A Bill for an Act to amend the Amendments Incorporation Act 1905, and for related purposes
The Parliament of Australia enacts:
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Amendments Incorporation Amendment Act 2008.
2 Commencement
(1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.
| Commencement information |
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
| Provision(s) | Commencement | Date/Details |
| 1. Sections 1 to 3 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by this table | The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent. | |
| 2. Schedule 1 | A single day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if any of the provision(s) do not commence within the period of 12 months beginning on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent, they commence on the first day after the end of that period. | |
Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally passed by both Houses of the Parliament and assented to. It will not be expanded to deal with provisions inserted in this Act after assent.
(2) Column 3 of the table contains additional information that is not part of this Act. Information in this column may be added to or edited in any published version of this Act.
3 Schedule(s)
Each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1—Printed and electronic publication of Acts
Amendments Incorporation Act 1905
1 Title
Repeal the title, substitute:
An Act relating to the publication of Acts in printed and electronic form
2 Section 1
Repeal the section, substitute:
Part 1—Preliminary
1 Short title
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.
legislative instrument has the same meaning as in the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Secretary means the Secretary of the Department.
Part 2—Printed publication of Acts
Note: This item amends the short title of the Act. If another amendment of the Act is described by reference to the Act’s previous short title, that other amendment has effect after the commencement of this item as an amendment of the Act under its amended short title (see section 10 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901).
3 Subsection 2(2)
After “enactment”, insert “(or legislative instrument)”.
4 Section 3
After “every Act”, insert “(and legislative instrument, if any)”.
5 Section 4
Repeal the section, substitute:
Part 3—Electronic publication of Acts
4 Acts database
(1) The Secretary may cause to be maintained an electronic database of:
(a) Acts as assented to; and
(b) compilations of Acts.
(2) The Secretary may, in writing, declare a database maintained under this section to be an Acts database for the purposes of this Act.
(3) The Secretary 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 Secretary must arrange for an Acts database to be altered to rectify an error as soon as possible after the Secretary becomes aware of the error, if the Secretary 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 Secretary 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.