Legislation Interpretation Act 2021

This

Act may be cited as the Legislation

Interpretation Act 2021.

Subject to subsection (3), the provisions of this Act apply—

to this Act; and

to every other Act; and

to every legislative instrument.

This

Act applies to an Act or a legislative instrument whether made before or after the commencement of this Act.

The application of this Act, or a provision of this Act, to an Act or a legislative instrument, or to a provision of an Act or a legislative instrument, is subject to a contrary intention.

In every Act and legislative instrument—

Act means—

an

Act of the Parliament of South Australia or an Act or ordinance of some earlier legislative authority in South Australia; or

an

Act of the Imperial Parliament that has been received into the law of South Australia or applies to South Australia by paramount force;

ADI means an authorised deposit‑taking institution within the meaning of the Banking

Act of the Commonwealth;

administrative unit has the same meaning as in the Public

Sector Act 2009;

affidavit, in all cases where persons are allowed by law to affirm or to declare instead of swearing, includes affirmation or declaration;

amend includes the following, whether effected expressly or by implication:

omit;

insert;

substitute;

alter;

vary;

appoint includes reappoint;

AS or Australian

Standard or AS/NZS or Australian/New

Zealand Standard followed (in any of those cases) by a number, or a number accompanied by a reference to a calendar year, means the standard so designated that is published by or under the authority of Standards

Australia (alone or jointly with others);

Australia means the Commonwealth of Australia and, when used in a geographical sense, includes Norfolk Island, the Territory of Christmas Island and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but does not include any other external Territory;

Australia

Acts means—

the

Australia

Act 1986 of the Commonwealth; and

the

Australia

Act 1986 of the United Kingdom;

Australian citizen means a person who is an Australian citizen under the provisions of the Australian

Citizenship Act 2007 of the Commonwealth;

bank means an ADI that is permitted under the Banking

Act of the Commonwealth to assume or use—

the word "bank", "banker" or "banking"; or

any other word (whether or not in English) that is of like import to a word referred to in paragraph (a);

bank cheque or banker's cheque means a cheque that an ADI draws on itself;

bank holiday means a day that is, under the Public

Holidays Act 2023, a bank holiday;

Banking

Act of the Commonwealth or Banking

Act (Cwth) means the Banking

Act 1959 of the Commonwealth, as amended from time to time and includes an

Act enacted in substitution for that Act;

building society means an ADI that is permitted under the Banking

Act of the Commonwealth to assume or use—

the expression "building society"; or

any other expression (whether or not in English) that is of like import to the expression referred to in paragraph (a);

business day means a day that is not—

a

Saturday or Sunday; or

a public holiday (other than a part‑day public holiday—see section 46);

calendar month means one of the 12 months of the calendar year;

calendar year means a period of 12 months beginning on 1 January;

certified mail includes registered post;

commencement, in relation to an Act or a legislative instrument, or a provision of an Act or a legislative instrument, means the day or time on which the Act, legislative instrument or provision comes into operation;

Commonwealth means the Commonwealth of Australia and, when used in a geographical sense, includes Norfolk Island, the Territory of Christmas Island and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but does not include any other external Territory;

confer, in relation to a function, includes give and impose;

contravene includes fail to comply with;

council or local council means a council within the meaning of the Local

Government Act 1999;

Court of Appeal means the Court of Appeal established as a division of the Supreme

Court;

credit union means an ADI that is permitted under the Banking

Act of the Commonwealth to assume or use—

the expression "credit union"; or

any expression (whether or not in English) that is of like import to the expression referred to in paragraph (a);

Crown means the Crown in right of South Australia;

data storage device means an article or thing that is used for storing and retrieving data (whether internal or external to a computer);

day means a period of 24 hours ending at the stroke of midnight;

Department or department of a Minister or of the Public Service, government department or public department means an administrative unit within the meaning of the Public

Sector Act 2009;

District

Court means the District Court of South Australia;

document includes—

anything on which there is writing; and

any record; and

anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols or perforations having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them; and

anything from which sounds, images or writing can be reproduced with or without the aid of anything else; and

a map, plan, drawing or photograph;

DPP means the Director within the meaning of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1991;

entity includes a person, a partnership and an unincorporated body;

estate, in relation to land, includes any estate or interest, easement, right, title, claim, demand, charge, lien or encumbrance in, over, to, or in respect of, the land;

external

Territory means a Territory, other than an internal Territory, where an Act makes provision for the government of the Territory as a Territory;

financial year means a period of 12 months starting on 1 July;

friendly society means a body that is a friendly society for the purposes of the Life

Insurance Act 1995 of the Commonwealth;

foreign country means any country (whether or not an independent sovereign state) outside Australia and the external Territories;

function includes power and duty and, accordingly, references to the performance of a function include the exercise of a power and the performance of a duty;

Gazette,

Government

Gazette or South

Australian Government Gazette means the South Australian Government Gazette (including any supplement to that gazette) printed or published, or purporting to be printed or published, by the Government Printer of the State;

gender identity means the gender‑related identity, appearance or mannerisms or other gender‑related characteristics of a person (whether by way of medical intervention or not), with or without regard to the person's designated sex at birth;

Governor-in-Chief,

Governor or Lieutenant-Governor means the Governor of the State or other officer for the time being administering the Government of the State;

Health

Practitioner Regulation National Law means—

the

Health

Practitioner Regulation National Law—

as in force from time to time, set out in the schedule to the Health

Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 of Queensland; and

as it applies as a law of South Australia, another State or a Territory (with or without modification); or

the law that substantially corresponds to the law referred to in paragraph (a);

His

Majesty or Her

Majesty,

the

King or the

Queen means His Majesty the King, or Her Majesty the Queen, Sovereign for the time being of Australia, and includes the predecessors and the heirs and successors of the King or Queen;

individual means a natural person;

internal

Territory means the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory or the Jervis Bay Territory;

intersex status means the status of having physical, hormonal or genetic features that are—

neither wholly female nor wholly male; or

a combination of female and male; or

neither female nor male;

Jervis

Bay Territory means the Territory referred to in the Jervis

Bay Territory Acceptance Act 1915 of the Commonwealth;

justice means a justice of the peace for South Australia (however appointed), and includes a special justice;

land includes—

a building or structure affixed to land; and

waters and airspace over land; and

the bed of any body of waters; and

subsoil and subterranean waters;

legislative instrument means—

a regulation, rule, by‑law or statute made under an Act; or

a proclamation, notice, order or other instrument made by the Governor or a Minister under an Act and published in the Gazette or under the

Legislation

Revision and Publication Act 2002;

or

a code or standard made, approved or adopted under an Act; or

any other instrument of a legislative character made or in force under an Act; or

any other instrument of a kind prescribed by the regulations;

Magistrates

Court means the Magistrates Court of South Australia;

major indictable offence means any indictable offence classified by statute as a major indictable offence;

make, in relation to an instrument, includes issue and grant;

Minister means—

when used in an Act—the Minister of the Crown to whom the administration of the Act has been committed by the Governor, or in whom the administration of the Act is otherwise vested; and

when used in a legislative instrument—the Minister of the Crown to whom the administration of the Act under which the legislative instrument was made has been committed by the Governor, or in whom the administration of that Act is otherwise vested, and includes a Minister of the Crown for the time being discharging the duties of that Minister or acting in the exercise of powers or functions delegated by that Minister;

minor indictable offence means any indictable offence classified by statute as a minor indictable offence;

month means a period starting at the beginning of any day of one of the calendar months and ending—

immediately before the beginning of the numerically corresponding day of the next calendar month; or

if there is no such corresponding day occurring in the next calendar month, at the end of that next calendar month;

motor vehicle has the same meaning as in the Motor

Vehicles Act 1959;

Northern

Territory means the Northern Territory of Australia;

oath, in all cases where persons are allowed by law to affirm or to declare instead of swearing, includes affirmation or declaration;

office includes position and role;

Parliament means the Parliament of the State;

part‑day public holiday means a part of a day that is, under section 4 or 5(1)(b) of the Public

Holidays Act 2023, a part‑day public holiday;

person includes a body corporate as well as an individual;

police force means South Australia Police under the Police

Act 1998;

police officer means any member of South Australia Police under the Police

Act 1998;

prescribed means—

when used in an Act—prescribed by the Act or by a legislative instrument made, or to be made, under the Act; and

when used in a legislative instrument—prescribed by the Act under which the legislative instrument was made, by the legislative instrument itself or by some further legislative instrument made, or to be made, under the Act under which the legislative instrument was made;

proclamation means a proclamation made by the Governor and published in the

Gazette or under the Legislation

Revision and Publication Act 2002;

public holiday means—

a day that is, under the Public

Holidays Act 2023, a public holiday; or

subject to section 46—a

part‑day public holiday;

Public

Service or public service means the Public Service under the Public

Sector Act 2009;

regulation,

rule or by-law means—

when used in an Act—a regulation, rule or by‑law made under the

Act in which the expression is used; or

when used in a legislative instrument—a regulation, rule or by‑law made under the Act under which the legislative instrument was made;

repeal includes revoke;

SAPOL means South Australia Police;

sitting day, in relation to a House of Parliament, means a day on which the House actually sits (provided that, in a case where the sittings of a

House on a particular day continue after midnight on that day and into the following day before the House stands adjourned, that portion of the following day prior to the adjournment of the House will be counted as a continuation of the preceding sitting day and not as a new sitting day);

South

Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal or SACAT means the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established under the South

Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013;

South

Australian Employment Tribunal or SAET means the South Australian Employment Tribunal established under the

South

Australian Employment Tribunal Act 2014;

special justice means a justice who has been appointed as a special justice;

Standards

Association of Australia includes Standards Australia;

Standards

Australia means Standards Australia Limited ACN 087 326 690, or any body to which Standards Australia Limited is a successor in law or that is a successor in law to Standards Australia Limited;

statutory declaration means—

a declaration made under the Oaths

Act 1936;

or

a declaration made outside the State—

under a law in force in the place where the declaration is made, being a law that renders the declarant liable to a criminal penalty for a false declaration; and

before a person who has authority under that law to take declarations;

statutory instrument has the same meaning as legislative instrument;

summary offence means any offence classified by statute as a summary offence;

Supreme

Court means the Supreme Court of South Australia;

swear, in all cases where persons are allowed by law to affirm or to declare instead of swearing, includes affirm or declare;

the

State or this

State means the State of South Australia;

this

Act, when used in an Act, includes legislative instruments made under the

Act in which the expression is used;

United

Kingdom means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

writing includes any visible form in which words, figures, drawings or symbols may be reproduced or represented;

year means a period starting at the beginning of any day of a calendar year and ending—

immediately before the beginning of the corresponding day of the next calendar year; or

in the case of a period starting at the beginning of 29 February in a leap year—at the end of 28 February occurring in the next calendar year;

Youth

Court means the Youth Court of South Australia.

A reference in an Act or a legislative instrument within the ambit of column 1 of the following table will have effect as if it were the corresponding reference in column 2 of the table.

Table

A reference in an Act or a legislative instrument to a registered health practitioner will have effect as if it were a reference to a health practitioner registered in the relevant health profession under the Health

Practitioner Regulation National Law.

If a regulation is made under section 4(4) of the Health

Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010 that modifies the Health

Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) text, the Governor may, by regulation under this Act, make any amendments to the table in subsection (1) that are considered by the Governor to be necessary to ensure that the modification has proper effect under the law of South Australia.

Definitions in an Act or a legislative instrument apply to the construction of the Act or instrument except in so far as a contrary intention appears.

If a word or phrase is defined, other parts of speech and grammatical forms of the word or phrase have, unless the contrary intention appears, corresponding meanings.

If any type of information or material is capable of being produced in digital form, a word that describes the information or material in its physical form includes a reference to the information or material in its digital form.

Without limiting subsection (1), a reference to—

audiotape,

photograph,

videotape or other word in the form of a verb describing the capture or recording of images or sounds by an audio recording, cinematographic, photographic or videorecording device includes a reference to the capture or recording of images or sounds by a digital device;

an

audiotape,

photograph,

videotape or other word in the form of a noun describing the item on which images or sounds captured or recorded by an audio recording, cinematographic, photographic or videorecording device are stored or reproduced includes a reference to a digital data storage device;

a

book,

paper,

plan or other word in the form of a noun describing an item on which there is writing includes a reference to a digital data storage device;

a

record includes information stored in a digital form by means of a digital data storage device.

If a person who keeps information in a digital form is required under an Act or a legislative instrument—

to produce the information or a document containing the information to a body or person; or

to make the information or a document containing the information available for inspection by a body or person, then, unless the body or person otherwise authorises—

the requirement obliges the person to produce or make available for inspection, as the case may be, a document that reproduces the information in a form capable of being understood by the body or person; and

the production to the body or person of the document in that form complies with the requirement.

Every word implying a particular gender will be construed as including every other gender and will also be applicable to an individual who does not identify as having any particular gender.

Every word implying a particular gender will be construed as including a body corporate as well as an individual.

Every phrase consisting of a masculine pronoun and a feminine pronoun joined by the conjunction "or" will be construed as applicable to a body corporate as well as an individual.

Every word in the singular will be construed as including the plural.

Every word in the plural will be construed as including the singular.

Every word in the plural or singular will be construed as including a body corporate as well as an individual.

If, in an Act or a legislative instrument, the word "may" or a similar expression is used in conferring a function, the entity on which the function is conferred has a discretion as to whether or not to perform it.

However, if an Act or a legislative instrument specifies that an entity "may not" perform a function, the entity is prohibited from performing it.

If, in an Act or a legislative instrument, the word "must" or

"shall" (or a similar expression) is used in conferring a function, the entity on which the function is conferred is required to perform it.

This section only applies to an Act or a legislative instrument passed after 1 January 1873.

Expressions used in a legislative instrument or other instrument made under an

Act have the same meaning as they have in the Act (as in force from time to time).

If an Act or a legislative instrument requires or authorises a document to be signed or executed by a person and the person is a body corporate, the Act or legislative instrument will be taken to authorise—

the affixing of the common seal of the body to the document, or the signing of the document on behalf of the body, in accordance with the Act (whether or not of this State) under which the body is incorporated; or

the signing or execution of the document in any other manner permitted by law.

Note—

In relation to signing of electronic documents, see the Electronic

Communications Act 2000.