Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by the authority of the Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP)Notes on clauses
Clause 1-Short title
1 Clause 1 provides for the Act to be cited as the Statute Law Revision Act 2013 .
Clause 2-Commencement
2 Subclause 2(1) provides that each provision of the Act specified in column 1 of the table set out in the subclause commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
3 The note at the end of the table explains that the table relates only to the provisions of the Act as originally enacted. The table will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of the Act.
4 Subclause 2(2) provides that any information in column 3 of the table is not part of the Act. It also clarifies that information may be inserted in column 3, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of the Act.
5 The items in Schedule 1 to the Bill amend various technical errors in principal Acts. The items in Part 1 of Schedule 1 commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent. This is because the "slip rule" would have been applied to each error since the enactment of the erroneous provision. This means that the text of the law would have been taken to have been correct, despite the error.
6 Current Commonwealth drafting practice is to avoid retrospective commencement where practicable. Given the application of the "slip rule", it is appropriate for these amendments to commence on Royal Assent. The amendments ensure that the text of the law accords with how it would be interpreted.
7 Other amendments relate to errors in numbering, grammatical errors or changes in drafting style, and it is appropriate that these amendments commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent because they do not change the substantive content of the law.
8 The item in Part 2 of Schedule 1 commences on 18 November 2012. It recasts a section of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 to remove a reference to a section that was repealed by item 4 of Schedule 1 to the Commonwealth Government Securities Legislation Amendment (Retail Trading) Act 2012 on that date. Although the amendment is retrospective, various interpretative laws, such as section 10A of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 , and the application of the "slip rule", mean that the text of the law would have been taken to have been correct from 18 November 2012, despite the error.
9 The items in Part 3 of Schedule 1 commence at the later of Royal Assent and immediately after the commencement of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Serious Drugs, Identity Crime and Other Measures) Act 2012 . Part 3 has a prospective commencement.
10 The items in Schedule 2 to the Bill relate to misdescribed or redundant amendments, or to errors, contained in amending Acts. The commencement of items dealing with misdescribed amendments, or amendments where the location of the amendment is unclear, is tied to the time specified in the amending Act for the commencement of the amendment. Other items repeal amendments that have become redundant. Those items commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent.
11 Schedule 3 to the Bill makes amendments consequential on amendments to the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and the enactment of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 and includes appropriate consequential and saving provisions. A few of the amendments also encompass the repeal of any redundant cross-references. The Schedule is to commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent.
12 Schedule 4 to the Bill repeals obsolete provisions of Acts. The Schedule is to commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent.
13 Schedule 5 to the Bill repeals obsolete Acts. The Schedule is to commence on the day the Act receives the Royal Assent.
Clause 3-Schedule(s)
14 Clause 3 provides that each Act specified in a Schedule to the Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule and any other item in a Schedule has effect according to its terms. This is a technical provision to give operational effect to the amendments contained in the Schedules.