House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

Circulation with the authority of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Hon Christian Porter MP)

Outline

The Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015 (the Bill) is a whole of government initiative to amend or repeal legislation across seven portfolios. The Bill brings forward a range of non-controversial measures to reduce regulatory burden for business, families, individuals and the community sector that are not the subject of individual stand-alone bills. For example, this Bill:

•

Amends the Health and Other Services (Compensation) Act 1995 to remove the requirement for compensation recipients to submit a statutory declaration when submitting a claim for benefits provided under Commonwealth Government programmes for Medicare, nursing home, residential care and home care services.

•

Amends the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and the Student Assistance Act 1973 to facilitate greater public access to aggregated information that does not disclose information about a particular person.

The Bill also includes measures that repeal redundant and spent Acts and provisions in Commonwealth Acts, and complements the measures included in the Statute Law Revision Bill (No.1) 2015 and the Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015. For example, this Omnibus Bill repeals the following:

•

the Meat Export Charge Act 1984, and the Meat Export Charge Collection Act 1984, both of which are examples of redundant Acts now replaced by the 2011 Export Certification Reform Package, and where fees are now cost recovered through other relevant Commonwealth legislation.

In total, this Bill, the Statute Law Revision Bill (No.2) 2015 and the Amending Acts

1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 will repeal 890 Commonwealths Acts.

Repeal of these Acts ensures regulation is easily accessible, continues to deliver on policy outcomes and only remains in force for as long as necessary. Making regulation easily accessible means that business, individuals and community organisations spend less time trawling through regulations.

The explanatory notes mirror the Bill and are structured by portfolio, with the Department of Veterans' Affairs following. A brief outline is provided for each Schedule with explanatory notes for relevant items.

Financial Impact Statements

This Bill has no financial implications.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. See Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights at the end of this explanatory memorandum.

Clause 1: Short Title

This specifies the short title of the Act as the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Act 2015.

Clause 2: Commencement

The table in this clause sets out when the Bill's provisions will commence. The table provides that clauses 1 to 3 (and anything else not covered in the table) will commence on the date the Bill receives the Royal Assent.

Schedules 1, 2, 4, and 6 will commence the day after the Bill receives the Royal Assent.

Schedule 5, Items 1 to 16 and 22 to 83 will commence the day after the Bill receives the Royal Assent.

Schedule 7, Items 1 to 4 will commence the day after the Bill receives the Royal Assent.

Schedule 3 will commence the later of:

a)

1 July 2015; and

b)

the 28th day after this Act receives the Royal Assent.

Schedule 5, Items 17 to 21 will commence the later of:

a)

the start of the day after this Act receives the Royal Assent; and

b)

immediately after the commencement of Item 127 in Schedule 7 to the Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2014) Bill 2014.

However, the provisions do not commence at all if the event mentioned in paragraph (b) does not occur.

Schedule 7, Items 5 to 23 will commence the later of:

a)

the start of the day after this Act received the Royal Assent; and

b)

immediately after the commencement of Schedule 4 to the Statute Law Revision Act (No. 1) 2015.

Clause 3: Schedules

This clause provides that an Act that is specified in a Schedule is amended or repealed as set out in that Schedule and any other Item in a Schedule operates according to its terms.