Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

The ANL Legislation Repeal Bill 2019 repeals the ANL Act of 1956 and the ANL Guarantee Act 1994 to remove outdated legislation and unnecessary restrictions on business.

These two acts set out the arrangements relating to the former government shipping line ANL, Australian National Line, which was owned and operated by the Commonwealth during last century. In 1998 the Commonwealth sold the ANL shipping line. Following transition of the ANL shipping line to a private business, most provisions of the ANL Act ceased to have any legal or practical effect. The key exception is provisions in protecting the use of names such as ANL and Searoad.

Once the Commonwealth had sold the ANL shipping line, these protections should have been removed but were retained through an historical oversight. Recently, these protections have impeded a small number of maritime businesses seeking to undertake activities such as re-registering website names and registering trademarks, despite these businesses having used the names in good faith for many years. This bill repeals the ANL Act to correct that oversight by removing an unintended and unnecessary barrier impeding business operations and to honour the sale of ANL in good faith. This will allow these businesses to get on with their operations and to continue making important contributions to our national economy.

Like the remaining parts of the ANL Act, the ANL Guarantee Act became obsolete following the 1998 sale of ANL. The power for the Treasurer to guarantee loans made in respect of the former government business ANL has long ceased to have practical effect. Both acts should therefore be removed as unnecessary and outdated pieces of legislation.

I acknowledge and thank the Treasurer for his agreement to simultaneously repeal the guarantee act to support the efficient use of the parliament's time. Removing outdated and spent legislation is part of the Australian government's duty to ensure Australia's regulatory framework for our maritime industry remains fit for purpose and supports the efficient operation of our maritime businesses. I would like to thank honourable members for their constructive contributions to the debate. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context