Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Amending Acts 1970 to 1979 Repeal Bill 2014 is the second bill in the government's 2014 spring repeal day package.

This bill continues the government's efforts to streamline the statute books by removing 656 amending and repeal acts enacted between 1970 and 1979. This builds on the Amending Acts 1901 to 1969 Repeal Bill, which was part of the 2014 autumn repeal day package and repealed over 1,000 amending acts made between 1901 and 1969.

This bill repeals each act mentioned in its schedule. In all cases, the repeal of these acts will not substantially alter existing arrangements or make any changes to the substance of the law, and has a compliance cost saving of $100,000.

These acts are no longer required as the amendments and repeals have already happened.

If an application, saving or transitional provision is included in one of those acts, any ongoing operation of the provision will be preserved. The acts do not contain any other substantive provisions that are not already spent.

Repealing these acts is important because it will reduce the regulatory burden and make accessing the law simpler for both businesses and individuals. It will make the statute books simpler and quicker to use by reducing the time it takes to locate current laws.

At present, the acts proposed to be repealed in this bill form part of the current law and it is not obvious whether the acts have force in and of themselves.

Repealing these acts will remove any confusion about the status of these laws. It will also facilitate the publication of consolidated versions of acts by the Commonwealth and by private publishers of legislation.

People with a specific interest in the legislation can continue to access these acts as they will remain publically available on ComLaw as historical records.

The bill repeals, for example:

There are numerous other items contained in schedule 1 of the bill which amend a principal act multiple times over the decade and are no longer necessary.

Amending acts enacted after 1979 will be repealed on future repeal days.

I commend this bill and the entire 2014 spring repeal day package to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.

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