I move amendment No. 14:
In page 26, subsection (3), lines 1 and 2, to delete " under subsection (1) or subsection (2) " and substitute " or renewal under subsection (1), subsection (2) or subsection (6) ".
With the permission of the Chair, I shall take amendments Nos. 14 and 15 together.
Section 29 provides for the granting of licences to hunt game birds and game animals, that is, hares and deer, with firearms. Subsection (3) provides that in dealing with applications for such licences the Minister shall have regard to the conservation needs of game birds or game animals for which open seasons will have been declared under sections 24 and 25 and to the suitability of the applicant having regard to those needs. Amendment No. 14 provides for a necessary cross reference to the renewal by the Minister of licences under subsection (6). Obviously, the same considerations I have just mentioned should apply to applications for renewal of licences as apply to original applications. This was an oversight in the drafting of the section.
Similarly, amendment No. 15 in effect provides that when a person is applying to the Minister for a renewal of a hunting licence he must make a formal declaration of his qualifications under section 28 as he is obliged to do it when making his original application. This is a necessary amendment to cover, for example, a situation where a person was qualified to apply originally for a hunting licence on the grounds that he had lawful access to sporting rights over a specified tract of land but by the time he comes to apply for a renewal of the hunting licence the location of his sporting rights had changed.
They are two technical amendments to tidy up the section and to impose the same obligation on an application for a renewal of a hunting licence as to the original application.
If the amendments are accepted I propose to give the Committee a brief résumé——