Ms McKEW (Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) (11:33 AM) —I thank members of the House for their contributions to the debate on the Airports (On-Airport Activities Administration) Validation Bill 2010. The government is certainly keen to ensure the administration of regulatory requirements is effective and valid. That is why it has been necessary to pass this legislation to remove any uncertainty introduced by the potential invalidity of infringement notices issued and any other actions performed by persons not validly or lawfully authorised under the regulations.

Effective traffic control arrangements are of course essential for the efficient operation of airports. Accordingly, members of the community are required to comply with the traffic management arrangements in place at the airports. The legislation addresses a defect in the formalities of the authorisation dating back to 2004, and it in fact confirms immunity from prosecution to persons who received the infringement notices and paid the relevant penalty.

Certainly in the future the government will ensure that administrative arrangements for this program are strengthened so that this sort of oversight will not occur again. I again thank members for their contributions and commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.