adapted. Those of that opinion will say aye. Aye. To the can no. The
Ayes have it
say aye. Aye. To the can no. The
The Ayes have it. The bill is set down for third reading on the
next sitting day. I call on government
business of the day no. 2. Statutes
Amendment Bill (No 2). Mr Su'a
William Sio. Mr Speaker, I
mover that the Statutes Amendment Bill (No
2) be now read the first time. I
nominate the Govt Administration
Committee to consider
the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2). Mr Speaker,
as the House would be aware,
statutes amendment bills
are legislative vehicles that
make minor, technical
minor, technical and
number of Acts. It allows amendments that would not usually achieve
sufficient priority to be progressed
individually. This is achieved
with the support of all
parties and Parliament. The bill
the support of all parties and
amendments 29 Acts. Many amendments are designed to correct drafting
errors, omissions
errors, omissions and incorrect references such as an amendment to
the District Court Act of 2016. This
amendment allows community
magistrates and justices
of the peace to deal with contempt
of court proceedings. This was inadvertently
removed by the Criminal
Procedure Act 2016. This amendment would
reinstate this power for community
magistrates and justices of the
peace. Another example is an amendment
to the Coroner's Act 2006
and Remuneration Authority
Remuneration Authority Act 1977. These amendments allow the
Remuneration Authority to determine
the salary and principal allowances
of the Deputy Chief Coroner. This
decision was established by the
Coroner's Amendment Act
2016. However, due to an oversight,
that Act did not provide
the authority with the explicit power to set the
Deputy Chief Corner's salary and
principal allowances. Some
amendments
principal allowances. Some
supportable improvements to how some Acts work in practice. The
Amendments to the Crown Proceeding
Act 1950 seek
Amendments to the Crown Proceeding Act 1950 seek to improve
the operation of the Act. Previously,
the Minister of Finance was
required to prepare a statement,
each financial year,
financial year, with itemised amounts that departments are paid.
This amendment ensures departments
can follow modern
fiscal management practices. Other changes make
technical amendments to facilitate
functions of governance.
A amendment to the Public Actions
Act 1989 ensures that only those
reserve boards earning a substantial
amount are captured by auditing
requirements. It poses that
boards with
requirements. It poses that boards with less than
financial year are exempt from audiying
requirements. A further amendment allows
requirements. A further amendment
change the threshold following a joint recommendation of the Minister
of Finance and the Minister
of Conservation. A final example is
an amendment to the Policing Act
2008 that allows police to efficiently
deal with unclaimed property.
that allows police to efficiently deal with unclaimed property. The
amendment
amendment remove is the requirement that
amendment remove is the requirement amendment
amendment remove is the requirement that lost property be sold
at auction and shortens the length of
time that police must look after
the property from three months to six
weeks. Property that is of little or
no monetary value may instead be
destroyed or given away as
alternative. While all political parties
and the Parliament support
Parliament support the amendments proposed in this bill, I look
forward to hearing from
the committee's membership in terms of
the examination and their views on
these matters, as well as any views
of the public. The examples of
the amendments
amendments I've mentioned demonstrate the value of
the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2) as a
vehicle of advancing technical
yet vehicle
vehicle of advancing technical yet important amendments. I
look forward to the passage of this bill
through its stages and
will work constructively
its stages and will work its
constructively with all parties as such bills are put together
in the future. Madam Speaker,
I commend this bill to the House. I call
the Hon Amy Adams. Thank
you, Madam Speaker. I am happy to take
a call on this first reading of the
Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2). I
thank the minister for walking
us through some of the examples
of the matters in the bill. As the minister
has said in his speech these are,
by tradition, uncontroversial
tradition, uncontroversial and well supported bills. One thing I thought
the minister may have wanted to
mention is of course this is a bill
that outside of the