Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Attorney-General, I thank members for their contribution to the debate. In the 2009-10 financial year, 220 bills, totalling around 9,300 pages, were introduced into this parliament. The number of pages would have been significantly larger if it were not for statutes such as the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which includes common provisions that do not need to be repeated across Commonwealth legislation. These common provisions relate to matters such as the commencement dates of acts, the effect of the repeal of an act, rules about acting appointments, referencing gender, attainment of age, determining distance and time, as well as definitions of readily used terms. Over the years, these provisions have been amended, or new provisions have been added, without particular regard to the overall clarity of this legislation. Many of the provisions also retain the old drafting style of the early to mid-1900s.

The Acts Interpretation Amendment Bill 2011 addresses these issues by comprehensively amending the Acts Interpretation Act to improve its structure, language and application to modern technology. By restructuring this act, the important rules and definitions contained within it are now much easier to find. Simple measures such as co-locating definitions in part II of the act and listing these in alphabetical order increase the usability of the act tenfold. The redrafting of many of the older provisions in plain English will also assist users to understand how these provisions apply to their situation. Importantly, for the 21st century the bill provides that participants of a meeting can be in different locations and can dial in using technology such as Skype and videoconferencing, as the member for Blair indicated. The drafting of these provisions was deliberately broad so as to encompass further technological changes that may occur.

As the Attorney stated when introducing this bill:

Modernisation of one of the first Commonwealth acts will help to reduce the complexity of legislation that has developed since Federation.

Complex legislation makes it difficult, expensive and time consuming for people to understand their legal rights and obligations. This creates burdens for business and restricts access to justice. This bill underlines the government's ongoing commitment to take measures to improve the clarity and accessibility of laws. On behalf of the Attorney-General, I would again like to thank the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for the significant time and effort that went into preparing this bill. I would also like to thank the individuals and organisations who made comments on the bill when it was released as an exposure draft earlier this year. Finally, I would like to mention the 1993 report of the House Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs entitled Clearer Commonwealth law, which recommended that a public review of the Acts Interpretation Act be undertaken and led to the amendments that are included in this bill. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.

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