Page 3197 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 September 2014
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Schedule 2 contains minor, noncontroversial structural amendments of the Legislation Act 2001 which have been initiated by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. These structural issues are particularly concerned with making the statute book more coherent and concise. Strategies to achieve these objectives include avoiding unnecessary duplication and achieving the maximum degree of standardisation of legislative provisions consistent with policy requirements and operational needs.
In this bill, the Legislation Act section 151 is amended to present the rules for working out periods of time generally in an act or statutory instrument in table form, consistent with the approach in the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 of the commonwealth section 36. This will make it easier for legislation users to work out periods of time under ACT law. Current section 151(2) to (6) is replaced by the table and section 151(7) is remade as a consequence. This amendment does not substantively change the existing policy on working out periods of time.
For further clarity, the dictionary, part 1, is amended by remaking the definitions of calendar month and month and omitting the definition of named month. Calendar month is currently defined as “a period beginning at the start of any day of a named month and ending at the end of the day before the corresponding day of the next named month or, if there is no such corresponding day, at the end of the last day of the next named month”. The definition of month is substituted by another amendment to replicate the substance of the current definition of calendar month.
As a consequence, the definition of calendar month is being simplified in accordance with current plain language drafting style. The revised definitions of month and calendar month will be consistent with the definitions of those terms in the commonwealth Acts Interpretation Act 1901 and are more consistent with how calendar month and month are generally understood. The amendments also remove the need for a definition of named month, which is omitted by another amendment.
Schedule 3 includes amendments of acts and regulations that have been reviewed as part of the ongoing program of updating and improving the language and form of legislation. In this bill in particular, amendments are made to the Electoral Act 1992 and the Government Procurement Act 2001 as a consequence of the amendments of the Legislation Act 2001 included in schedule 2.
Finally, in addition to the explanatory notes in the bill, the parliamentary counsel is also available to provide any further explanation or information that members would like about any of the amendments made by the bill. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Hanson) adjourned to the next sitting.
Emergencies Amendment Bill 2014
Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
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