Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, Senator the Honourable George Brandis QC)Statement of compatibility with human rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2015
12. This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
13. An overview of measures in the Bill and their human rights implications is below.
Overview of the Bill
14. Schedule 1 of this Bill makes technical amendments to various Acts which are consequential on the amendments made by the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act. The Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act will amend the Legislative Instruments Act to improve the usability and efficiency of the legislative instruments framework as well as bring the registration and publication of Commonwealth Acts into that framework. This Bill makes a series of largely technical amendments to support the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act. These amendments relate to matters such as updating references to the Legislative Instruments Act to refer to the Legislation Act, as the Legislative Instruments Act will be renamed. These amendments include the repeal of several spent provisions. The amendments in Schedule 1 do not generally alter the effect of the law.
15. Schedule 1 also updates the drafting of provisions which deal with the application of the Legislative Instruments Act to reflect amendments to that Act. For example, it updates provisions dealing with section 12 of the Legislative Instruments Act, which deals with when legislative instruments take effect, to reflect amendments to that section in the Legislation Act. These are generally technical drafting amendments and do not generally affect whether or not instruments made under the amended provisions are able to operate retrospectively.
16. Schedule 2 makes amendments to the Legislation Act (or in the alternative, the Legislative Instruments Act, depending on the time at which the Schedule commences) which make clear that rules of court are not legislative instruments. Schedule 2 includes an application provision which makes clear that the amendments do not affect the rights or liabilities of parties to proceedings commenced in a court prior to the commencement of the amendments.
17. Schedule 2 also makes amendments to the Family Law Act. These amendments make clear that certain provisions of the Family Law Act which set out how the Legislative Instruments Act applies to rules of the Family Court apply to those rules whether they are made under the Family Law Act or another Act. This removes an inconsistency between the Family Law Act and other enabling legislation for federal courts.
18. Schedule 3 makes amendments to provisions of the Legislation Act and Acts Interpretation Act (as amended by the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act) which modify the way in which those provisions apply to the incorporation of forms into instruments. Consequential to these changes, Schedule 3 also repeals unnecessary application provisions of the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act. Schedule 3 also makes minor technical corrections to the Legislation Act.
Human rights implications
19. This Bill does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
20. This Bill is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.