Acts Publication Act 1905

Act No. 13 of 1905 as amended

This compilation was prepared on 1 October 2012
taking into account amendments up to Act No. 107 of 2012

The text of any of those amendments not in force
on that date is appended in the Notes section

The operation of amendments that have been incorporated may be
affected by application provisions that are set out in the Notes section

Prepared by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Canberra

Contents

Part 1—Preliminary

1 Short title [see Note 1]

1A Definitions

Part 2—Printed publication of Acts

2 Incorporation of amendments in reprints of Acts

3 Reference to amending Act

Part 3—Electronic publication of Acts

4 Acts database

5 Effect of inclusion in an Acts database

6 Documents in an Acts database

7 How an Acts database must be kept

8 Rectification of an Acts database

Part 4—Miscellaneous

9 Regulations

Notes

An Act relating to the publication of Acts in printed and electronic form

Part 1—Preliminary

1  Short title [see Note 1]

  This Act may be cited as the Acts Publication Act 1905.

1A  Definitions

  In this Act:

Acts database means an electronic database declared under section 4.

compilation, of an Act that has been amended (whether by another Act or by a legislative instrument) with effect from a particular day, means the Act as so amended and in force on that day.

First Parliamentary Counsel means the person appointed to the position of First Parliamentary Counsel under subsection 4(1) of the Parliamentary Counsel Act 1970.

legislative instrument has the same meaning as in the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Part 2—Printed publication of Acts

2  Incorporation of amendments in reprints of Acts

 (1) When any Act has, before or after the commencement of this Act, been amended by:

 (a) the repeal or omission of certain words or figures, or

 (b) the substitution of certain words or figures in lieu of any repealed or omitted words or figures, or

 (c) the insertion or addition of certain words or figures,

then in any reprint of the Act by the Government Printer the Act shall be printed as so amended by all such amendments (in this section referred to as the relevant amendments) as were made before a day specified in the reprint.

 (2) In every reprint of any Act as so amended, reference shall be made in the margin, or in a footnote or endnote, to the enactment (or legislative instrument) by which each relevant amendment was made.

 (2A) Subsection (2) does not apply in relation to an amendment:

 (a) deemed to have been made by the subsection for which this subsection was substituted by the Acts Citation Act 1976; or

 (b) made by section 6 of that Act.

 (3) In this Act, words includes Part, Division, Subdivision, heading, section, subsection, paragraph, sub‑paragraph, sub‑sub‑paragraph, clause, sub‑clause and Schedule.

3  Reference to amending Act

  There shall be printed on every reprint issued by the Government Printer of any Act which has before or after the commencement of this Act been amended a short reference to every Act (and legislative instrument, if any) by which it has been amended before a day specified in the reprint.

Part 3—Electronic publication of Acts

4  Acts database

 (1) The First Parliamentary Counsel may cause to be maintained an electronic database of:

 (a) Acts as assented to; and

 (b) compilations of Acts.

 (2) The First Parliamentary Counsel may, in writing, declare a database maintained under this section to be an Acts database for the purposes of this Act.

 (3) The First Parliamentary Counsel must cause steps to be taken to ensure that Acts and compilations of Acts in an Acts database are available to the public.

 (4) A declaration made under subsection (2):

 (a) is not a legislative instrument; and

 (b) must be published in the Gazette.

5  Effect of inclusion in an Acts database

 (1) An Act in an Acts database is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be a complete and accurate record of the Act as assented to.

 (2) A compilation of an Act in an Acts database is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be a complete and accurate record of the Act as amended and in force on the day specified in the compilation.

 (3) In any proceedings, proof is not required about the provisions and coming into operation (in whole or in part) of an Act as it appears in an Acts database.

 (4) A court or tribunal may inform itself about those matters in any way it thinks fit.

6  Documents in an Acts database

  A document that purports to be an extract from an Acts database is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be what it purports to be.

7  How an Acts database must be kept

 (1) The regulations may prescribe matters relating to how an Acts database must be kept, including the following:

 (a) the way information may be recorded in an Acts database;

 (b) the way information recorded in an Acts database may be altered;

 (c) a system of unique identifiers for each Act and compilation in an Acts database, and the way in which they are to be recorded in Acts and compilations.

 (2) A compilation in an Acts database of an Act (the principal Act) must include the following information:

 (a) a reference to the amending legislation by which each amendment was made to the principal Act;

 (b) the amending history of each provision in the principal Act as amended by all amending legislation covered by the compilation;

 (c) the day the compilation was prepared;

 (d) any other information required by the regulations.

8  Rectification of an Acts database

 (1) The First Parliamentary Counsel must arrange for an Acts database to be altered to rectify an error as soon as possible after the First Parliamentary Counsel becomes aware of the error, if the First Parliamentary Counsel is satisfied that the error has the result that:

 (a) for an error concerning an Act—the electronic text of the Act as it appears in the database does not represent the text of the Act as assented to; or

 (b) for an error concerning a compilation of an Act—the electronic text of the compilation as it appears in the database does not represent the state of the law that the text purports to represent.

 (2) The First Parliamentary Counsel must arrange for the Acts database (as rectified) to be annotated to explain:

 (a) the nature, day and time of the rectification; and

 (b) the reason for the rectification.

 (3) An alteration of an Acts database under this section:

 (a) does not affect any right or privilege that was acquired, or that accrued, because of reliance on the content of the database before the alteration was made; and

 (b) does not impose or increase any obligation or liability that was incurred before the alteration was made.

Part 4—Miscellaneous

9  Regulations

  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:

 (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or

 (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Notes to the Acts Publication Act 1905

Note 1

The Acts Publication Act 1905 as shown in this compilation comprises Act No. 13, 1905 amended as indicated in the Tables below.

All relevant information pertaining to application, saving or transitional provisions prior to 22 July 2012 is not included in this compilation. For subsequent information see Table A.

Table of Acts

(a) Subsection 2(1) (item 3) of the Legislative Instruments (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2003 provides as follows:

 (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences on the day or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.

Table of Amendments

Table A

Application, saving or transitional provisions

Parliamentary Counsel and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2012
(No. 107, 2012)

Schedule 2

46  Definitions

(1) In this Part:

Secretary means the Secretary of the Department.

(2) To avoid doubt, a reference in this Part to doing a thing includes a reference to making an instrument.

47  Things done under the Acts Publication Act 1905

(1) If, before the commencement of this item, a thing was done by or in relation to the Secretary under a provision of the Acts Publication Act 1905 then, for the purposes of the operation of any law of the Commonwealth on and after the commencement of this item, the thing is taken to have been done by or in relation to the First Parliamentary Counsel under that provision as in force after the commencement of this item.

(2) Subitem (1) is not to be taken to change the time at which a thing was done by or in relation to the Secretary.