. Bonaros and the mover be appointed to prepare reasons for disagreeing to the amendments of the House of Assembly.

Motion carried.

The following reason for disagreement was adopted:

Because the amendments were not drafted by parliamentary counsel and are nonsensical, and the alternate amendments do what the minister intended to do.