Debates Day 2 - Wednesday 17 May 1995
Parliamentary Record 10
Debates for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997
1995-05-17
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Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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DEBATES - Wednesday 17 May 1995 I would like to place on record my appreciation to members of the committee and to all the support staff. I found the experience an enriching one in many ways. Being on a committee like this is often a case of a crash course in the subject that it is studying. 1 believe that I have now a firmer and fuller grasp of the problems that face this most important area of the Northern Territory. I hope that, in the years to come, we can look back on this report as a turning point literally in turning back the tidal problems facing the Mary River wetlands system. I commend the report to honourable members. Debate adjourned. TRADE MEASUREMENT ADMINISTRATION AMENDMENT BILL (Serial 81) Bill presented and read a first time. Mr FINCH (Attorney-General): Mr Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time. The Trade Measurement Administration Amendment Bill provides for amendments to the Trade Measurement Administration Act to allow for the introduction of a simplified method of adjusting the prescribed fees and charges. This will be achieved by granting the minister the authority to prescribe by a notice in the NT Government Gazette the fees and charges under the principal act, the Trade Measurement Act, and the Trade Measurement Administration Act. This authority for the minister to determine the fee scale includes the ability to waive a fee or charge where circumstances warrant it or to introduce a new one to cover the cost of providing any additional services necessitating the imposition of a new charge. In addition to the new clause 6A, which provides for the minister to approve a new scale of fees and charges, existing section 9 has been amended. This will mean that the minister can make provision for matters incidental to the prescribing of normal inspectorial service fees and charges. These incidental matters are presently covered in the regulations and, by way of example, include such things as application and licence fees. At the time of the commencement of the uniform Trade Measurement Act in 1991, it was agreed that the scale of fees and charges would be adjusted annually on 1 October in each year. It was further agreed that the formula to be used for annual adjustments would be based on the CPI figure for the previous financial year plus 2%. This was done to ensure that the fees and charges remained at a competitive and realistic level over time. The current method used for the annual adjustment of fees and charges has proved too time-consuming and cumbersome, as the adjusted scale needs to be redrafted as a new set of regulations each year and then endorsed by the Administrator in Executive Council. The bill proposes amending the act to provide a simpler system for setting the prescribed fees and charges by allowing the minister to do it according to the formula currently employed. This will be done by the inclusion of a newly-drafted section 6A to be inserted in part III, Fees and Charges, of the Trade Measurement Administration Act. As a consequence of this amendment, the existing section 9 is amended by omitting from subsections (1), (2) and (3), the word regulations and substituting a reference to a notice under section 6A. The existing fees and charges regulations shall continue in force until such time as the minister, using the newly-amended 3294