Like the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2000 and a number of similar Bills in previous years, this Bill makes technical and housekeeping amendments of Territory laws. It is intended to improve the statute book by updating provisions, correcting errors and repealing legislation of no current use.

This Bill is the second 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. Members will recall that guidelines for the program were circulated to Members earlier this year.

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 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 amendments. These amendments are included in Schedule 1 so they can be readily identified.

The second kind of matter in Statute Law Amendment Bills are amendments proposed by the Parliamentary Counsel's Office of the Interpretation Act 1967 and other Acts of general application or that otherwise affect the structure of the statute book. Structural changes are particularly focused on minimising duplication in the statute book 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.