House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Attorney-General, the Honourable Christian Porter MP)

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Statute Update (Regulations References) Bill 2020

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 .

Overview of the Bill

The main purpose of this Bill is to update specific references to regulations in the statute law of the Commonwealth that have become out of date due to the remaking or renaming of the regulations or that are at risk of becoming out of date in future due to those things.

Rather than referring to regulations by their specific name (for example, the Family Law (Bilateral Arrangements-Intercountry Adoption) Regulations 1998 ) Acts will refer to regulations using more general phrases (such as "prescribed regulations made under the Family Law Act 1975 ") which are less likely to become out of date due to the repeal, sunsetting or renaming of the regulations. The regulations prescribed will be equivalent to the regulations that were previously specifically named in the relevant Acts.

This Bill replaces references to specific provisions of regulations with more general means of identifying the provisions, so that the correct links between the contents of regulations and Acts will remain even if the regulations are remade, renamed or renumbered.

This Bill also contains amendments to make associated minor consequential amendments to the statute law of the Commonwealth to support the operation of the amended provisions. For example, changes are made to include notes, alter headings, renumber provisions and repeal redundant provisions.

The amendments also enhance usability, facilitate interpretation and administration, and promote consistency across the Commonwealth statute book.

Human rights implications

This Bill does not engage any human rights issues as it makes minor technical improvements to legislation. It makes either no change or only minor changes to the substance of the law.

Conclusion

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 , as it does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms or alter any human rights safeguards currently in place.