The Legislation (Migration Agents Instruments) Sunset‑altering Declaration 2019 aligns 4 RMA-related legislative instruments to sunset on 1 April 2024
The Legislation (Migration Agents Instruments) Sunset‑altering Declaration 2019 commences on 5 March 2019 and its explanatory statement includes the following passages (emphasis added):
Sunsetting is the automatic repeal of legislative instruments after a fixed period. The Australian Government’s sunsetting framework is established under Part 4 of Chapter 3 of the Legislation Act. The purpose of the sunsetting framework is to ensure that legislative instruments are kept up to date and only remain in force for so long as they are needed.
Subsection 50(1) of the Legislation Act provides that a legislative instrument is automatically repealed on the 1 April or 1 October immediately on or following the tenth anniversary of its registration, unless it was registered on 1 January 2005. Legislative instruments registered on 1 January 2005 are subject to the staggered sunsetting timetable set out in subsection 50(2) of the Legislation Act.
Under subsection 51A(1) of the Legislation Act, the Attorney-General can issue a declaration aligning the sunsetting days of two or more instruments to 1 April or 1 October of a year that is up to five years later than the earliest sunsetting day. The instruments will then be repealed on the day specified in the declaration instead of the scheduled sunsetting day of each instrument.
Such a declaration allows instruments to continue to be in force for a further but limited period of time when they would otherwise sunset, or to sunset earlier than the originally scheduled sunsetting day. The objective of issuing a sunset altering-declaration is to facilitate either: the undertaking of a single thematic review into the fitness-for-purpose of two or more instruments relevant to a particular industry, enabling Act or theme; or the implementation of the review’s findings. This reduces the administrative burden as well as legislative inconsistencies that can arise from reviewing and remaking related legislation independently at different times.
The Migration Agents Declaration aligns the sunsetting dates of the following four instruments to be 1 April 2024:
- Migration Agents Regulations 1998 (the Migration Agents Regulations)
- Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Regulations 1998 (the Charge Regulations)
- Migration Agents (IMMI 17/047: CPD Activities, Approval of CPD Providers and CPD Provider Standards) Instrument 2017 (IMMI 17/047), and
- Migration (IMMI 18/003: Specified courses and exams for registration as a migration agent) Instrument 2018 (IMMI 18/003).
Disclaimer: the above is a mere extract of a Declaration. The views there expressed might not reflect the views of the Department, the AAT or the courts. The law or policies might have changed between the writing and reading of this article. The author of this article and Migration Law Updates disclaim any liability for any action (or omission) on their part based on any information provided (or not provided) in this article and are under no obligation to keep the general public nor practitioners informed about the matters discussed in this article or any other matters, or any future changes to any of those matters. It is the responsibility of each practitioner to obtain access to primary sources of law and policy by themselves and to carry out their own research and come to their own conclusions on legislation, case law, policies and more. This article is not intended for the general public.
Sergio Zanotti Stagliorio is a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1461003). He is the owner of Target Migration in Sydney. He can be reached at sergio@targetmigration.com.au