James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Statute Update (Winter 2017) Bill 2017 makes minor and technical changes to the Commonwealth statute book to improve its quality and accuracy.

The process of correcting the statute book and repealing spent provisions and Acts has been undertaken regularly since 1934.

John Latham, Member for Kooyong and Attorney-General at the time (and later to become Chief Justice of the High Court) had this to say about the introduction of the first of these types of Bill in 1934:

There is an obligation resting upon the Government of the Commonwealth, and upon this Parliament, to present the statute law of the Commonwealth in a convenient, accessible and readily intelligible form.

These update Bills are an essential tool in the process of keeping an orderly, accurate and up-to-date Commonwealth statute book.

The main purposes of these Bills are to:

This Bill contains four schedules.

Schedule 1 corrects errors in 17 principal Acts and makes minor technical improvements to clarify the text of the law.

Schedule 2 amends six Acts where cross-references were not updated after changes were made by the ActsandInstruments (Framework Reform) Act 2015 to rename the LegislativeInstruments Act 2003 as the LegislationAct 2003 and renumber some provisions of that Act.

Schedule 3 to the Bill repeals 19 spent and obsolete provisions of Acts.

Schedule 4 repeals four redundant Acts.

These amendments enhance readability, facilitate interpretation and administration, and promote consistency across the Commonwealth statute book.

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

Labor will be supporting the Statute Update (Winter 2017) Bill. The parliament has introduced these sorts of bills regularly since 1934. They deal with uncontroversial technical matters which will not in substance change the operation of the law. They all correct drafting errors, remove spent and obsolete provisions and update cross-references. Statute update bills are different from statute law revision bills because they are intended to make minor changes to the substance and legal effect of provisions. In contrast, statute law revision bills contain measures that do not alter the substance of the bill but, rather, make minor technical corrections of a purely formal nature. In his second reading speech for the bill, the Minister for the Environment and Energy, Mr Frydenberg, said, 'These update bills are an essential tool in the process of keeping an orderly, accurate and up-to-date Commonwealth statute book.'

In the previous parliament, statute law revision bills were introduced as a part of a regular repeal-day package. The Abbott government claimed that they had a regulatory reform agenda and that they were cutting red tape with these sorts of instruments, when actually they were merely engaging in the routine work of the parliament. It comes as something of a relief that the current Prime Minister has not trumpeted up this bill as part of his 25-point battle plan for legislative reform, supposedly to be expedited through the parliament. As part of the 2015 autumn repeal day, the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015 was heralded as one of the Attorney-General Department's deregulation measures. It was estimated that the bill would lead to an annual saving of $100,000 in compliance costs. The report of the 2015 spring repeal day said the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 3) 2015 would lead to a savings of $50,000 in compliance costs. None of these claims have been independently verified, as was recommended by the Australian National Audit Office in its report Implementing thederegulation agenda: cutting red tape and by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit.

Labor is happy to support this bill which corrects technical errors, makes other minor amendments to statutes, and repeals spent and obsolete provisions and acts. Many of the amendments do not affect the substance of the law but are intended to enhance clarity and accuracy. Some amendments make minor changes to the substance of the law. The bill contains four schedules. Schedule 1 amends technical errors and makes other minor amendments to 18 principal acts. Schedule 2 makes amendments to six principal acts consequential to the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act 2015. Schedule 3 repeals spent and obsolete provisions in five principal acts. Schedule 4 repeals four spent amending acts. None of this is groundbreaking, just part of the government's routine work.

Far from being about deregulation, this bill does nothing that has not been done regularly by governments and by this parliament since 1934. This bill does not reduce the regulatory burden on Australian business nor does it remove or streamline any operative regulation. I thank the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for their hard work in maintaining the Commonwealth statute book and for their work on this bill as on all other statute update bills.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her contribution and commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.