House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

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

General Outline

1 The main purpose of this Bill is to correct technical errors that have occurred in Acts as a result of drafting and clerical mistakes.

2 The Bill also contains amendments to remove gender-specific language, to modernise language and to make other technical amendments in certain legislation.

3 The Bill also repeals a number of Acts that are obsolete.

4 The Bill also amends Commonwealth Acts to ensure consistency of language. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is being amended to ensure consistent use of the expression "ballot paper". A large number of Commonwealth Acts are amended to ensure consistency of language used to describe the internet and internet-related technology.

5 The corrections and repeals are desirable in order to improve the quality of the text of Commonwealth legislation and, in particular, to facilitate the publication of consolidated versions of Acts by the Attorney-General's Department and by private publishers of legislation.

6 None of the corrections make any change to the substance of the law.