Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Regulatory Powers (Standardisation Reform) Bill 2020 represents the second coordinated tranche of amendments to Commonwealth acts to trigger the operation of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014.

By way of background, the regulatory powers act provides for a standard suite of provisions in relation to monitoring and investigation powers, as well as provisions regulating the use of civil penalties, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings and injunctions.

That act commenced on 1 October 2014, but only has effect where Commonwealth acts are drafted or amended to trigger the standard provisions.

By standardising regulatory powers across the Commonwealth, the act is intended to:

The regulatory powers act also ensures that Commonwealth regulatory powers are sufficiently certain and predictable, while being flexible, to ensure that agencies with specialised functions can operate effectively. The standard provisions of the regulatory powers act represent best practice in relation to regulatory powers of general application.

The first standardisation reform act, the Regulatory Powers (Standardisation Reform) Act 2017, amended 15 Commonwealth acts to repeal existing provisions providing for regulatory regimes and instead apply the standard provisions of the regulatory powers act. Since then a number of acts have also independently triggered the regulatory powers act's standard provisions.

This bill amends six acts to trigger the standard provisions of the regulatory powers act. Amendments to the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, the Fisheries Management Act 1991and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011 will move existing bespoke regulatory regimes to the standard provisions to align with best practice regulatory powers. Amendments to the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982, the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 and the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 will trigger the regulatory powers act to expand their regulatory powers and provide a more robust compliance and graduated enforcement scheme. Amendments to provide these acts with standard regulatory powers will support the acts' overarching policy objectives, including the reduction of smoking rates, the management of fisheries resources and the integrity of educational services.

Alignment with the regulatory powers act also provides an opportunity to consider whether existing regulatory powers or functions are still relevant and appropriate. Accordingly, the bill will either repeal or narrow existing regulatory provisions that do not have equivalent provisions in the regulatory powers act on the basis that those existing provisions are no longer required or required in their current form. In addition, limited modifications to the standard provisions will be made to some of the acts to tailor the standard provisions to the regulatory context of each act.

A mendments to the regulatory powers act

The bill will also make minor amendments to the regulatory powers act to ensure that the regulatory requirements and underlying penalty and offence provisions of acts that trigger the regulatory powers act can be effectively enforced.

Those amendments would:

By way of conclusion, implementing the regulatory powers act supports the government's regulatory reform agenda, as that act intends to simplify and streamline Commonwealth regulatory powers across the statute book which currently vary in breadth and detail, resulting in inconsistency or unnecessary duplication across regimes.

Standardisation provides regulatory agencies with the opportunity to use more uniform powers, and increase legal certainty for businesses and individuals who are subject to those powers. The use of the standard provisions ensures that the government exercises regulatory powers responsibly and with accountability so that the rights of individuals and businesses remain protected.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.