House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

Circulated By Authority of the Hon Robert Mcclelland MP, Attorney-General

Schedule 5 - Amendments relating to use of the term "internet"

127 The items in this Schedule contain amendments relating to terms associated with the internet. As technology has developed, the language used to describe information technology concepts has become more consistent. The amendments in this Schedule aim to ensure consistent use of language when describing "websites" and other internet-related concepts.

Part 1

128 The items in this Part make specific amendments to many Commonwealth Acts as follows:

(a)

replacement of references to "Internet site" or "Internet sites" with references to "website" or "websites";

(b)

simplification of references to "on the Internet through that Department's world-wide web site" to references to "through that Department's website" (and similar occurrences);

(c)

replacement of references to "web site" (expressed as 2 words), with references to "website" (expressed as one word).

129 Item 123 replaces a reference to "Internet Protocol" (with initial capital letters) with a reference to "internet protocol" (with initial lower case letters). This is to ensure consistency with amendments being made to other similar expressions, all of which will have initial lower case letters.

Part 2

130 This Part amends a large number of Acts to change the capitalisation of the word "internet". In most occurrences on the statute book, the term is expressed as a proper noun. The use of the expression on the statute book has increased, reflecting the fact that more and more information is being made available electronically. The term appears uncapitalised in the Macquarie Dictionary. These amendments across the statute book ensure that use of the expression aligns with practical everyday usage to reflect usage of the term as a common noun with an initial lower case "i".

Part 3

131 This Part exempts certain specific provisions from the amendments in Part 2. In these provisions, the word "internet" appears as the first word in a sentence or heading and it would be grammatically incorrect for the occurrence not to be capitalised.