Page 1720 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 18 May 1994
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STATUTE LAW REVISION BILL 1994
Debate resumed from 24 February 1994, on motion by Mr Connolly:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR HUMPHRIES (6.04): I am sure that we are all delighted to stay back and listen to this debate. Madam Speaker, this Statute Law Revision Bill simply amends a number of pieces of ACT legislation to clear up minor matters - things such as the deletion of sexist language, the removal of redundant provisions and the clarification of typographical errors. It is not a matter of great moment. It probably will appear in Mr Connolly's list of major achievements for the Government at some stage, but it does not quite fit the bill, I suspect.
I have no objections to any of the amendments being made. I make only one small point. The Queensland Parliament has legislation, the name of which I forget - Ms Szuty and Mrs Grassby will know the legislation I am referring to - which they use to amend minor pieces of legislation when reprinted to deal with such things as typographical errors. We call them Clerk's amendments - for example, changing "he" to "he or she", or "he and she", and removing redundant provisions. Those things are dealt with automatically when legislation is reprinted. That avoids having to pass legislation like this through the Assembly, and going through the process of gazetting it and so on. It would be ideal, I suspect, Madam Speaker, and it would save lots of time and paper if we were to do that. We are doing nothing here which warrants spending much time. It really is a matter which should be dealt with mechanically by the Government Printer, not by the Assembly.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General and Minister for Health) (6.06), in reply: Members, I am sure, are grateful that we stayed back to debate this fundamental piece of legislation. It is, however, an important tidying up exercise. Mr Humphries raises an issue: Could we do away with these tidying up exercises and let the printers fix up the typos? There is a procedure when a Bill is going through the place that allows the Clerk to make minor typographical amendments, but these errors are often found some time after the Bill has been enacted. It would be a fairly fundamental issue for the parliament to give to some official in the Government Printing Office or wherever the ability to fix up - - -
Mr Humphries: They do it in Queensland.
MR CONNOLLY: They used to do lots of strange things in Queensland, Mr Humphries. It is not necessarily - - -
Mr Humphries: The Labor Government in Queensland uses this provision.
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