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Senator Courtenay Says DPAC Composition Questionable
posted (December 17, 2018)
PUP Senator Eamon Courtenay also weighed in saying he has issue with the power the Minister has in appointing members of the Designated Processing Areas committee. Here is what he had to say.

Hon. Eamon Courtenay, PUP Senator
"One of the issues that concerns me is the role of the minister that is being given to the minister responsible for designated processing areas under this piece of legislation and if we take a look at clause 3 of the bill, it says the DPAC shall consists of no more than 10 person who shall be appointed by the minister as representatives of the following and then it lists a number of ministries and then when it comes to the private sector one representative from the chamber of commerce, but it is not nominated by the chamber of commerce. So it's the minister being given power to choose and say that person will represent the chamber of commerce. The same applies to the DPA developers, DPA businesses and special DPAs and one representative from the industrial sector and one from the services sector - all within the discretion of the minister. You go down to clause 6. It says the minister shall appoint for among the members one member to be the chair to preside over meetings, but the very next clause says, the committee shall at its first meeting select from among its members a deputy chair. Why can't the committee select its chair? Why must the minister have the right to choose who should be the chairman of this committee?"

The senators also discussed the Income and Business Tax Amendment Bill, the Stamp Duties Amendment Bill, and the International Business companies Amendment Bill.

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