Bishop ChrisCHRIS BISHOP (National): I wasn't going to take a call on this bill but I am intrigued by this little exchange towards the latter stages. I mean I've got to say it's a fairly unintended consequence I would have thought of the Legislation Act which—I think I'm right in saying that I sat on the Regulations Review Committee to oversee the passage or at least some of the passage of it. Simon O'Connor: Who's the chair of that committee? CHRIS BISHOP: The chair is Chris Penk. He may wish to—Chris Penk: I think it was me. CHRIS BISHOP: Oh it was you—I'll blame you for it—but he may wish to proffer a view. But it's a genuine point which is: is it now the position that the administering department can be updated by the machinery of government and that essentially just has the effect of updating the Act? So the Act says it's the chief executive and it's left open as to who the chief executive is and then the administering department changes from—I don't know. In this case it's the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) but for argument's sake it could be the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) which seems to end up with the ephemera and pot-pourri of other random stuff that departments don't want. I'm not having a go at DIA—they do a good job—but it's sort of a catch-all department. So let's say for argument's sake that DIA want to be that administering department. The effect of that decision being made is that the Act just sort of auto-updates to the chief executive of the DIA being the chief executive and I'm not sure that's a wholly satisfactory outcome of the Legislation Act. I mean the first point is that Parliament is not actually authorising that change. It's just being done by ministerial or at least administrative fiat so there's been a transfer of power away from the legislature. So that's the first point. The second point is—and I accept it's not the world's most significant point but it is an important point which is a rule of law point which is that people should have the ability to quickly work out who the right chief executive is that they're talking about and to read a piece of legislation and understand it. There'll be quite a few people I reckon who would read it and go Oh yeah the chief executive." and the "chief executive" of so and so is littered throughout the statute book now and they'll read it and go "the chief executive of MBIE" "the chief executive of DIA" "the chief executive of"—whatever and they'll say "OK that's fair enough. That's all good. I understand. That's fine." Well now you have to know to read the legislation and go "Oh yeah the chief executive. Ah right—that's right. Parliament in its infinite wisdom three years ago decided that the way to work out who the chief executive is that you have to go down to the very bottom of the Act and work out who the responsible agency is and—oh that's right. That's who it is." I mean I probably knew three years ago but I'd forgotten that we'd authorised that. So I'd be willing to put this to the committee: very few MPs in Parliament know that that's the case so how many slightly more laypeople out there in the public domain know that that's the case. I would hazard a guess that it's very few. So look is it the world's biggest issue? No. Is it an important one? Yes. I think there are some rule of law concerns around that. Anyway I wasn't planning on taking a call but I feel better having got it off my chest. My colleague Chris Penk who actually knows far more about this than I do may wish to—oh he's shaking his head. No. OK—anyway. So the Minister may want to proffer a comment but thank you Madam Chair. Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety): Look briefly I do agree with my colleague across the Chamber that it is an interesting point but it is an interesting point in the context of the Legislation Act rather than this one. I've checked it. "Department" is defined and all the legislation in section 13 of the Legislation Act is the agency responsible for administering the Act. So those indeed are the provisions of the Legislation Act. That is what is being applied here. It is I think a very good question perhaps to raise with the Attorney-General or the Regulations Review Committee to give some consideration to but it's not one that I can change here."