Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

This bill, the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2015, follows the Acts and Instruments Framework Reform Bill 2014, the principal bill. That bill was amended to accept one recommendation made by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee and passed the parliament, with Labor support, on 5 March this year.

The principal bill implemented the recommendations of a statutory review of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 under the former Labor government in 2008. That review was led by a committee, comprising Mr Anthony Blunn, Mr Ian Govey and Professor John McMillan. That bill made a number of reforms to the arrangements for delegated legislation under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. That act, now named the Legislation Act, sets out a comprehensive regime for the registration, tabling, scrutiny and repeal of legislative instruments.

This bill makes a number of consequential technical machinery and drafting changes to the bill. The bill updates references across the statute book to the Legislative Instruments Act to reflect its change of name to the Legislation Act; compiles the list of instruments exempt from sunsetting and disallowance, presently found in various locations into one central list in regulation to be made under the Legislation Act; clarifies the status of rules of court under the Legislation Act; and repeals spent provisions and makes various technical and drafting corrections to the Legislation Act.

These are minor and technical changes. As Labor indicated when the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Bill came to this place, we support any measures which make Commonwealth instruments easier to locate and understand. I commend the bill to the Senate.