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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2764 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: I move:

This Bill makes an array of technical and housekeeping amendments to the law of the Territory. It is designed to improve the statute book by correcting errors, replacing out-of-date references and repealing legislation of no current use. Members will be pleased to hear that it finally sets to rest a longstanding academic debate about the status of certain New South Wales laws in their application to the Territory. In 1985 the New South Wales Acts Application Ordinance purported to repeal a large number of New South Wales Acts that were in force in the ACT. However, this ordinance was in turn disallowed by the Senate on the ground that it did not identify the laws being repealed. The effect of the disallowance on the repeal was the subject of contrary legal opinion and even today the issue is not free of doubt.

This Bill removes any question about the status of those New South Wales Acts by making express provision for their repeal. More importantly, to meet the objection the Senate had in 1985, it gives a comprehensive list of the names of the Acts subject to the repeal. This Bill enables the remaining New South Wales Acts applying in the Territory to be identified with complete certainty for the first time since 1910.

Of more practical significance to members are the series of changes to the Interpretation Act. Traditionally, interpretation Acts have been complex laws accessible only to those with years of legal training. The amendments, replete with useful notes and examples, make the law accessible and crystal clear.

In particular, the Bill will also provide for Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly to be notified under an ACT enactment, the Interpretation Act, rather than under section 25 of the self-government Act; simplify the commencement provisions in Bills, including a standing Macklin clause that would automatically commence new Acts after six months; clarify which provisions form parts of Bills, for example punctuation, and which do not, for example readers' guides; provide more flexibility in the use of approved forms; define a greater range of commonly used terms and facilitate the more flexible use of definitions in legislation; enable penalty provisions in legislation to be simplified; clarify the effect of the repeal, expiry, amendment and modification of legislation; provide for the automatic repeal of new amending Acts once they have commenced; and simplify the citation of Acts, including New South Wales Acts applying in the Territory, and instruments. The changes to the Act bring it up to date. They are designed to help foster the development of a simpler and more accessible statute book.

Mr Speaker, the Bill amends legislation concerning a number of tribunals to provide a common set of standard provisions dealing with the administration and membership of tribunals to foster greater efficiency and flexibility. A number of technical amendments are to be made to the Magistrates Court (Civil Jurisdiction) Act 1982. Of particular interest is an amendment to section 402 which provides for a limit of $10,000 for the

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