>From the DICE website: http://www.dice.org.au/ << Save the DDA! The Commonwealth Attorney General's office has informed the Australian Psychiatric Disability Coalition (APDC) and the National Council on Intellectual Disability (NCID) that drafting directions are now being prepared for delegated legislation in relation to the DDA 1992. APDC/NCID have initiated a joint campaign to save the DDA from changes which will weaken the DDA and the rights of people with disabilities. Delegated legislation is a power contained within an Act of Parliament for Ministers to make regulations. Below is an explanantion of the process of delegated legislation from the Parliament web site. "Delegated legislation The Parliament may delegate some of its legislative powers to the Executive Government, which may make regulations, statutory rules, by- laws, orders, ordinances, instruments or determinations according to the powers bestowed by an authorising Act of Parliament. Laws made in this way are known as delegated or subordinate legislation. Delegated legislation must be authorised by an Act, must be presented to both Houses of the Parliament and can be disallowed (vetoed) by a motion agreed to by either House. In some cases Acts provide that specific pieces of delegated legislation made under their authority must be approved by both Houses before coming into effect. All delegated legislation is closely scrutinised by the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances." The process for delegated legislation can be also be found within the Acts Interpretation Act. APDC/NCID has requested from the Attorney General the rationale for the preparation of this delegated legislation as no community consultation has taken place. The Attorney General's Office has at this stage signalled that it will prepare an information fax to inform people with disabilities of the process. DICE will place on this page any news of the proposed delegated legislation as it comes to our attention. The list of legislation listed to be prescribed is below. The Attorney-General has agreed to prescribe thefollowing provisions and legislation pusuant to s.47(2) of the DDA; New South Wales * Mental Health Act 1990 and Mental Health Regulations 1990; * Regulation 18 Food (General) Regulations 1997; and * Regulations 10(1)(c) and 11 Motor Traffic Regulations 1935. South Australia * Sections 20 and 20A Firearms Act 1977; * Sections 88 and 148 Motor Vehicles Act 1959; * Sections 75(3) and 75A Education Act 1972; * Regulation 11 Industrial and Employee Relations (General)Regulations 1994 * Section 30A and Schedule 3 Workers Rehabilitation and CompensationAct 1986. The DDA 1992 originally had a moratorium of 3 years in which time it was not considered unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with another law - [s. 47 (3).] The Commonwealth Attorney General has since consulted with state/territory Attorney Generals seeking any requests for state laws to be prescribed under - [s. 47 (2)]. This power within the DDA allows for laws to be 'prescribed'. If a law is 'prescribed' this essentially places the law outside the DDA's scope. To quote: "This Part does not render unlawful anything done by a person in direct compliance with a prescribed law." - [s. 47 (2)] We urge people with disabilities, their families, and representatives to seek an explanation from the Commonwealth Attorney General, Daryl Williams, as to why he is proposing this legislation, and why there is not any public information or consultation before proceeding to make significant changes to laws directly affecting the rights of people with disabilities? Contact Details for the Mininster are: The Hon. Daryl Williams AM QC MP Commonwealth Attorney General House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Tel: 02 6277 7300 Fax: 02 6273 4102 More information about delegated legislation ......... from the parliamentary web site "Delegated legislation Many Acts empower the Governor-General, a minister or statutory office-holder to make rules or regulations. Regulations generally provide for the finer details of administration, particularly those details which are subject to frequent change, such as the rate of an allowance. These subordinate rules may be called regulations, determinations, instruments, directions, by-laws or notices. Collectively, they are known as delegated or subordinate legislation, because Parliament has delegated to a specific person the power to make those rules. Each year Parliament passes more than 200 bills but around 1800 pieces of delegated legislation are made without going through Parliament. All of them must be tabled in, or presented to, both Houses of Parliament and are subject to disallowance by either House. If a regulation is disallowed, it ceases to have effect. In practice, the scrutiny and disallowance of delegated legislation takes place in the Senate rather than the House of Representatives, largely as a result of the non-government majority that is usual in the Senate. The Senate's Regulations and Ordinances Committee examines all delegated legislation against criteria similar to those used by the Scrutiny of Bills Committee, and takes up with the minister any potential problems, particularly when it appears that an action empowered by a regulation would more properly be provided for in an Act under Parliament's direct scrutiny. An unresolved problem results in a notice of motion for the disallowance of the offending regulation. Most notices of motion for the disallowance of regulations are given by the Chairman of the Regulations and Ordinances Committee, but any senator may give such a notice. The Senate has 15 sitting days to deliberate and vote on whether the regulation should be disallowed. If the matter is not resolved within the 15 sitting days, the regulation is automatically disallowed. Through the work of this committee, the Senate monitors a significant area of legislation which Parliament does not directly approve. >> -- *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* * Ria Strong * Melbourne, Australia * * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * ICQ #5689114 * *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
