Interpretation Amendment Bill 2006

Explanatory note
This explanatory note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament.

Overview of Bill

The object of this Bill is to amend the Interpretation Act 1987 so as:

(a) to confirm that statutory bodies that are declared by an Act to represent the
Crown have the status, privileges and immunities of the Crown, and

(b) to provide a statutory basis for the NSW legislation website maintained by the
Parliamentary Counsel for the electronic publication of legislation, and

(c) to provide for the official publication on that website of new statutory rules,
proclamations that commence or amend legislation, and progressively other
miscellaneous statutory instruments, to improve public access to those
instruments (publication each Friday will be continued except in urgent cases
and publication in the Gazette and in pamphlet form will follow to maintain
public access to printed legislation).

The Bill also:

(a) transfers the provisions relating to the paper reprinting of legislation from the
Reprints Act 1972 to the Interpretation Act 1987 and repeals that Act as a
consequence, and

(b) makes other minor or consequential amendments to the Interpretation Act
1987 and certain other legislation (including to the Environmental Planning
and Assessment Act 1979 to provide for the official on-line publication of new
environmental planning instruments).

Outline of provisions

Clause 1 sets out the name (also called the short title) of the proposed Act.

Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on the date of assent,
except that the amendments providing for the official publication of statutory rules
and other instruments on the NSW legislation website will commence on a date to be
proclaimed by the Governor.

Clause 3 is a formal provision giving effect to the amendments to the Interpretation
Act 1987 (the Principal Act) set out in Schedule 1.

Clause 4 is a formal provision giving effect to the amendments to other Acts set out
in Schedule 2.

Clause 5 repeals the Reprints Act 1972 (consequent on the transfer of its remaining
operative provisions relating to paper reprints of legislation to the Interpretation Act
1987).

Clause 6 provides for the repeal of the proposed Act after all the amendments made
by the proposed Act have commenced. Once the amendments have commenced the
proposed Act will be spent and section 30 of the Interpretation Act 1987 provides
that the repeal of an amending Act does not affect the amendments made by that Act.

Schedule 1 Amendment of Interpretation Act 1987
NSW Government agencies and statutory bodies representing the
Crown
Schedule 1 [1] inserts section 13A into the Principal Act relating to NSW
Government agencies and statutory bodies representing the Crown. Legislation
establishing a statutory body with government functions ordinarily declares that the
body is a statutory body representing the Crown. In Wynyard Investments Pty Ltd v
Commissioner for Railways (NSW) [1955] HCA 72, the High Court confirmed that
the declaration conferred on the statutory body the status, immunities and privileges
of the Crown. However, in the recent case of McNamara v CTTT & RTA [2005] HCA
55, the High Court effectively reversed the Wynyard Investments decision. Proposed
section 13A confirms the intention of declarations in previous statutes that a
particular body represented the Crown by providing that such a declaration confers
on the body the status, immunities and privileges of the Crown (including that of the
State). The opportunity has also been taken to give the same status to a declaration in
a future Act that a statutory body is a NSW Government agency.

Schedule 1 [12] inserts clause 7 into Schedule 3 to the Principal Act to make savings
and transitional provisions in relation to proposed section 13A. In particular, it
declares that the section is taken always to have applied to the legislation of New
South Wales. However, the section will not affect the decision of the High Court in
the McNamara case in respect of the successful appellant in that case, including in
respect of any future similar action by the Roads and Traffic Authority in relation to
the premises and the appellant in that High Court case.

NSW legislation website
Schedule 1 [11] inserts Part 6A into the Principal Act (proposed sections 45B–45E)
relating to the electronic and other government publication of legislation. Schedule
1 [2] defines (for the purposes of Part 6A and other Acts), the NSW legislation
website as www.legislation.nsw.gov.au or any other website used by the
Parliamentary Counsel to provide public access to the legislation of NSW.

Proposed section 45B defines legislation so as to include NSW Acts, regulations or
other instruments made under those Acts, laws of other jurisdictions that are applied
in NSW and other publications adopted by NSW legislation.

Proposed section 45C provides a statutory basis for the NSW legislation website
that is used by the Parliamentary Counsel for the electronic publication of legislation
and other matter relating to legislation. The website provides public access to
legislation as originally made and as amended. The proposed section will require the
Parliamentary Counsel to compile and maintain a database of legislation published
on the NSW legislation website and will enable the Parliamentary Counsel to certify
the form of that legislation that is correct (thereby providing the same official status
for electronic reprints of legislation as the Reprints Act 1972 currently provides for
paper reprints certified by the Parliamentary Counsel).

Proposed section 45D re-enacts (in simplified form) provisions of the Reprints Act
1972 (sections 5–7, 12 and 13) relating to the official paper reprint program for the
publication of legislation as amended and in force at the date of the reprint. About
10,000 pages of legislation are reprinted under the program each year (which is to be
maintained, although comprehensive and current updates of legislation are available
on the NSW legislation website, to meet residual public demand for the paper
product). Provisions that permit the Parliamentary Counsel to directly amend
legislation in the course of a reprint for statute law revision purposes have not been
re-enacted since they have not been used in recent years (with statute law revision
amendments being included instead in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions)
Bills introduced into Parliament each Session).

Proposed section 45E re-enacts provisions of the Reprints Act 1972 (sections 9D
and 9F):

(a) that enable legislation to be published with the omission of the enacting
formula and other changes in format (but not substantive text) to reflect
current styles in NSW, and

(b) that enable roman numerals to be regarded as interchangeable with the
corresponding arabic numerals and that enable colons to be regarded as
interchangeable with dashes.

Official publication of new statutory instruments on NSW legislation
website
Currently, new regulations and other statutory instruments are required to be
officially published in a paper version of the Government Gazette (which provides a
historical record on a weekly basis of statutory instruments as originally made). In
the Commonwealth and in some other States and Territories (such as the ACT and
Tasmania) official publication of statutory instruments is now effected by
publication on an official website maintained by Parliamentary Counsel.

Schedule 1 [3], [4], [6], [7], [8], [9] and [10] amend the Principal Act to provide for
the official publication on the NSW legislation website of statutory rules and
proclamations and other instruments that commence or amend legislation. Schedule
2.1 amends the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 to make similar
provision with respect to the official publication of environmental planning
instruments. Publication of the statutory rules and other instruments each Friday will
be continued, except in urgent cases, and publication in the Gazette and in pamphlet
form will follow to maintain public access to printed legislation. The statutory rules
and instruments concerned are those that are generally drafted in the Parliamentary
Counsel’s Office. In future, other new miscellaneous statutory instruments of a
legislative nature will be able to be officially published on the website by regulations
made by the Governor under proposed section 44 (Schedule 1 [9]). In the meantime,
some significant miscellaneous instruments that have been previously made will
continue to be electronically captured and made publicly accessible on the legislation
website (such as water sharing plans under the Water Management Act 2000).

Official electronic publication of new statutory instruments on the NSW legislation
website:

(a) will enable the publication of new statutory instruments to be fully integrated
with the in force and historical versions of legislation on the website and with
the weekly bulletin of legislative activity issued by the Parliamentary Counsel
(including the facility to immediately access electronically the full text of
instruments for browsing, searching and printing), and

(b) will enable a broader range of miscellaneous statutory instruments to become
more publicly accessible over time, and

(c) will enable the inclusion and publication in statutory instruments (such as the
standard environmental planning instruments) of maps and tables with
colours, details and size that are currently not possible because of the
limitation of publishing in an A4 black and white printed page of the Gazette,
and

(d) will enable the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office to publish new instruments on
behalf of government agencies in the same way as it currently arranges for
their tabling in Parliament.

Other amendments
Schedule 1 [5] inserts section 23 (4A) into the Principal Act to make it clear that a
power to appoint different days for the commencement of an Act includes a power to
appoint different days for the repeal of different provisions of a previous Act that is
to be repealed on the commencement of the Act.

Schedule 1 [12] enacts savings and transitional provisions consequent on the
enactment of the proposed Act.

Schedule 2 Amendment of other Acts
Schedule 2.1 contains amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment
Act 1979. The amendments provide for the publication, on the NSW legislation
website instead of the Gazette, of new environmental planning instruments and
orders under that Act relating to standard instruments.

Schedule 2.2 contains amendments to the Public Sector Employment and
Management Act 2002 to provide for the publication, on the NSW legislation website
instead of the Gazette, of orders amending that Act with respect to Departmental and
other administrative changes.

Schedule 2.3 contains amendments to the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989. The
amendments:

(a) make consequential changes relating to the proposed publication of new
statutory instruments on the NSW legislation website instead of the Gazette,
and

(b) provide for the publication, on the website instead of the Gazette, of orders
under that Act that postpone the staged repeal of statutory rules.

Note: If this Bill is not modified, these Explanatory Notes would reflect the Bill as passed in the House. If the Bill has been amended by Committee, these Explanatory Notes may not necessarily reflect the Bill as passed.

 

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