Bills Digest no. 97 2014–15
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WARNING: This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the Bill.
Tyler Fox
Law and Bills Digest Section
8 May 2015
Contents
Purpose
of the Bill
Structure of the Bill
Committee consideration
Policy position of non-government parties/independents
Position of major interest groups
Financial implications
Key issues and provisions
Date introduced: 18
March 2015
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Prime Minister
Commencement: Various
dates as set out in the table in section 2 of the Bill.
Links: The links to the Bill,
its Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech can be found on the
Bill’s home page, or through the Australian
Parliament website.
When Bills have been passed and have received Royal Assent, they
become Acts, which can be found at the ComLaw
website.
The purpose of the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015
(the Bill) is to abolish defunct bodies, consolidate previous bodies and repeal
spent and redundant provisions and Acts. The Bill was introduced with the
Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 and
the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015.[1]
It is part of a package of repeal Bills which include the Statute Law
Revision Bill (No. 2) 2014, the Amending Acts
1970 to 1979 Repeal Bill 2014 and the Omnibus Repeal
Day (Spring 2014) Bill 2014.[2]
The first two of these earlier Bills were given Royal Assent on
25 February 2015 while, as at the time of writing, the latter is still
before the Parliament.
This Digest examines only the amendments in the Bill
judged to be material or apparently material.
The Bill has seven Schedules reflecting amendments across
seven government portfolios. These are:
- Agriculture
- Environment
- Health
- Prime Minister
- Social Services
- Treasury
and
- Veterans’ Affairs.
Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation
Committee
The Bill has been referred to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee
for inquiry and report by 15 June 2015. Details of the inquiry are at
the inquiry
webpage.[3]
The Bill was referred to ensure it has no adverse issues or
consequences.[4]
Parliamentary Joint Committee on
Human Rights
As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights
(Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the Government has assessed the
Bill’s compatibility with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared
in the international instruments listed in section 3 of that Act. The
Government considers that the Bill is compatible.[5]
However the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (the
Committee) has raised questions regarding the impact of the Bill’s repeal of
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws)
Act 1975.[6]
The Committee has asked for further information from the
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister about how existing
federal legislation provides equivalent protections for the right to equality
and non-discrimination.[7]
At the time of writing, no policy position from
non-government parties or independents has been made publically available.
At the time of writing, no major interest groups had
commented on the provisions of the Bill.
The Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum states that it has
no financial implications for the Government.[8]
However, in his second reading speech, the Parliamentary Secretary
to the Prime Minister stated it may reduce compliance costs.[9]
National Landcare Advisory
Committee
The Explanatory Memorandum comments that the government
has established the ‘National Landcare Advisory Committee’ to advise the
Natural Heritage Ministerial Board[10]
on the development and implementation of the National Landcare Programme.[11]
It is intended that the National Landcare Advisory Committee will function as
an amalgamation of the Australian Landcare Council (ALC) and the Natural
Heritage Trust Advisory Committee (NHTA Committee). The ALC is to be abolished
by items 8–16 of Schedule 1 of the Bill and the NHTA Committee is
to be abolished by items 1–4 of Schedule 2 of the Bill.
In June 2014, the Senate referred the matter of the
National Landcare Program to the Senate Environment and Communications
References Committee for inquiry and report. That report, published in March
2015, did not specifically recommend that the ALC and NHTA Committees be
abolished or consolidated.[12]
It focused, instead, on the funding cuts to Landcare and the operation of the
program itself.[13]
The advisability of this amalgamation may depend on complex matters of
environmental protection and their administration, but there has been no
significant commentary on the proposed amalgamation. Furthermore, as the
Explanatory Memorandum comments, there are no current members of the ALC,[14]
while the NHTA Committee has not met since 2010.[15]
Environment
Items 5–6 of Schedule 2 of the Bill abolish
the Biological Diversity Advisory Committee (BDA Committee).[16]
This Committee was established to advise the
Minister for the Environment on matters relating to
the conservation and ecologically sustainable use of biological diversity.[17]
However its membership lapsed in 2007 and it has not been functionally
re-established.[18]
The Bill does not provide for another body to replace it. Nor does it provide for
its functions to be taken over by another agency.
The Heard Island and McDonald Island Marine Reserve was
established in 2002. The Reserve is a Commonwealth reserve, declared under
section 344 of the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).[19] Items 7–12 of
Schedule 2 of the Bill amend the EPBC Act to remove redundant
exemptions to the making of plans in respect of Heard Island and McDonald
Island and to correct references to subsections. Heard Island and McDonald
Island are covered by those exemption provisions in the EPBC Act which relate to Commonwealth reserves.[20]
Health
The Health and Other Services (Compensation) Act 1995
provides that the Commonwealth does not pay a Medicare benefit, nursing home
benefit, or residential care subsidy for a person who is in receipt of injury
compensation payments.[21]
The recovery of funds under the Health and Other Services (Compensation) Act
is administered by the Department of Human Services.[22]
Items 1–7 of Schedule 3 amend the Health and Other Services (Compensation) Act to
improve the administration of the recovery process.
Specifically, item 2 repeals the requirement that a statement of past
benefits be verified by statutory declaration. A claimant can declare that the
information they provide is true and correct using existing forms. Item 3 operates
so that a notice of judgment or settlement form need only be signed by the
compensation payer and not the claimant as well. These are minor administrative
changes that may nevertheless save time and effort.
Prime Minister and Cabinet
Items 1–2 of Schedule 4 of the Bill repeal the
Aboriginal Affairs (Arrangements with States) Act 1973
and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975.[23]
The former is redundant because of the state-APS employee transfer arrangements
in Part 10 of the Public Service Act 1999.[24]
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act
is similarly redundant because the Queensland legislation it was designed
to address has since been repealed.[25]
There was a concern that the Aborigines Act 1971 (Qld)
and the Torres Strait Islanders Act 1971
(Qld), could be in breach of international conventions.[26]
While these stated Acts have since been repealed, as stated above, the
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has raised the further question
of whether there may be unforeseen consequences arising from the amendments in
this Schedule.
Item 3 in Part 2 of Schedule 4 contains a consequential
amendment upon the repeal of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act.
Social Services
Part 1 of Schedule 5 of the Bill (items 1–5)
amends various statutes to allow greater public access to de-identified
aggregated protected information so that it can be used by ‘researchers and the
general public’.[27]
The legislation affected includes the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999,
Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, Social Security (Administration) Act 1999
and the Student Assistance Act 1973.[28]
Retirement assistance for farmers
Part 3 of Schedule 5 of the Bill (items
32–66) amends the Social Security Act 1991[29]
to repeal the Retirement Assistance for Farmers Scheme (RAF Scheme) and the
Retirement Assistance for Sugarcane Farmers (RASF Scheme). These schemes enabled
farmers who met certain conditions to transfer ownership of the family farm to
an eligible descendant and still obtain social security.[30]
They were closed in 2001 and 2007 with all claims having been determined.[31]
Part 1 of Schedule 7 (items 1-34) repeals
provisions in relation to equivalent RAF and RASF Schemes from the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986.[32]
Members, Senators and Parliamentary staff can obtain
further information from the Parliamentary Library on (02) 6277 2500.
[1]. Parliament
of Australia, ‘Amending Acts 1980
to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 homepage’, Australian Parliament website;
Parliament of Australia, ‘Statute Law Revision
Bill (No. 2) 2015 homepage’, Australian Parliament website, both accessed
26 March 2015; C Petrie, Statute Law Revision Bill
(No. 2) 2015, Bills digest, 90, 2014–15, Parliamentary Library,
Canberra, 2015, accessed 9 April 2015.
[2]. For
the Bills digest on these Bills, see J Murphy, Statute
Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2014, Bills digest, 48, 2014–15,
Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2014; K Magarey, Amending Acts
1970 to 1979 Repeal Bill 2014, Bills digest, 57,
2014–15, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2014; D Spooner, Omnibus Repeal
Day (Spring 2014) Bill 2014, Bills digest, 62, 2014–15,
Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2014, all accessed
25 March 2015.
[3]. Senate
Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, Inquiry
into the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015, The Senate, 2015,
accessed 7 May 2015.
[4]. Selection
of Bills Committee, Report
No. 3 of 2015, The Senate, 19 March 2015, Appendix 1, accessed 7 May
2015.
[5]. The
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights can be found at page 32 of the
Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill.
[6]. Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975, accessed
8 May 2015.
[7]. Parliamentary
Joint Committee on Human Rights, Twenty-first
report of the 44th Parliament, The
Senate, Canberra, 24 March 2015, pp. 6–7, accessed 9 April 2015.
[8]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015,
p. 1, accessed 25 March 2015.
[9]. C
Porter (Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister), ‘Second
reading speech:
Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015’,
House of Representatives, Debates, 18 March2015, p. 2704, accessed
10 April 2015.
[10]. National
Landcare Program (NLP), ‘Natural
Heritage Ministerial Board’, National Landcare Program website, accessed 8
May 2015.
[11]. Department of Agriculture,
‘National Landcare Advisory Committee’, Department of Agriculture website, accessed
10 April 2015; Explanatory Memorandum, op. cit., p. 10.
[12]. Environment and Communications
References Committee, National Landcare Program,
The Senate, Canberra, March 2015, pp. 48–49, 64–65, 126–137, accessed 10
April 2015.
[13]. Ibid.
[14]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., p. 7.
[15]. Ibid.,
p. 10.
[16]. Department
of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEH), ‘Biological
Diversity Advisory Committee’, DEH website (archived), accessed 8 May 2015.
[17]. Paragraph
505(a) of the Environmental
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, accessed 8 May 2015.
[18]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., pp. 10–11.
[19]. Department
of the Environment, ‘Marine
Reserve’, Department of the Environment website, accessed 8 May 2015.
[20]. Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, subsections 316(6), 324T(1),
328(6), 341U(1).
[21]. Health and
Other Services (Compensation) Act 1995, accessed 6 May 2015.
[22]. Department
of Human Services (DHS), ‘Medicare
compensation recovery program’, DHS website, accessed 8 May 2015.
[23]. Aboriginal Affairs
(Arrangements with States) Act 1973; Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act 1975, accessed 9
April 2014.
[24]. Public Service Act 1999,
Part 10, accessed 9 April 2014.
[25]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., pp. 15–16; Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islanders (Queensland Reserves and Communities Self-management) Act 1978,
section 16; Community
Services (Aborigines) Act 1984 (Qld); Community
Services (Torres Strait) Act 1984 (Qld), accessed 9 April 2014.
[26]. G
Bryant (Minister for the Capital Territory), ‘Second
reading speech: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland
Discriminatory Laws) Bill 1975’, House of Representatives, Debates,
11 February 1975, accessed 8 May 2015.
[27]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., p. 17.
[28]. A New Tax System (Family
Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999;
Paid Parental Leave
Act 2010; Social Security
(Administration) Act 1999 and Student Assistance Act
1973, accessed 9 April 2014.
[29]. Social Security
Act 1991, access 8 May 2015.
[30]. The
Schemes were originally introduced by the Social Security
and Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Retirement Assistance for Farmers)
Act 1998, accessed 8 May 2015.
[31]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., pp. 21–24.
[32]. Veterans’ Entitlements
Act 1986, accessed 9 April 2014.
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