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Statute Law Revision
STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL 1995
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Policy objective and reasons for it
The objective of this Bill, and its companion Bill (the Statute Law (Minor
Amendments) Bill 1995), is to further the aim of ensuring that the
Queensland statute book is of the highest standard. This Bill does so by
making amendments and repeals of Acts for statute law revision purposes
only.
Statute law revision amendments are required to be concise, of a minor
nature, and non-controversial. Most statute law revision amendments are
initiated by the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel.
Amendments to give effect to minor policy changes unconnected with the
overall state of the Queensland statute book are included in the Statute Law
(Minor Amendments) Bill 1995 and not in this Bill.
The Queensland statute book is all Queensland legislation taken as a body
of law. A statute book that is well maintained significantly enhances access
to legislation by making it easier to find in an up-to-date form and easier to
read and understand.
Maintenance of the statute book is necessary for a number of reasons.
First, the law is constantly changing and the statute book needs to be
updated continuously to take account of the changes. Second, the
Queensland statute book has been created over a period of some 135 years.
Drafting practices, language usage, and printing formats and styles, have
changed markedly during this period, and maintaining a minimum level of
consistency requires continuous amendments. Third, the statute book is
created by a complex mosaic of individual amending and non-amending
items of legislation. Individual items of legislation interact with other items
(and the common law) to produce the totality of the statute book and cannot
be considered in isolation. Changes to the law often generate consequential
amendments elsewhere, without which this interaction would fall into
confusion.
Statute Law Bills are an important part of maintaining and enhancing the
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Statute Law Revision
standard of Queensland law. The Bills provide an opportunity to make
amendments and repeals that, taken alone, would be of insufficient
importance to justify separate legislation. However, the cumulative effect of
the amendments and repeals can have a substantial impact on the overall
quality of Queensland law.
Ways in which policy objective will be achieved by the Bill
The Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel is responsible
under the Legislative Standards Act 1992 for ensuring that Queensland
legislation is of the highest standard (section 7(j)). To give effect to this
responsibility, the office is undertaking a number of current projects that are
supported or implemented by amendments and repeals in this Bill.
First, the office is identifying and accounting for all Queensland
legislation. This includes an examination of all Queensland Acts passed
since Queensland was established as a colony and all earlier New South
Wales Acts that apply (or could apply) in Queensland. At the present time,
it is not possible to know with complete certainty the exact status of the
Queensland statute book; for example, how many Acts and instruments of
subordinate legislation are in force in Queensland and what they are. As
spent or obsolete Acts are identified, they are repealed in Statute Law Bills.
This Bill continues that process.
Second, the office is reprinting all current Queensland Acts and
subordinate legislation. The office is endeavouring to have all Acts
reprinted by early next year and all subordinate legislation reprinted by mid-
1996. The Bill includes a number of amendments to facilitate the reprinting
of particular Acts. The reprinting process is also supported by the repeal of
spent and obsolete Acts, which reduces the number of Acts requiring
reprinting.
Third, the office is rationalising the types of subordinate legislation
currently in use and standardising the legislative provisions dealing with
subordinate legislation. The existence of older provisions dealing with
subordinate legislation is a source of confusion and potential difficulty. The
provisions can also operate to prevent appropriate parliamentary oversight.
In addition, subordinate legislation types need to be rationalised to enable
subordinate legislation to be reprinted efficiently and then kept up to date.
The Bill includes many amendments which support this project and the
reprinting of subordinate legislation.
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Statute Law Revision
Finally, as part of the process of reprinting and updating subordinate
legislation, the office is removing forms from legislation. The Statutory
Instruments Act 1992 contains provisions dealing with the notification and
availability of forms (see section 58). In addition, under the Acts
Interpretation Act 1954, section 49(5), a form may only require information
reasonably necessary for the form's purpose.
Alternatives to the Bill
The policy objective can only be achieved by statutory amendments.
Administrative cost to government
Apart from costs associated with the need to approve and notify forms,
there will be no administrative costs to government of implementing the
Bill. Increased access to legislation flowing from the Bill will produce
substantial savings in costs for government and other users of legislation.
Consistency with fundamental legislative principles
The Bill is consistent with fundamental legislative principles. Moreover,
the Bill significantly advances fundamental legislative principles, especially
by ensuring that Acts have sufficient regard to the institution of Parliament.
The Bill contains, for example, numerous amendments to ensure that the
exercise of delegated legislative power is subject to the scrutiny of the
Legislative Assembly and omits provisions authorising the amendment of
Acts by subordinate legislation.
Consultation
All Government departments were consulted on at least 3 separate
occasions and agree with the amendments of the Acts administered in their
departments.
Notes on clauses
Clause 1 provides for the Act's citation.
Clause 2 deals with the Act's commencement. Subclause (1) draws
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Statute Law Revision
attention to the fact that commencement provisions are provided in
schedules 1 and 2 for some amendments. Subclause (2) deals with the
commencement of repeals made by the Bill. As the Bill contains
amendments relocating provisions from Acts that are to be repealed, all
repeals commence on the day after the day of assent.
Clause 3 states the Act's purpose.
Clause 4 gives effect to the amendments made by schedules 1 and 2, and
schedule 3, part 1.
Clause 5 gives effect to the repeals made by schedule 3, part 2 and
schedules 4 to 8 and the transitional provisions made by schedules 9 and 10.
Clause 6 declares that explanatory notes, and certain provision references,
in the Bill do not form part of it. They are, however, available as extrinsic
aids to interpretation in the same way as this explanatory note (see Acts
Interpretation Act 1954, section 14B).
Schedule 1 contains both minor amendments for statute law revision and
statute law revision amendments of lesser importance. If an Act has
amendments of both types made by this Bill, all the amendments of the Act
are included in schedule 1. Schedule 2 contains only statute law revisions of
lesser importance (for example, correction of minor technical errors).
Schedule 3, part 1 repeals provisions that have remained uncommenced
for at least 2 years. Schedule 3, part 2 repeals amending Acts with
provisions that have remained uncommenced for at least 2 years.
Uncommenced provisions in Acts made on or after 1 January 1995
commence automatically under the Acts Interpretation Act 1954,
section 15DA.
Schedules 4 and 5 deal with the repeal of amending Acts. Schedule 4
repeals amending Acts with substantive provisions (usually of a savings or
transitional nature) that are no longer needed. Schedule 5 repeals other
amending Acts. The operation of amending Acts that have commenced is
not affected by their repeal (see Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 19).
Amending Acts passed since 1 July 1994 are automatically repealed under
the Acts Interpretation Act (see section 22C).
Schedules 6, 7 and 8 deal with the repeal of non-amending Acts.
Schedule 6 repeals Acts that are spent. Schedule 7 repeals other obsolete
Acts. Schedule 8 repeals obsolete Imperial and New South Wales Acts that
may still apply in Queensland.
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Statute Law Revision
Schedules 9 and 10 contain savings provisions. Under the Acts
Interpretation Act 1954, section 20A the declaratory effect of savings or
transitional provisions, and the effect of validating provisions, are not ended
by their repeal or expiry. To remove any doubt about the application of the
section, schedule 9 declares various laws repealed by the Bill to be laws to
which the section applies. Schedule 10 has special transitional provisions
for certain laws repealed by the Bill.
Because of the large number of minor amendments made by the Bill,
notes on individual amendments are contained at the end of the amendments
of each Act. Brief explanatory notes are also included for schedules 3 to 9.
© The State of Queensland 1995