Page 3815 - Week 12 - Thursday, 29 October 2015
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It is important that the government regularly review legislation to ensure that the law is operating equitably and as intended. The efficiencies introduced with this bill complement and progress the work the ACT Revenue Office is undertaking as part of the revenue collection transformation project. This project will modernise the ACT Revenue Office and deliver faster, better and smarter digital services and a clear understanding of customer needs. I commend this bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Smyth) adjourned to the next sitting.
Statute Law Amendment Bill 2015 (No 2)
Mr Corbell, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Health, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (10.30): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Speaker, the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2015 (No 2) makes statute law revision amendments to ACT legislation under guidelines for the technical amendments program approved by the government. The program provides for amendments that are minor or technical and non-controversial. They are generally insufficiently important to justify the presentation of separate legislation in each case and are inappropriate to make as editorial amendments in the process of republishing legislation under the Legislation Act 2001. The program is implemented by presenting a statute law amendment bill such as this in each sitting of the Assembly and including further technical amendments in other amending legislation, where appropriate.
Statute law amendment bills serve the important purpose of improving the overall quality of the ACT statute book so that our laws are kept up to date and are easier to find, read and understand. Statute law amendment bills also provide an important and useful mode for continually modernising the statute book. For example, laws need to be kept up to date to reflect ongoing technological and societal change. Also, as the ACTÂ statute book has been created from various jurisdictional sources over a long period, it reflects the various drafting practices, language usage, printing formats and styles throughout the years. It is important to maintain a minimum, consistent standard in presentation and cohesion between legislation coming from different sources at different times so that better access to, and understanding of, the law is achieved.
This bill deals with three kinds of matters. Schedule 1 provides for minor, non-controversial amendments proposed by a government agency that require approval by the Chief Minister. Schedule 2 contains amendments of the Legislation Act proposed by the parliamentary counsel to ensure that the overall structure of the
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