13 FEBRUARY 2008 www . hansard . act . gov . au Wednesday, 13 February 2008 Agents Amendment Bill 2008 ...................................................................................123 Courts (Judicial Appointments) Amendment Bill 2008 ............................................127 International Year of Languages................................................................................128 Education—school language programs .....................................................................145 Questions without notice: Schools—closures ..........................................................................................154 Parking—outstanding fines ............................................................................156 ACT Policing—numbers ................................................................................158 Employment—labour market .........................................................................159 Schools—sustainability initiatives .................................................................161 Griffin legacy..................................................................................................163 Hospitals—pay parking ..................................................................................167 Emergency services—FireLink ......................................................................169 Prisoners—support .........................................................................................171 Health—patient care.......................................................................................172 Health—capital works funding.......................................................................174 Personal explanation ..................................................................................................176 Questions without notice: Ruling by Speaker ..........................................................................................176 Education—school language programs .....................................................................177 Violence at Canberra nightspots ................................................................................181 Environment—climate change...................................................................................206 Adjournment: National Multicultural Festival.......................................................................213 Canberra International Airport .......................................................................214 Cycling............................................................................................................215 National Multicultural Festival.......................................................................215 Dr Jose Ramos-Horta......................................................................................217 Mr Xanana Gusmao........................................................................................217 Australian National University School of Music ...........................................218 Health—patient care.......................................................................................219 Health—patient care.......................................................................................221 Legislative Assembly for the ACT Wednesday, 13 February 2008 MR SPEAKER (Mr Berry) took the chair at 10.30 am and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory. Agents Amendment Bill 2008 Mr Mulcahy, pursuant to notice, presented the bill. Title read by Clerk. MR MULCAHY (Molonglo) (10.31): I move: That this bill be agreed to in principle. Mr Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I introduce the Agents Act Amendment Bill 2008. This bill, if supported, will deregulate the employment agency industry in the ACT. It will do this by removing references within the Agents Act to employment agents. At present the Agents Act requires employment agents to be licensed. Despite this requirement, the provisions that this bill seeks to amend achieve little by way of regulation of the industry. The change I am proposing will allow employment agents in Canberra to continue to operate just as they do now in the highly competitive market without facing attempted government regulation that really does not achieve anything at all. This is not a drastic measure. The current licensing requirements do not provide any useful regulation for the industry but, instead, result in a costly, cumbersome process that is adhered to by some in the industry but ignored by many others. A bureaucratic layer of licensing is not necessary in the recruitment and employment consultancy industry. I have been informed by industry that it does not alter the way that they operate and, aside from the inconvenience and cost of compliance with bureaucratic red tape, has little impact on businesses. Employment agents operate in a service industry. This in itself mitigates the need for regulation. If an individual were to operate or conduct themselves in an unsavoury manner they would certainly not last long in this highly competitive industry. Competitors in the industry rely upon attracting clients, both workers and employers, and as such must conduct themselves in a professional manner. In trend terms, unemployment, as the Chief Minister boasted in his December media release, in the ACT was just 2.4 per cent in December last year. I think it has come down since then. This is hardly the environment in which competitors would seek to operate to the detriment of either employees or employers. In a town where the unemployment rate is just 2.4 per cent, the employment market is highly competitive. With such low levels of unemployment, employment agencies still compete to attract both employers seeking workers but, even more so, compete for individuals to fill those vacancies. They can scarcely afford to behave in anything 123 13 February 2008 Legislative Assembly for the ACT but a professional way or they run a very serious risk of having their business disregarded and inevitably facing failure. It is, unfortunately, historically typical of the approach of successive ACT governments that it was felt necessary to have oversight over so many aspects of the business community in the ACT. Business—and I extend this comment beyond the recruitment industry—does not need to be micromanaged by government. We have moved light years ahead of the days of the NCDC where the town was treated like an infant child, being managed from sunrise to sunset. We need to move on in terms of our approach to business and regulation and, to this end, it should not be subject to meaningless licensing and regulation procedures that accomplish nothing beyond inconvenience, expense and wasted energy. Partly, I am sure, this attitude is driven by a traditional mistrust of business. Our business is not trusted to operate independently, and so governments seek to impose themselves over every move the business community makes. In my experience, this approach is really not necessary and hinders rather than helps business and the community. I am, of course, not so naive as to think that we can rely totally on the market alone to regulate behaviour in the community. And that is why we have developed a comprehensive system of laws to protect individuals, and indeed we pass new laws every time this Assembly sits. It is not only the market that ensures that the recruitment industry conducts itself in a responsible manner or in a reasonable manner; for example, most of the commercial dealings engaged in by recruitment agencies and employment consultancy groups are covered by other heads of law like the Fair Trading (Consumer Affairs) Act. Mr Speaker, market forces and other heads of law mean that this additional level of bureaucracy is not needed to regulate this industry and serves no useful purpose. The cost of this superfluous regulation is $560 per licence. The cost is compounded by the fact that many firms require multiple licences. I am informed, for example, that one leading recruitment firm, because it has eight incorporated entities, requires eight separate licences to operate in the territory. I really cannot see any rationale for layer upon layer of licences within a single grouped entity to exist. It is another example of the absurdity of this regulation. The actual cost to a company, when the time spent on compiling the necessary documentation is considered, is much greater of course than the $560 fee required per licence by the territory government. Certainly the inconvenience faced by businesses that comply is considerable. I will give an example that highlights the absurdity of the current regulations. I have been informed that, in some cases, the national and even the international hierarchy of local businesses directors and chief executive officers, who do not necessarily even operate in the ACT and are resident overseas, of local companies in Canberra require accreditation for the company to operate in the ACT. This really is an example of regulation gone mad. The ACT requires police checks, statutory declarations and other materials from individuals who do not work in this city or, in some cases, do not even work within Australia. I would be most interested in hearing the rationale behind this requirement, 124 Legislative Assembly for the ACT 13 February 2008 and I struggle to see how it could be justified. I understand the need for that level of detail in certain industries,