Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches[Index] [Search] [Bill] [Help]
| Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time. Firstly, I sincerely welcome students from Wagaman Primary School, my school, and say good morning to them all. I deal with them regularly, and it is really great they get to see their local member talking about important legislation. I am pleased to bring this amendment to the Agents Licensing Act before the parliament and to clarify and rectify an injustice. The industry representative on the Agents Licensing Board wrote to the Attorney-General seeking to have the age discriminatory provisions of the Agents Licensing Act removed. Currently, appointees to the Agents Licensing Board have to be less than 65 years of age before and during the course of their appointments. This discrimination on the basis of age clearly has no place in our society, and has the potential to deprive the Territory of access to the schools and experience of a highly valued group in our society. In fact, this is the only remaining act in my portfolio that has such an archaic discriminatory provision. I am keen to ensure that statutory boards, committees and tribunals have the best possible membership and that age is not used as a discriminatory factor when appointing members to these bodies. Accordingly, this bill is designed to remove the age discriminatory provisions from the act. This bill will ensure that the Agents Licensing Board operates without any impediment and that in the future will have access to the broadest possible range of skilled Territorians to serve on our boards and committees. I commend the bill to the House and table the explanatory statement. Debate adjourned. |