Wednesday, 15 November 2023

Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee

Report on the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (11:35): I rise to speak on the Report on the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022 by the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. I am enjoying working with the member for Narre Warren South as the chair of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee, and I congratulate him on the wonderful job he is doing as chair – thanks, Gazza. I thank Sonja and Sheena for their guidance and support on the committee – sorry, the members in the other place; I have learned a lot from both of them – and the member for Tarneit for his thoughtful contributions and for the time he gives to the regulation review subcommittee of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. I also want to thank the dedicated and hardworking secretariat who support the committee, including Helen Mason, Katie Helme, Simon Dinsbergs, Sonya Caruana and Professor Jeremy Gans. Jeremy offers much support to us all and great advice and does a lot of research every week to ensure that we have got the best advice available to us as we make our decisions on the committee. As a member of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee I can attest to the diligence, sincerity and professionalism of the wonderful secretariat and the incredible assistance they provide to ensure committee members are fully prepared and briefed so that we can do our jobs.

Meeting every Monday morning, the work of the committee is important, and the member for Greenvale alluded to how much committees add to the democracy of our state and how important they are. This committee work within strict confines to ensure that Parliament is not burdened with administrative matters while ensuring that they do not consider any matters which should be brought before the Parliament. It acts as an additional and necessary check on the executive’s powers and has long been seen as best practice in free and fair democracies. Under section 17 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003, the committee is tasked to consider if bills proposed in either chamber unduly trespass upon the rights and freedoms of our citizens. The committee also examines legislation to determine if a bill unduly requires or authorises acts or practices that may have an adverse effect on personal privacy within the meaning of the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 or on the privacy of health information within the meaning of the Health Records Act 2001. The committee is thorough in considering if any bill inappropriately delegates legislative powers or insufficiently subjects the exercise of legislative powers to parliamentary scrutiny.

I can keep listing the reasons why this committee’s work is of paramount importance to the health and functioning of our democratic system, but instead I will focus on the contents of the report that has been tabled in front of us. The Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022 is mentioned in the report tabled and includes certain traditional statute law revision amendments, a substantive amendment to the Sex Offenders Registration Regulations Act 2004 and substantive amendments to the Competition Policy Reform (Victoria) Act 1995. I would like to thank the chief parliamentary counsel for her assistance on this matter and for the information she provided to the committee. The committee received a certificate from the chief parliamentary counsel that traditional statute law revision amendments did not make any substantive changes to the law of Victoria. While the other amendments were more substantive, the certificate explained these changes were necessary to implement existing laws and regulations in the manner that Parliament intended them to be exercised.

The report contains seven recommendations to the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022. Most of these recommendations either rectify minor incorrect cross-references or clarify if certain items are of a substantive nature. These recommendations have been made after extensive research. For instance, the committee noted in its fourth recommendation that:

… the proposed amendment to the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Act 2022 listed in item 4 of Schedule 1 is not of a substantive nature. It repeals a provision in that Act rendered redundant by the amendments made by Item 5 of Schedule 1.

The committee also found that the proposed amendment to the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 is more substantive. The report points out that the earlier amendments to the act were ineffective because of an intervening act. The Firearms and Other Acts Amendment Act 2021 amended the same provision. The proposed amendments to the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022 are in line with what Parliament originally intended in the Justice Legislation Amendment (Police and Other Matters) Act 2022. The report specifies that the committee relied on the certificate from the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, and I concur. (Time expired)