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2016
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL (No. 3) 2016
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Prime Minister,
The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull MP)
STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL (No. 3) 2016
GENERAL OUTLINE
The main purpose of this Bill is to correct technical errors that have occurred in Acts as a
result of drafting and clerical mistakes.
The corrections are desirable in order to improve the quality of the text of Commonwealth
legislation and, in particular, to facilitate the publication of consolidated versions of Acts by
the Commonwealth and by private publishers of legislation.
None of the corrections makes any change to the substance of the law.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
This Bill will have no financial impact.
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STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 3) 2016
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 correct technical errors that have occurred in Acts as a
result of drafting and clerical mistakes.
The corrections are desirable in order to improve the quality of the text of Commonwealth
legislation and, in particular, to facilitate the publication of consolidated versions of Acts by
the Commonwealth and by private publishers of legislation.
None of the corrections makes any change to the substance of the law.
Human rights implications
The amendments make technical corrections and technical improvements to legislation. The
amendments improve the ease of administration of legislation and reduce the regulatory
burden. They do not engage any human rights issues.
Conclusion
The 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.
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP
Prime Minister
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Notes on clauses
Clause 1--Short title
1 Clause 1 provides for the Act to be cited as the Statute Law Revision Act (No. 3) 2016.
Clause 2--Commencement
2 Subclause 2(1) provides that each provision of the Act specified in column 1 of the
table set out in the subclause commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with
column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
3 The note at the end of the table explains that the table relates only to the provisions of
the Act as originally enacted. The table will not be amended to deal with any later
amendments of the Act.
4 Subclause 2(2) provides that any information in column 3 of the table is not part of
the Act. It also clarifies that information may be inserted in column 3, or information in it
may be edited, in any published version of the Act.
5 Most items in Schedule 1 to the Bill correct errors in principal Acts. The "slip rule"
will have been applied to each error since the enactment of the erroneous provision. This
means that the text of the law will have been taken to have been correct, despite the error.
6 Current Commonwealth drafting practice is to avoid retrospective commencement
where practicable. Given the application of the "slip rule", it is appropriate for these
amendments to commence soon after Royal Assent. The amendments ensure that the text of
the law accords with how it would be interpreted.
7 Other items in Schedule 1 to the Bill relate to removals of redundant text,
renumbering of text or modernising language. These items do not change the substantive
content of the law.
8 For these reasons it is appropriate that the whole of the Act commence 28 days after
the Act receives the Royal Assent.
Clause 3--Schedule(s)
9 Clause 3 provides that each Act specified in a Schedule to the Act is amended or
repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule and any other item in a Schedule
has effect according to its terms. This is a technical provision to give operational effect to the
amendments contained in the Schedules.
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Schedule 1--Amendments of principal Acts
10 The items in this Schedule amend errors contained in principal Acts, remove
redundant text from principal Acts, renumber text within principal Acts or modernise
language within principal Acts.
Part 1--General amendments
11 Part 1 contains general amendments.
Item 1
12 The Convention on International Civil Aviation is also known as the Chicago
Convention. Subsection 3(4) of the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 refers to that
Convention. However, it contains a citation error as it refers to the "Convention on
International Aviation" not the "Convention on International Civil Aviation". Item 1 fixes the
citation.
Item 2
13 Item 2 omits a duplication of the word "the" in subparagraphs 205A(4)(a)(ii),
(4)(b)(ii), (6)(a)(ii) and (6)(b)(ii) of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 that resulted from amendments
made by items 81, 84, 90 and 94 of Schedule 1 to the Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment Act
2004.
Items 3 to 7
14 Items 3 to 7 are related. Notes to subsections 177(2), 273(1), 278(1), 280(1) and
434(1) of the Biosecurity Act 2015 contain incorrect cross-references as they refer to
paragraph 592(4)(e) of the Act. However, there is no such provision. The correct provision to
refer to is paragraph 592(4)(b) of the Act, as the provision relates to application fees that may
be required, which the notes refer to. Items 3 to 7 correct the cross-references.
Item 8
15 Item 19 of the table in subsection 523(1) of the Biosecurity Act 2015 contains an
incorrect cross-reference as it refers to subsection 220(3) of the Act rather than
subsection 221(3) of the Act. The table lists strict liability offence provisions and civil
penalty provisions for the contravention of which a person can be given an infringement
notice under Part 5 of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014. However,
subsection 220(3) is not a strict liability offence provision or civil penalty provision. The
correct provision to refer to is subsection 221(3) of the Act, as it is a strict liability offence
provision. Item 8 corrects the cross-reference.
Item 9
16 Paragraph 641(3)(c) of the Biosecurity Act 2015 contains an error as it mentions "the
partner" of an unincorporated association rather than "the member". Section 641 concerns the
imposition of obligations on, and commissions of offences by, members of an unincorporated
association's committee of management. The error arose as a result of a transcription error
when cloning the provision from section 640 of the Act, which concerns the treatment of
partnerships. Item 9 omits the incorrect concept and substitutes the correct one.
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Item 10
17 Item 65 of Schedule 4 to the Tribunals Amalgamation Act 2015 repealed
section 103ZB of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988. It substituted text
that did not include a section number or section heading. Item 10 inserts the missing text.
Item 11
18 Paragraph 26(2)(a) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 contains an incorrect
cross-reference as it refers to "subsection 14(1) of the Air Navigation Act 1920". However,
the other subsections of section 14 were repealed and subsection 14(1) was renumbered as
section 14 of that Act. The correct provision to refer to is section 14 of the Air Navigation Act
1920. Item 11 corrects the cross-reference.
Item 12
19 Item 12 repeals the redundant subsection 32AHO(4) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988.
That subsection is redundant as it provides that a provision that has been repealed continues
to apply to a thing through a specified period and that period has expired.
Item 13
20 Part 8 of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995
contains two provisions numbered 86. The second of them is the simplified outline of the
Part, which should be the first section in the Part. Item 13 renumbers that provision, which
was inserted by item 9 of Schedule 7 to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer
Games) Amendment (Classification Tools and Other Measures) Act 2014, as section 85A. It
also moves that provision to be located in its appropriate position.
Item 14
21 Paragraph 3ZM(7)(b) of the Crimes Act 1914 contains a spelling error as it refers to
"admissable" rather than "admissible". Item 14 corrects that spelling error.
Item 15
22 Subsection 22(6) of the Crimes Act 1914 contains a grammatical error as it refers to
"a Australian travel document" rather than "an Australian travel document". Item 15 corrects
the grammatical error.
Item 16
23 Item 16 omits a duplication of the word "the" in paragraph 203D(2)(c) of the Customs
Act 1901 that resulted from an amendment made by item 9 of Schedule 4 to the Customs
Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2002.
Item 17
24 Subsections 227F(5) and (7) of the Customs Act 1901 each contain a grammatical
error as they refer to "a item" rather than "an item". Item 17 corrects the grammatical errors.
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Item 18
25 Subsection 100(1) of the Excise Act 1901 states that an officer or police officer may
without warrant arrest any person whom he or she has reasonable cause to believe is guilty of
various offences which were created by other provisions, like sections 25, 26 and 27 of the
Act. Current Commonwealth drafting practice is to use the expression "commits an offence",
which recognises that it is the role of the courts to find persons guilty of an offence. This was
acknowledged by Justice Deane in the High Court decision of Polyukhovich v
Commonwealth (1991) 101 ALR 545. Subsection 100(2) takes this current drafting approach.
Item 18 updates subsection 100(1) to accord with current Commonwealth drafting practice.
Items 19 and 20
26 Paragraphs 100(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Excise Act 1901 each contain a typographical
error as their first word starts with a capital letter rather than a lower case letter. Items 19 and
20 correct the typographical errors.
Item 21
27 Section 103 of the Excise Act 1901 contains some numbering errors, as its paragraphs
are numbered with numbers, not letters. Also, it contains some typographical errors as their
first words start with a capitalised letter rather than a lower case letter. Item 21 corrects these
errors.
Item 22
28 Section 103 of the Excise Act 1901 contains a typographical error, as the conjunction
"or" is bracketed. Item 22 corrects this typographical error.
Item 23
29 Section 103 of the Excise Act 1901 contains some numbering errors, as its paragraphs
are numbered with numbers, not letters. Also, it contains some typographical errors as their
first words start with a capitalised letter rather than a lower case letter. Item 23 corrects these
errors.
Items 24 to 26
30 Paragraphs 104(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Excise Act 1901 each contain a typographical
error as their first word starts with a capital letter rather than a lower case letter. Items 24 to
26 correct the typographical errors.
Item 27
31 Table item 38 in subsection 539(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009 contains an error as it
refers to a court incorrectly as the "Federal Magistrates Court". That title is incorrect as the
Federal Magistrates Court created under chapter III of the Constitution has been continued in
existence as the Federal Circuit Court of Australia. Item 27, together with a definition of
Federal Circuit Court in section 12 of the Fair Work Act 2009, corrects the reference to that
title.
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Item 28
32 Subparagraph 90M(1)(a)(i) of the Family Law Act 1975 contains a typographical error
as it refers to "the parties to a marriage or either or them" rather than "the parties to a
marriage or either of them". Item 28 corrects the typographical error.
Item 29
33 The text of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration
adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985 and
amended by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 7 July 2006 is
set out in Schedule 2 to the International Arbitration Act 1974. The reproduction in the
Schedule contains a typographical error as it refers to "telexor" rather than "telex or" in
article 7(4). Item 29 corrects the typographical error.
Item 30
34 The definition of Regulatory Powers Act in subsection 5(1) of the Migration Act 1958
contains a citation error as it refers to the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2013.
However, it is correct to refer to the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014, as
the incorrectly cited Act was before Parliament at the time the provision was enacted but the
incorrectly cited Act was enacted in a later year. Item 30 fixes the citation.
Item 31
35 Subsection 65(1) of the Migration Act 1958 has two notes numbered 2. Item 31
renumbers the note 2 that was inserted by item 13 of Schedule 4 to the Migration and
Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Act 2014
as note 3.
Item 32
36 Item 46 of Schedule 3 to the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Australian
Border Force) Act 2015 amended section 267 of the Migration Act 1958 to provide that the
Australian Border Force Commissioner could freeze amounts to secure future debts.
However, the heading to section 267 was not altered to reflect this change. Item 32 alters the
heading to reflect the amendments made to the section.
Item 33
37 Item 33 omits a duplication of a comma in paragraph 336E(2)(f) of the Migration Act
1958 that resulted from amendments made by items 24 and 152 of Schedule 2 to the
Tribunals Amalgamation Act 2015.
Item 34
38 Subsection 3(4) of the Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990 contains a spelling
error as it refers to "overriden" rather than "overridden". Item 34 corrects that spelling error.
Part 2--Amendments of listed provisions
39 Part 2 amends the listed provisions from the My Health Records Act 2012.
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Item 35
40 The listed provisions contain typographical errors as they refer to "My Health Record
Rules" rather than "My Health Records Rules". Item 35 corrects the typographical errors.
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