Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (30 March) . . Page.. 1091 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Like a number of other similar Bills in previous years, this Bill makes technical and housekeeping amendments to the law of the Territory. It is intended to improve the statute book by correcting errors, replacing out-of-date references and repealing legislation of no current use. The significance of this Bill, however, is that it is the first Bill in the technical amendments program that the Government approved last year. The objectives of the program are to develop a simpler, more coherent and accessible statute book for the Territory by means of minor legislative changes.

The underlying idea, Mr Speaker, is that, although few of the changes would justify a separate Bill, periodically a number of minor amendments will be brought together in a Statute Law Amendment Bill. These will facilitate the continuing program for reprinting the laws of the Territory, assist in removing the 'dead wood' from the statute book, and ensure that the statute book is kept up-to-date. It is important to appreciate that the amendments would be of a non-controversial nature.

As a general rule, Statute Law Amendment Bills will deal with four kinds of matters. First, minor amendments proposed by government agencies to rectify minor problems that come to the attention of agencies during the course of administering their legislation. Schedule 1 of the Bill before the Assembly contains such an amendment. These amendments would be included in Schedule 1 so they can be readily identified.

The second kind of matter in Statute Law Amendment Bills will be amendments proposed by the Parliamentary Counsel relating to the Interpretation Act 1967 and other Acts of general application or which otherwise affect the structure of the statute book. Structural changes are particularly focused on minimising duplication in the statute book and by ensuring the maximum degree of consistency where there is no countervailing policy or operational requirement. Schedule 2 of the Bill contains provisions of this nature.

The third class of matter would be technical statute law revision amendments, as traditionally understood, proposed by the Parliamentary Counsel. In other words, changes in the text of the law which make it clearer and easier to understand without making any significant change in its operation or legal effect. Amendments of this nature may be found in Schedule 3 of the Bill.

Finally, Statute Law Amendment Bills will periodically repeal Acts that have become obsolete or otherwise are no longer required.

And as we turn to the Bill before us, it is quite obvious that the great bulk of it is concerned with the repeal of Acts. Schedules 4 and 5 of the Bill repeal almost 1500 amending Acts. In other words, these are Acts that have amended other Acts but apparently have no continuing operation other than to clutter the statute book. The great benefit of sweeping away these old Acts is that the Acts that remain in force are given more prominence; the so-called 'living law' becomes more accessible. Those who search the statute book can have more confidence that they have found all of the law relevant to their inquiry.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .