It was a packed day of Government business on Thursday in the Legislative Council, with bills covering everything from parking fines to support for police officers and music festivals brought to the House. The Music Festivals Amendment Bill 2024 passed the Council, reducing regulatory burdens for festival event organisers, and the House took part in lengthy debate on a bill seeking to introduce a average speed cameras. Read on for more…

INTRODUCED: FINES AMENDMENT (PARKING FINES) BILL 2024

Early on Thursday, the Fines Amendment (Parking Fines) Bill 2024 was introduced in the Legislative Council by Minister the Hon Courtney Houssos. This bill seeks to amend the Fines Act 1996 to ensure that people issued with penalty notices are for certain parking offences are issued with on-the-spot notices.

In her second reading speech, Minister Houssos explained that under current legislation, a ticketless parking fine system was used by some local councils, whereby infringement notices are posted to the driver instead of being immediately displayed on their car. This has led to situations whereby drivers are not aware they have committed a parking offence and may re-offend in the time between being issued the fine and receiving notification of the fine. This bill seeks to require notification of a penalty notice to be attached to the vehicle at the time the notice is given. The bill would also prohibit a fine being issued for a parking offence if a fine for the same kind of offence was issued within the previous seven days for the same vehicle in the same or similar location. Read more about the bill in Minister Houssos’s second reading speech.

Following the bill’s introduction, debate was adjourned for five calendar days, according to standing order.

PASSED: POLICE AMENDMENT (POLICE OFFICER SUPPORT SCHEME) BILL 2024

The Police Amendment (Police Officer Support Scheme) Bill 2024 passed the Legislative Council on Thursday, having passed the Legislative Assembly on the previous sitting day. Introduced by Minister the Hon Tara Moriarty, this bill amends the Police Act 1990 and the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 establishing the police officer support scheme. This scheme would provide payments to police officers who die or become permanently or temporarily incapacitated at work.

In her second reading speech, Minister Moriarty explained that the bill aims to modernise the current Police Blue Ribbon Insurance Scheme (PBRI). Under the current scheme, officers contribute 1.8% of their salary to the PBRI which provides a nine-month waiting period on full pay, followed by up to seven years of income protection at 75% of their salary, with adjustments for any additional income, such as workers’ compensation for on-duty injuries. It also includes coverage for death, total and permanent disability, and terminal illness.

The new scheme seeks to improve support for injury management claims, facilitate recovery and return to work, and strengthen the financial safety net for officers and their families. Under the new provisions, police officers would receive income protection benefits of 100% pay for the first nine months, followed by up to 75% of salary for seven years, with an additional 17% loading for non-commissioned officers. The bill also extends off-duty injury protection from two to three years, and death and disability benefits remain. A catastrophic or exceptional extension payment (CEEP) would provide an extra three years of payments in certain circumstances. The new scheme would also provide income protection without adverse tax implications for officers, allowing them to salary sacrifice more into superannuation. The effectiveness of the new scheme would be overseen by the

Auditor-General. Read more about the bill in Minister Moriarty’s second reading speech.

Contributions to the second reading debate were made by members of the Opposition, The Greens and Independent member the Hon Rod Roberts. Read the Hansard record to see all member contributions, and continued here.

When the House resolved into committee of the whole, one amendment was moved by Ms Abigail Boyd on behalf of The Greens which sought to remove the prohibition on the Industrial Relations Commission from considering cost savings as a result of changes to the death and disability scheme. This amendment was agreed to on the voices. Read the full committee of the whole proceedings in the Hansard record.

With the third reading agreed to on the voices, the bill as amended was sent on to the Legislative Assembly for concurrence.

PASSED: MUSIC FESTIVALS AMENDMENT BILL 2024

Also passing the Legislative Council on Thursday was the Music Festivals Amendment Bill 2024. This bill amends the Music Festivals Act 2019 and the Liquor Act 2007 to address findings from the April 2024 Final Report–Review of the Music Festivals Act 2019.

During the second reading debate Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy the Hon John Graham explained that the bill aimed to reduce the regulatory burden on music festival organisers and refocus the regulatory framework towards health and medical concerns, reduce the user-pays system of government fees, ease restrictions for minors attending festivals and enhance governance and other administrative requirements.

Amendments to the Music Festivals Act 2019 include replacing the requirement that certain music festivals prepare a safety management plan with a requirement to prepare a plan relating only to health and medical matters. It would also transfer the responsibilities of the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) under the Act to the Secretary of the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport and the Secretary of the Ministry of Health. The bill would allow music festival organisers to appeal to ILGA against determinations requiring them to operate with an agreed health and safety plan, permit the NSW Police Commissioner to propose additional conditions for these plans and enables organisers to apply for reduced or waived charges related to police, ambulance, or other government services at festivals. Additionally, the bill would allow unaccompanied minors aged 16 or older to attend licensed festivals if adequate control measures are in place to prevent underage drinking. Read more about the bill in Mr Graham’s speech.

Further contributions to the second reading debate were made by members of the Opposition, The Greens, the Libertarian Party and Independent member the Hon Rod Roberts. Read all member contributions in the Hansard record. The second reading of the bill was agreed to on the voices.

When the House resolved into committee of the whole…

  • Ms Cate Faehrmann moved 14 amendments on behalf of The Greens which sought to add a commencement date for new sections, favour festivals featuring Australian artists, make emergency funding available to festivals with capacities of less than 15000 people, alter the police’s involvement in the health and management plan, alter the police’s role in enforcing the Act and add in a requirement to review the Act. These amendments were all negatived. See the Minutes for a full breakdown of votes for each of these amendments.
  • The Hon Damien Tudehope moved 1 amendment on behalf of the Opposition which sought to remove the requirement for Destination NSW to be represented on the music festivals panel. This amendment was negatived on division (Ayes: 13/Noes: 20)

Read the full committee of the whole proceedings in the Hansard record.

With no amendments made, the bill’s third reading was agreed to on the voices and it was returned to the Legislative Assembly, ready for the Governor’s assent.

DEBATED: ROAD TRANSPORT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (SPEED CAMERA DETECTION) BILL 2024

The Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Speed Camera Detection) Bill 2024 was introduced in the Legislative Council by Roads Minister the Hon John Graham. The bill would amend the Road Transport Act 2013 to provide that the average speed detection cameras that operate to monitor the speed of heavy vehicles would, in some specific locations, now apply to monitor the speed of all vehicles.

In his second reading speech Minister Graham explained that the bill seeks to extend the current legislative framework for average speed camera enforcement for heavy vehicles to all vehicles. It would allow for evidence of the average speed of a vehicle recorded between detection points to be used as evidence of the actual speed of the vehicle for the purposes of speed offences. Minister Graham explained that the Government intended to implement a trial of this expansion of average speed cameras in regional areas, particularly in two of the 31 average speed camera locations in use across the state: on the Pacific Highway between Kew and Port Macquarie, and on the Hume Highway between Coolac and Gundagai. Read more about the bill in Minister Graham’s second reading speech.

During the second reading debate, contributions were made by members of the Opposition, The Greens, the Government, the Libertarian Party, and Independent member the Hon Rod Roberts. Read all member contributions in the Hansard record.

With the hard adjournment time of 10pm looming, further debate on the bill was adjourned until a future sitting of the House.

MOTIONS

On Thursday afternoon, the House debated a motion, moved by Minister the Hon Tara Moriarty, on the proposal for revocation of a dedication of part of Bago State Forest. This motion is required to be passed by both Houses to have effect, and is a procedure of a  kind  which is quite rarely seen in the House. It was agreed to on the voices.

The following motions were also agreed to without debate, during the day’s formal business:

IN COMMITTEES

Changes to membership of the Committee on Children and Young People were agreed to in the House on Thursday, with the Hon Scott Barrett (Nationals) appointed to the committee in place of the Hon Natasha Maclaren-Jones (Liberal).

DOCUMENTS TABLED AND REPORTED IN THE HOUSE

Among the documents tabled and reported in the House on Thursday were:

Find all documents tabled and reported in our Tabled Papers Database.   

2 thoughts on “In the House – Thursday 26 September 2024”

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