House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC)

Notes on clauses

Clause 1 - Short title

1 Clause 1 provides for the Act to be cited as the Amending Acts 1990 to 1999 Repeal Act 2015.

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3 The note at the end of the table explains that the table relates only to the provisions of the Act as originally enacted.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 Schedule 1 to the Bill repeals Acts. It commences 28 days after the Act receives the Royal Assent. This commencement is in keeping with current Commonwealth drafting practice, which is to avoid retrospective commencements where practicable.

Clause 3 - Repeals of Acts

6 Clause 3 and Schedule 1 repeal amending and repeal Acts, some of which also contain application, saving or transitional provisions. The amendments and repeals have happened, and therefore the Acts are no longer required. It is considered that none of the application, saving or transitional provisions in the Acts to be repealed have ongoing effect. However, the operation of those provisions is preserved to provide certainty in the event that their effect is not in fact completely spent. The Acts do not contain any other substantive provisions which are not already spent.

7 The repeal of an Act mentioned in Schedule 1 does not affect any amendment or repeal made by the amending Act being repealed (see section 7 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901), or affect the continuing operation of any application, saving or transitional provision (see subclause 3(2)).

Schedule 1 - Repeals of Acts

8 This Schedule repeals amending and repeal Acts, some of which also contain application, saving or transitional provisions. The amendments and repeals have happened, and therefore the Acts are no longer required. It is considered that none of the application, saving or transitional provisions in the Acts to be repealed have ongoing effect. However, the operation of those provisions is preserved to provide certainty in the event that their effect is not in fact completely spent. The Acts do not contain any other substantive provisions which are not already spent.

9 The repeal of an Act mentioned in this Schedule does not affect any amendment or repeal made by the amending Act being repealed (see section 7 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901), or affect the continuing operation of any application, saving or transitional provision (see subclause 3(2)).