The Opposition does not oppose the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill (No. 2) 2009. The Government presents this bill to the Parliament as part of what it states is its continuing statute law revision program. By incorporating into the one bill a whole series of what are essentially minor and non-controversial amendments to existing legislation, the bill is put forward by the Government as a cost-effective, convenient and efficient method of dealing with such amendments.
In effect, the bill has two purposes. The first is to make minor non-controversial technical and policy amendments to various Acts. The second is to repeal certain Acts and provisions of Acts. Schedule 1 to the bill makes amendments to some 20 Acts. A number of these are procedural in nature. The amendment to the Associations Incorporations Act 2009 relates to the change of address of a public officer. The Building Professionals Amendment Act 2008 is amended to remove the word "particular" from schedule 1 to enable that class of accredited certifier to exercise functions for any local council and not just the local council that recommended the application for accreditation. The Dangerous Goods (Road and Rail Transport) Act 2008 is amended to extend the definition of "authorised officer" to include a police officer to enable police officers to exercise the same general powers under that Act as authorised officers appointed by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water.
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Act 2008 is amended to omit an unconnected amendment that would require that the Minister determine whether or not to delegate a plan-making function when reviewing a plan-making proposal. The Fisheries Management Act 1994 is amended to accommodate the possibility that fish and marine vegetation may themselves be declared to be a disease if they are a parasite or a pest. The Rail Safety Act 2008 is amended to clarify what offences the Local Court and/or the Industrial Court of New South Wales may deal with. The Water Management Act 2000 is amended to extend the meaning of the terms "approval" and "access licence" in the Act. The Travel Agents Act 1986 is amended to insert a requirement that travel agents display a notice in the form approved by the director general of the department rather than as prescribed by the regulations.
That partial list of amendments to Acts contained in schedule 1 to the bill gives an indication of the unrelated, varied nature of the Acts listed for amendment. Schedule 2 amends certain Acts and instruments for the purpose of effecting statute law revision. Such proposed amendments include correcting typographical errors, inserting missing words, updating a reference to a renamed Act or omitting redundant provisions. Schedule 3 contains amendments to legislation to extend the requirement for publication on the New South Wales legislation website to additional categories of statutory instruments as part of a staged program for the publication on the website of statutory instruments of a legislative nature.
Schedule 4 contains statute law revision amendments that are consequential on the enactment of the Local Court Act 2007. Most of these amendments involve replacing references to Local Courts with reference to the single Local Court that replaced them. Schedule 5 updates references to liquor, registered clubs and casino legislation consequential on the enactment of the Liquor Act 2007 and the Casino, Liquor and Gaming Control Authority Act 2007. Schedule 6 repeals a number of Acts and provisions of Acts that are redundant because they contain only amendments that have commenced and amendments that cannot be incorporated. Schedule 7 contains general savings, transitional and other provisions. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill (No. 2) 2009 is part of the Government's standard statute law revision process; its contents and effect are non-controversial. Accordingly, as indicated earlier, the Opposition does not oppose the bill.