Bill No. 143 - Boat Harbour Act (amended). - 2nd Reading

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : I am pleased to rise and say a very few words about this legislation - very few because we had no bill briefing on this legislation. As far as we know, it may go to the Law Amendments Committee as soon as tomorrow, potentially without any notice to people who may want to have their say on it.

I share the concerns that my colleague brought up around the timing. We are currently engaged in litigation, and so it's very unclear to me what the impact of this bill will in fact be, although we are supportive. All parties in this House supported the Boat Harbour Act and continue to support it and are curious - the explanation given by the minister. I appreciate the detail that he went into in presenting the bill to the House today. However, we were not given the opportunity to speak with department staff, to ask some of the questions that we might have, nor, frankly, were the media.

We continue to have questions. I certainly hope that presenters will have the opportunity to come to the Law Amendments Committee, if they so choose, to speak to this bill. We'll see what comes forward from there.