House Of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, the Honourable Robert McClelland MP)

Notes on clauses

Clause 1 - Short title

1. This clause provides for the Bill to be cited as the Acts Interpretation Amendment Act 2011 .

Clause 2 - Commencement

2. This clause provides for the commencement of the Act.

3. 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.

4. The note at the end of the table explains that the table relates only to the provisions of the Act as originally enacted.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.

5. 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.

6. The items in Schedules 1 and 3 of the Bill commence either on proclamation, or if a proclamation is not made earlier, six months after the Act receives Royal Assent. The delay is to allow time for consequential amendments to be made to regulations and other legislative instruments.

7. Similarly, the majority of amendments made in Schedule 2 also commence at this time. However, the provisions listed in table items 4, 6, and 9 commence at the later of the commencement of the Schedule 1 amendments or the commencement of particular Acts specified in these table items. This is because these amendments are dependent on the commencement of amendments being made to the particular Acts. If the amendments proposed to the particular Acts do not commence, the related amendments in Schedule 2 do not occur.

8. The provisions listed in table items 8 and 10 also commence at the same time as the Schedule 1 amendments. However, these amendments will not be required if the amendments to the particular Acts specified in these table items commence at or before that time.

Clause 3 - Schedule(s)

9. This clause provides that the Schedules to the Bill will amend the Acts set out in those Schedules in accordance with the provisions set out in each Schedule.