Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be speaking on the Statute Law Revision Bill 2008. This is a bill to amend drafting and technical errors in 40 acts, repeal 27 obsolete acts and remove gender specific language from 88 acts. It is one of those run-of-the-mill bills which governments introduce on a regular basis to update legislation. As the Attorney has pointed out, there is very productive work done during the period when we are supposedly doing productive work ourselves in getting re-elected to this place—and when some new members, of course, are getting elected for the first time. It is very exciting for them but not so exciting on this side of the House for those members who have come from the other side!

In fact, I am surprised to see so many members speaking on the Statute Law Revision Bill. There are three speakers to follow me, and I feel somewhat inadequate because I do not intend to speak for very long at all. In fact, I really only wanted to say that obviously the opposition supports this bill. It is an essential tool of government to update Commonwealth statute books and to keep them accurate.

As the Attorney pointed out, there are four schedules to the bill. Schedule 1 makes some minor technical amendments to 26 principal acts. Schedule 2 makes amendments to 14 amending acts. Schedule 3 repeals 27 obsolete acts, particularly for programs that have already been completed and things like the Brigalow Lands Agreement Act 1962 and the Queensland Tobacco Leaf Marketing Board Guarantee Act 1953. I do not think there has been tobacco grown in Queensland for some time. Certainly the government bought out most of the last tobacco farmers in Indi not long before the last federal election, and I do not think there is any tobacco leaf grown in this country at all anymore. There is a list, of course, of all these bills attached to the explanatory memorandum, which the Attorney has just tabled in the House. Schedule 4 removes gender specific language from 88 acts, which is the modern thing to do, apparently. The opposition would like to place on record its support for the bill.

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