Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2005 continues the important exercise of correcting errors and removing expired laws from the statute book. The corrections and repeals are desirable in order to improve the quality and accuracy of Commonwealth legislation and to facilitate the publication of consolidated versions of acts.

This parliament is very well served by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, which provides the parliament with bills that are drafted to a very high standard. The office’s commitment to the quality of the Commonwealth statute book is also evident in the fact that this bill is one that has been initiated by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel.

I commend the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for its work in preparing the bill, for being attentive to the operation of laws on the statute book and for drafting amendments to correct any identified errors. In this way, statute law revision bills prepared by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel play a key role in ensuring the statute book is accurate, accessible and effective.

The bill proposes to correct technical errors such as misspellings, punctuation errors, numbering errors and misdescriptions of text that have occurred in Commonwealth acts as a result of drafting and clerical mistakes. The bill also proposes to repeal a number of obsolete acts that have no current or future operation. I am told that none of the amendments will make any substantial changes to the law.

The bill has three schedules. Schedule 1 amends errors contained in 14 principal acts. The kinds of errors proposed for amendment in schedule 1 are of a minor and technical nature, such as incorrect spelling, punctuation or numbering. Schedule 2 amends a number of errors contained in 19 amending acts. Many of these errors are misdescribed amendments that either incorrectly describe the text to be amended or specify the wrong location for the insertion of new text.

Schedule 3 repeals a total of 27 obsolete acts. Part 1 proposes to repeal one act which is administered by the Minister for Defence. Part 2 proposes to repeal 16 acts which are administered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and part 3 proposes to repeal 10 acts which are administered by the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources.

There are various commencement dates for the provisions listed in schedule 1 and schedule 2 because the commencement of each item is tied to the commencement of the provision that created the error. The effect of the commencement provisions is that the errors are taken to have been corrected immediately after the error was made. All other provisions commence on royal assent.

While none of the amendments proposed by the schedules will alter the content of the law, the bill will improve the quality and public accessibility of Commonwealth legislation.

I commend the bill to the chamber. I table the explanatory memorandum to the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2005.

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