Australian Capital Territory Bills Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]

STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT BILL 2007


Attachment C




2007
THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR
THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY





STATUTE LAW AMENDMENT BILL 2007
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT














Circulated by the authority
of

Simon Corbell MLA
Attorney
General

Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au

2
Background
The object of this bill is to further enhance the ACT's statute book to ensure that it is of
the highest standard. The bill does so by amending Acts and regulations for statute
law revision purposes only.

This bill forms part of the technical amendments program for ACT legislation. Under
guidelines for the technical amendments program approved by the government, the
essential criteria for the inclusion of amendments in the bill are that the amendments
are minor or technical and non-controversial.

The development of a technical amendments program for ACT legislation was in
response to the need for greater flexibility in the drafting of amendments for statute law
revision purposes and to minimise costs associated with keeping ACT legislation up to
date. Statute law amendment bills are an important part of maintaining and enhancing
the standard of ACT law. They provide an opportunity to make amendments and
repeals that, taken alone, would generally be insufficiently important to justify separate
legislation and are inappropriate to make as editorial amendments under the
Legislation Act 2001, chapter 11 (which provides for the republication of Acts and
statutory instruments). However, the cumulative effect of the amendments and
repeals made through a technical amendments program and statute law amendment
bills can have a substantial impact on the ACT statute book and the overall quality of
ACT law.

The ACT statute book is all ACT 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. Statute law
amendments under the technical amendments program can greatly assist the process
of modernisation of the statute book. Laws need to be kept up to date to reflect
ongoing technological and societal change.

The bill contains three schedules and has been structured to assist the transparency of
the amendments made by it.

Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au

3
When enacted, this bill will help to improve the quality of the ACT's statute book by
making it simpler, more consistent and more coherent, and will help to keep it up to
date.

Clause 1 -- Name of Act
This clause provides for the bill's name.

Clause 2 -- Commencement
This clause provides for the bill's commencement 21 days after the day it is notified
under the Legislation Act 2001. This will enable the Parliamentary Counsel's Office to
have up-to-date republications of the affected legislation ready for the legislation
register on the day the amendments commence. However, the amendment of the
Registrar-General Act 1993 requires a different commencement time and this is
indicated by the inclusion of a special commencement provision at the end of the
amendment. Clause 2 contains an example of a special commencement provision.

Clause 3 -- Purpose
This clause states the bill's purpose.

Clause 4 -- Notes
This clause confirms that an explanatory note in the bill does not form part of the Act
when it is enacted.

Clause 5 -- Legislation amended--schs 1-3
This clause gives effect to the amendments made by schedules 1 to 3.

Schedule 1 -- Minor amendments
Schedule 1 provides for minor, non-controversial amendments initiated by government
departments and agencies. It contains amendments of the Cemeteries and
Crematoria Act 2003, Heritage Act 2004 and Unlawful Games Act 1984. Each
amendment is explained in an explanatory note to the amendment.

Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au

4
Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003
Section 23 is amended to remove the requirement that a warrant under the
Coroners Act 1997 and the chief health officer's permission are both required to
exhume human or foetal remains.

Heritage Act 2004
The first amendment is of section 13 which defines the term interested person for the
Act. Notices about the registration, or proposed changes to the registration, of a place
or object must be given to each interested person for the place or object. The
amendment makes it clear that if a place or object is also an Aboriginal place or object,
each of the entities mentioned in new subsection (2) is, in addition to the entities
mentioned in existing section 13 (a) to (e), an interested person for the place or object.

The second amendment is of section 50 which provides for the partial cancellation of a
registered place. The amendment extends the scope of the section to include the
partial cancellation of a registered object. For example, if a part of a heritage object
cannot be repaired and is replaced, it may be appropriate for the registration not to
continue to apply to that part of the object.

Unlawful Games Act 1984
The definition of unlawful game lists various games and, in paragraph (f), provides
`any other game of skill or chance, or of mixed skill and chance, in which money or any
other valuable thing is staked or risked on an event or contingency'. The amendment
adds `other than backgammon, bridge, chess or scrabble' to the end of the paragraph.
Unlike most other board or card games of skill or chance, the 4 games are typically
played in competitions organised by community bodies and, without the amendment,
may offend the Act when played for some form of reward, such as part of a tournament
in which prizes are awarded. However, when played for a reward, including as part of
a tournament, they are not played for gambling purposes. The tournament prizes or
other benefits are a recognition of skill rather than a gambling reward. The purpose of
the amendment is to exclude the games from the Act's operation.

Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au

5
Schedule 2 -- Structural amendments of Legislation Act
Schedule 2 provides for non-controversial structural amendments of the Legislation
Act 2001 initiated by the Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Each amendment is
explained in an explanatory note in the schedule.

The schedule contains 2 technical amendments of section 192 which sets out the
period within which prosecutions for offences must be begun. Offences by
corporations that are punishable by a fine of 100 penalty units or more may be begun
at any time. The amendments add a reference to the equivalent value of the fine
($50 000) to allow for the application of national uniform laws in the ACT where the
penalties are expressed as amounts of money rather than in penalty units.

Schedule 3 -- Technical amendments
Schedule 3 contains minor or technical amendments of legislation initiated by the
Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Each amendment is explained in an explanatory note
in the schedule.

The amendments include the correction of minor errors, updating language, improving
syntax and other minor changes to update or improve the form of legislation.

Authorised by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel--also accessible at www.legislation.act.gov.au

 

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [[Help]]