Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC)Schedule 3 - Terminology changes
59 The items in this Schedule contain amendments that modernise terminology in accordance with recent drafting practices.
Part 1 - Changing servant to employee
60 These items change the expression "servant" to "employee" to accord with current Commonwealth drafting practice set out in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel's Drafting Direction No. 2.2. The change will not affect the meaning of the provisions due to the operation of section 15AC of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, which provides that if an Act has expressed an idea in one form of words and a later Act appears to have expressed that idea in a different form of words for the purpose of using a clearer style, the ideas must not be taken to be different merely because different forms of words were used.
61 Item 61 repeals the definition of employee in the Dictionary in the Criminal Code which defines employee as including a servant. As current Commonwealth drafting practice is to refer to employee instead of servant, this definition is redundant.
62 A few items, such as items 11 and 163, change references from "servant" to references to an officer or employee of the Commonwealth or the Crown. The change will not affect the meaning of the provisions due to the operation of section 15AC of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.
Part 2 - Gender-specific language
63 It has been Commonwealth practice since the early 1980s for legislation to be drafted to avoid the use of gender-specific language. Exclusive references to one or another gender are not permitted, except in the case of legislation intended to apply to people of one sex but not the other.
64 While paragraph 23(a) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 provides that words importing a gender include every other gender, existing statutory provisions that use gender-specific language have been progressively amended so as to replace such language with gender-neutral language. The use of gender-neutral language in Acts is intended to make them more inclusive.
65 The items of this Part amend Acts to replace gender-specific language with gender-neutral language.