Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Legislative Instruments Act is essentially about reducing red tape for Australian businesses. The Legislative Instruments Amendment (Sunsetting Measures) Bill 2012 will enable the quick and efficient repeal of around 12,000 regulations. We will now be able to repeal thousands of unnecessary regulations through a new streamlined process rather than repealing them one by one.

This is the first time such a major clean-up of regulations has been undertaken. A second set of amendments improves the arrangements for the automatic repeal or sunsetting of regulations after 10 years and enables a review of those regulations as part of that process. Currently, sunset instruments must be reviewed strictly regulation by regulation, which can be cumbersome and confusing for affected businesses. This bill also encourages the review of regulations in a more coherent way—for example, by looking at regulations across a whole industry sector. In short, it makes it simpler for businesses, individuals and government.

Under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 all regulations and other legislative instruments sunset or cease automatically after 10 years unless action is taken to exempt or preserve them. The purpose of sunsetting is to ensure that legislative instruments are kept up to date and only remain in force as long as they are required. Sunsetting is an important mechanism for the Australian government to pursue clearer laws and reduce red tape. However, the need to review legislative instruments to ensure they are still fit for purpose and, in many cases, to remake them after appropriate consultation may place acute demands on government and on stakeholders, especially businesses subject to regulation under legislative instruments. The issue has been highlighted in a number of recent reports. The Review of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 was done in 2008 by the Legislative Instruments Act Review Committee, and a second report by the Productivity Commission in 2011 identifying and evaluating regulation reforms raised this issue of the complexity of review and consultation. So it is important that we get this right.

At the time of enactment back in 2003, however, the then government did not accurately assess the number of legislative instruments in existence, apart from those 663 which were already published in hard copy in the statutory rules series. A very large number of regulations were registered in the years immediately following the commencement of the Legislative Instruments Act, and that list rose from 663 to some 6,300 instruments in a very short period of time. Many of those instruments—just over 6,000 of them—are due for a mass expiration in the years following 2015, with two peaks in 2016 and 2018. So, while the act at the time assumed a relatively small number of regulations, we have really very large peaks approaching in the next few years. More than 40,000 instruments are now in force, and as many as 40 per cent no longer serve a purpose, most having become spent having achieved their purpose as commencing, amending or repealing instruments. So, again, it has gone from 663 on the hard copy in the statutory rules in 2003 to some 40,000 now in place.

Consistent with the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report, the purpose of this bill is to smooth these sunsetting peaks and to encourage high-quality consultation before regulations and legislative instruments are remade. Specifically, the bill will amend the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 to cull spent and redundant instruments and provisions up to 10 years earlier than is provided for under the existing sunsetting regime; to provide greater certainty about when instruments sunset; to provide staged sunsetting dates for older instruments; to enable the Attorney-General to align sunsetting dates of related legislative instruments to enable thematic reviews to be conducted, thus reducing consultation burdens on stakeholders; and to clarify the requirements for explanatory material for instruments, including instruments that are remade following a review.

The bill introduces and encourages thematic reviews of legislative instruments by creating a mechanism to align sunsetting dates. This may involve bringing forward some sunsetting dates and pushing others back by up to five years. The ability to conduct thematic reviews will facilitate more efficient and effective review processes and enable departments and agencies to comprehensively engage with stakeholders prior to the remaking of any instrument. This is consistent with the Productivity Commission recommendation that more flexibility be introduced to enable thematic reviews of related instruments.

This is one of those bills that most people would not notice passing through the parliament. We have a relatively small number of speakers on it today.

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