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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-04-30 Daily Xml
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CO-OPERATIVES NATIONAL LAW (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 9 April 2013.)

The Hon. S.G. WADE (17:41): I rise on behalf of the Liberal opposition to indicate our support for the Co-operatives National Law (South Australia) Bill 2013, but I do so with some caution: I might get another slap from the minister. The Hon. Michael O'Brien, Minister for Finance, introduced the Co-operatives National Law (South Australia) Bill 2013 in the House of Assembly on 20 February 2013.

The bill is intended to give effect to an intergovernmental agreement under which all states and territories committed to replacing their existing cooperatives legislation with a new national law. All Australian jurisdictions permit the incorporation of cooperatives as legal entities, as an alternative to incorporation under the Corporations Act and in a way that is tailored to the distinct attributes of cooperatives. Current legislation is based on the 1996 standard provisions developed by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. The legislation differs slightly in each jurisdiction.

It is intended that the cooperatives national law will create a level playing field for the industry by ensuring that legislative oversight is no less favourable than measures in place for other corporate bodies and ensuring that registered cooperatives can operate on a national basis in an equivalent manner to a corporation. Producer cooperatives (for example, dairy co-ops) are the most common examples of cooperatives in Australia, and I understand there are fewer than 60 cooperatives currently in South Australia.

The New South Wales parliament has enacted the Co-operatives National Law. Under the intergovernmental agreement, South Australia may either enact application of laws legislation to apply the New South Wales law as amended from time to time as the law of South Australia or to enact mirror legislation. I welcome that approach at a ministerial agreement, as we have discussed in the context of other legislation.

There has been a growing trend in ministerial councils to usurp the powers of state parliaments by requiring that ministers give commitments in ministerial agreements that they will enact legislation by reference; in other words, a piece of legislation enacted in one jurisdiction is taken to be the law of another jurisdiction. This house has, on a number of occasions, expressed its disquiet at that, so I welcome the fact that that option has apparently been given in the context of an intergovernmental agreement and pose the question: if that is workable in the context of this agreement, then why should it not be available more generally?

I do appreciate, as we have discussed in the context of national law legislation, that there will be some pieces of legislation that do need to be uniformly and rapidly updated. I think one of the examples given there was electricity regulation. If you have a set of safety rules being applied around Australia, the legislation by reference may well by appropriate, but it is the exception rather than the rule.

The Legislative Review Committee does have a reference from this house to consider the matter, but I note that in the context of this intergovernmental agreement at least, the option was given to the government. In that context, we welcome the fact that the government has chosen not to cede the South Australian parliament's legislative power to New South Wales by enacting laws of application legislation. That means that this parliament is considering this legislation. Like the Western Australian government, we will be enacting mirror legislation. As I said, we welcome that approach.

The Co-operatives National Law (South Australia) Bill 2013 provides a framework for the national law as enacted by the New South Wales parliament to be adopted in South Australia as regulations made under the bill once it has been assented to. So, in other words, as a change is needed to be made to the legislation, it will be put into the form of regulations. Either house of the parliament can object to that through the process of disallowance.

This method means that the adoption of national law is subject to the same process and restrictions as the making of regulations under any other South Australian act. I commend the government for both choosing that option and for introducing the bill using that technique. This approach allows the government to adopt the national law and comply with its obligations under the agreement and still respect the role of this parliament.

The government put the bill out for a brief period of consultation as there had been extensive consultation on the national law. We do not disagree with that. The government has indicated that the South Australian Joint Legislative Review Committee provided submissions on the bill which are being considered with respect to the national regulations.

I would like to take the opportunity to repeat the concerns raised by the Liberal opposition in the other place. As with other national law reforms, the government claims that the bill will improve the regulatory framework for cooperatives so that they are no less at a disadvantage than other incorporated bodies, but the Liberal opposition is alert to ensure that these reforms do not in fact mean that cooperatives will merely be subject to the same level of over-regulation as other parts of industry. On behalf of the Liberal opposition, I support the bill before the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. K. J. Maher.

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