Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Statute Update (Autumn 2018) Bill 2018 makes minor and technical changes to the Commonwealth statute book to improve its quality and accuracy.

Statute law revision acts and statute stocktake acts have been passed on a regular basis since 1934 as a means of removing obsolete and spent provisions from the statute book and correcting mistakes in drafting. They are traditionally non-controversial and regarded as an essential means of keeping the Commonwealth statute book accurate and up-to-date.

The process of statute law revision and update aims to enhance the clarity and efficient use of the statute book. These bills:

This bill contains six schedules.

Schedule 1 corrects errors in five principal acts and makes minor technical improvements to clarify the text of the law.

Schedule 2 amends four acts to replace outdated references to 'the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia' with references to 'Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand'.

Schedule 3 to the bill makes amendments to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 which are consequential to the enactment of the Acts and Instruments (Frameworks Reform) Act 2015. These amendments provide additional guidance on the application of sunsetting and disallowance provisions of the Legislation Act 2003 and update superseded references to the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 to the Legislation Act 2003.

Schedule 4 repeals 22 obsolete references to the Crown in right of Norfolk Island, reflecting the abolition of that body politic on 1 July 2016.

Schedule 5 repeals spent provisions in two acts.

Schedule 6 repeals 40 amending acts which are now obsolete.

These ongoing corrections and improvements to legislation are important to ensure that the Commonwealth statute book remains up to date, accurate and user friendly.

Debate adjourned.