House of Representatives

Second Reading Speech

Mr Frydenberg (Minister for the Environment and Energy)

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Statute Update (Winter 2017) Bill 2017 makes minor and technical changes to the Commonwealth statute book to improve its quality and accuracy.

The process of correcting the statute book and repealing spent provisions and acts has been undertaken regularly since 1934.

John Latham, the third member for Kooyong and Attorney-General at the time, and later to become Chief Justice of the High Court, had this to say about the introduction of the first of these types of bill in 1934:

There is an obligation resting upon the Government of the Commonwealth, and upon this Parliament, to present the statute law of the Commonwealth in a convenient, accessible and readily intelligible form.

These update bills are an essential tool in the process of keeping an orderly, accurate and up-to-date Commonwealth statute book.

The main purposes of these bills are to:

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correct technical errors that have occurred in legislation as a result of drafting or clerical mistakes

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make technical improvements to legislation, taking account of changes to drafting precedents and practice; and

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repeal spent acts and provisions of acts.

This bill contains four schedules.

Schedule 1 corrects errors in 17 principal acts and makes minor technical improvements to clarify the text of the law.

Schedule 2 amends six acts where cross-references were not updated after changes were made by the Acts and Instruments (Framework Reform) Act 2015to rename the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 as the Legislation Act 2003 andrenumber some provisions of that act.

Schedule 3 to the bill repeals 19 spent and obsolete provisions of acts.

Schedule 4 repeals four redundant acts.

These amendments enhance readability, facilitate interpretation and administration, and promote consistency across the Commonwealth statute book.

Debate adjourned.