House of Representatives

Revised Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by the authority of the Attorney-General, the Honourable Philip Ruddock MP)

Notes on clauses

Clause 1 - Short title

1. Clause 1 provides for the Act to be cited as the Statute Law Revision Act 2005.

Clause 2 - Commencement

2. Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the Act. Subclause 2(1) provides that each provision of the Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, on the day or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.

3. The items in Schedule 1 amend errors in Principal Acts. The commencement of each item (other than items commencing on the day the legislation receives the Royal Assent) is tied to the commencement of the provision that created the error. The effect of this is that the error is taken to have been corrected immediately after it was made.

4. The items in Schedule 2 amend misdescriptions in amending Acts. In order to correct a misdescription it is necessary to amend the amending Act (rather than the Principal Act) and to treat the correction as having occurred immediately after the time specified in the amending Act for the commencement of the misdescribed item.

Clause 3 - Schedule(s)

5. Clause 3 provides for the Schedules to the Act. It also provides that the Acts specified in the Schedules to the Bill are amended or repealed as set out in those Schedules.