Review of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003
Requirement for a review of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA)
The LIA came into force on 1 January 2005. Subsection 59(1) of the LIA requires that by 31 March 2008, the Attorney-General appoint persons to a body to review the operation of the LIA. Subsection 59(3) requires the body to review all aspects of the operation of the LIA and any other related matters that the Attorney-General specifies.
Current Status
The review of the LIA has been completed and the report of the review can be accessed here:
- Report into the operation of the Legislative Instruments Act [DOC 353KB]
- Report into the operation of the Legislative Instruments Act [PDF 375KB]
Background to the review
On 25 March 2008 the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, announced the appointment of the LIA Review Committee (the Committee).
- Attorney-General’s media release
- The Terms of Reference [DOC 37KB]
- Issues Paper [DOC 150KB]
- Committee Members
The Committee released an issues paper for public comment on 9 April 2008 and directly invited more than 300 organisations to comment on its paper. The Committee met with a number of stakeholders including through public forums in Sydney and Canberra, and has received a number of submissions.
Background to the LIA
The LIA introduced a comprehensive regime for the making, registration, publication, parliamentary scrutiny and sunsetting of Commonwealth delegated legislation. In addition to new provisions, the LIA substantially re-enacted those parts of s 46A and Part XII of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 that dealt with regulations and disallowable instruments and extended their operation to all legislative instruments.
The LIA requires legislative instruments to be registered, and made publicly available through registration, on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. Following registration, legislative instruments are presented to the Parliament.
View further background information on the LIA.
