Senate

Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum

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

General Outline and Financial Impact

General Outline

Subsection 46B(11) Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (the AIA) provides that the regime of parliamentary scrutiny and disallowance established by Part 5 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (the LIA) applies to disallowable non-legislative instruments with certain modifications.

Those modifications address the fact that Part 5 of the LIA contains phrases and concepts specific to legislative instruments and that some provisions in Part 5 are only relevant to legislative instruments. For example, paragraph 46B(11)(a) of the AIA provides that, for the purposes of applying relevant provisions of Part 5 of the LIA to disallowable non-legislative instruments, references in Part 5 of the LIA to legislative instruments should be read as references to disallowable non-legislative instruments.

The modifications ensure that only relevant aspects of Part 5 of the LIA apply to disallowable non-legislative instruments. They also ensure that the terms and concepts used in Part 5 which are specific to legislative instruments are converted into equivalent terms and concepts relevant to disallowable non-legislative instruments.

The proposed government amendments to subsection 46B(11) of the AIA have been requested by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to clarify the application of certain provisions and the meaning of certain phrases in Part 5 of the LIA to disallowable non-legislative instruments. The amendments are of a technical nature only. Disallowable non-legislative instruments are and continue to be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and disallowance under Part 5 of the LIA as currently applied by subsection 46B(11) of the AIA. The amendments merely clarify the operation of Part 5 of the LIA when applied to disallowable non-legislative instruments.

Financial Impact

Nil.