Sio Hon Aupito WilliamSTATUTES AMENDMENT BILL (NO 2)First ReadingHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Associate Minister of Justice) on behalf of the Minister of Justice: I move That the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2).As the House will be aware statutes amendment bills are legislative vehicles that make minor technical and non-controversial amendments to a number of Acts. It allows amendments to be made that would not usually receive sufficient priority to be progressed individually. This is achieved with the support of all parties in Parliament.The bill as introduced amends 29 Acts administered by 12 different Government agencies. Many of the amendments are designed to correct drafting 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 when hearing proceedings. This power was previously conferred under the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 but was inadvertently removed by the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act of 2016. This amendment would reinstate this power for community magistrates and justices of the peace.Another example is the amendment to the Coroners Act 2006 and the Remuneration Authority Act 1977. These amendments allow the Remuneration Authority to determine the salary and principal allowances of the Deputy Chief Coroner. This position was established by the Coroners Amendment Act 2016. However due to an oversight that Act did not provide the authority with the explicit power to set the Deputy Chief Coroner's salary and principal allowances.Some amendments make non-controversial and supported improvements to how some Acts work in practice. The amendments to the Crown Proceedings Act 1950 seek to modernise and improve the operation of the Act. One amendment allows departments to state in their financial statements the cumulative amounts incurred in satisfying court judgments. Previously the Minister of Finance was required to prepare a statement each financial year with itemised amounts that departments have paid. This amendment ensures departments can follow modern fiscal management practices.Other changes make technical amendments to facilitate functions of governance. An amendment to the Public Finance Act 1989 ensures that only those reserve boards that earn a substantial amount are captured by auditing requirements. The amendment proposes that reserve boards with total operating expenses or revenues of less than $100000 per financial year are exempt from auditing requirements. To ensure the threshold continues to be set at an appropriate level a further amendment allows the Governor-General to change this 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. The amendment removes 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 an alternative.While all political parties in the Parliament support the amendments proposed in this bill I look forward to hearing from the committee's membership in terms of the examination of their views on these matters as well as any views of the public. The examples of amendments I've mentioned demonstrate the value of the Statutes Amendment Bill (No 2) as a vehicle for advancing technical yet important amendments. I look forward to the passage of this bill through its stages and I will work constructively with all parties as such bills are put together in the future. I commend this bill to the House.