Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The statute law revision bills are important mechanisms which ensure more effective and accessible laws. The Office of Parliamentary Counsel does an excellent job in reviewing, correcting and updating the body of Commonwealth legislation by preparing these bills. Interestingly, they are often done during an election period, when there is no legislation to work on—so there is some productive work done during those periods.

Scrutiny of the statute book extends beyond the correction of minor errors and the clearing away of obsolete acts. The Statute Law Revision Bill 2008 removes gender specific language, which will ensure that our laws are contemporary.

The timely corrections and repeals of obsolete language effected by statute law revision bills improve the quality and accuracy of Commonwealth legislation and facilitate the publication of consolidated versions of acts. It is a matter of record that the process was undertaken during the period of the former government but has cross-party support and is a very useful and productive exercise.

The bill has four schedules. Schedule 1 amends minor and technical errors contained in principal acts, such as incorrect spelling, punctuation or numbering.

Most of schedule 2 amends errors contained in amending acts and misdescribed or redundant amendments. The remainder of schedule 2 amends errors in cross-references to the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came before the parliament in 2005 but was not enacted until 2007. References to the ‘Australian Citizenship Act 2006’ are amended to refer to the ‘Australian Citizenship Act 2007’.

Schedule 3 repeals obsolete acts and makes consequential amendments to provisions of other acts that refer to a repealed act. A large number of these obsolete acts are administered by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and relate to programs that are now finished.

Schedule 4 amends a number of acts to replace gender specific language with gender neutral language.

The effect of the commencement provisions in schedules 1 and 2 is that the errors are taken to have been corrected immediately after the error was made. Schedule 3 commences on royal assent and schedule 4 commences the day after royal assent.

While none of the amendments proposed by the schedules will alter the content of the law, the bill ensures our statute books reflect current social standards and it will improve the quality and public accessibility of Commonwealth legislation.

I express my gratitude to those who were involved in this quite extensive piece of work and I commend the bill to the House.

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