Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2014 is the third bill in the government's 2014 spring repeal day package.

The bill continues the work of the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 1) 2014, which was part of the 2014 autumn repeal day, correcting minor errors in the statute book and repealing spent or redundant legislation. The bill:

By improving the useability and the accuracy of legislation, the bill will save individuals, businesses and community organisations time and money, and has a compliance cost saving of $420,000.

Schedules 1 and 2 to the bill have two main purposes:

Correcting these legislative provisions helps make the law easier to understand and use.

Schedule 3 to the bill updates outdated language in a number of acts in two respects, by:

These changes improve the relevance and inclusiveness of Commonwealth legislation.

Schedule 4 to the bill improves the way that defined terms are managed in the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986. These changes mean that users can refer to one main provision to find a definition that applies throughout the act, or the definition's location elsewhere in the act, rather than needing to peruse over 25 definitions sections. Schedule 4 also makes minor technical amendments to improve the usability of the act.

Schedules 5 and 6 of the bill repeals spent or obsolete provisions and acts. For example:

This work to correct minor errors in the statute book and repealing spent or redundant legislation will continue in further repeal days.

I commend this bill and the entire 2014 spring repeal day package to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.