{"id":"C2004A00957","name":"Coal Industry Repeal (Validation of Proclamation) Act 2002","slug":"coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"20 of 2002","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":436146,"registerId":"C2004A00957-fast-fetch-1775953417380","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Coal Industry Repeal (Validation of Proclamation) Act 2002","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.png)\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nCoal Industry Repeal (Validation of Proclamation) Act 2002\n\n \n\nNo. 20, 2002\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to validate the Proclamation fixing 1 January 2002 as the commencement date of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001, and for related purposes\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Short title...................................\n\n2 Commencement...............................\n\n3 Objects....................................\n\n4 Validation of Proclamation.........................\n\n5 Acquisition of property...........................\n\n6 Validation of acts..............................\n\n \n\n![](image.001.png)\n\n \n\nCoal Industry Repeal (Validation of Proclamation) Act 2002\n\nNo. 20, 2002\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nAn Act to validate the Proclamation fixing 1 January 2002 as the commencement date of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001, and for related purposes\n\n[Assented to 4 April 2002]\n\nThe Parliament of Australia enacts:\n\n1  Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Coal Industry Repeal (Validation of Proclamation) Act 2002.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, on the day or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provision(s) Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. Sections 1 and 2 and anything in this Act not elsewhere covered by this table The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent 4 April 2002\n- 2. Sections 3, 4 and 5 31 December 2001 31 December 2001\n- 3. Section 6 The day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent 4 April 2002\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally passed by the Parliament and assented to. It will not be expanded to deal with provisions inserted in this Act after assent.\n\n (2) Column 3 of the table is for additional information that is not part of this Act. This information may be included in any published version of this Act.\n\n3  Objects\n\n  The objects of this Act are to ensure that:\n\n (a) the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 commences on 1 January 2002; and\n\n (b) as a result, all actions taken on the assumption that 1 January 2002 was the commencement date are valid.\n\nNote: Under section 3 of the Coal Industry Act 2001 of New South Wales, dissolution date is defined as the date on which subsection 4(1) of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 commences.\n\n4  Validation of Proclamation\n\n (1) This section applies to the purported Proclamation that:\n\n (a) fixed 1 January 2002 as the day on which the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 commences; and\n\n (b) was signed by the Governor‑General on 20 December 2001; and\n\n (c) was not published in the Gazette before 31 December 2001.\n\n (2) The Proclamation is as effective as it would have been if it had been published in the Gazette before 1 January 2002.\n\n5  Acquisition of property\n\n  Section 7 of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 applies to this Act in a corresponding way to the way in which it applies to that Act.\n\n6  Validation of acts\n\nPast acts\n\n (1) For the purposes of this section, a past act is an act or thing that was done on the assumption that the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 had commenced on 1 January 2002.\n\nValidation by Commonwealth law\n\n (2) To avoid doubt, past acts are as valid, and are taken always to have been as valid, as they would have been if the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 had commenced on 1 January 2002.\n\n (3) Subsection (2) has effect to the extent to which it is not in excess of the legislative power of the Commonwealth.\n\n (4) In addition to its effect apart from this subsection, subsection (3) also has the effect it would have if its application were, by express provision, confined to the legislative power conferred by paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution.\n\nNote: Paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution deals with corporations.\n\n (5) It is the intention of the Parliament that subsections (2), (3) and (4) are not to apply to the exclusion of a law of New South Wales to the extent that that law is capable of operating concurrently with those subsections.\n\nValidation by State law\n\n (6) To avoid doubt, it is the intention of the Parliament that a law of New South Wales may provide that past acts are as valid, and are taken always to have been as valid, as they would have been if the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 had commenced on 1 January 2002.\n\n \n\n \n\n[Minister’s second reading speech made in—\n\nHouse of Representatives on 20 February 2002\n\nSenate on 13 March 2002]\n\n![](image.002.png)  \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act is narrowly focused on validating a specific Proclamation and the legal consequences of treating the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 as having commenced on 1 January 2002. It does not expand the substantive policy or regulatory reach of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001; instead it restores legal certainty about timing and the validity of past acts. The inclusion of constitutional qualifications (s6(3)–(4)) and the explicit provision about New South Wales law (s6(5)–(6)) keep the Act within its original, limited purpose rather than broadening scope."},"complexity_factors":["Short text: 6 sections only (including commencement table).","Retroactive operation and retrospective validation (s4 and s6) which raises constitutional and legal complexity.","Cross-reference to the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001, in particular section 7 (s5) — requires reading another Act to understand acquisition/compensation consequences.","Explicit constitutional limitation and tailoring: subsections 6(3)–(4) restrict effect to the Commonwealth’s legislative power and to the corporations power (s51(xx)), which is a legal nuance.","Concurrent operation with New South Wales law and an express invitation for NSW to validate past acts (s6(5)–(6)) introduces intergovernmental interaction to consider.","Commencement table sets retroactive commencement dates (s2), which is a technical but important drafting feature."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this Act does (mechanically)**\n\n- Validates a particular Proclamation that purported to make the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 start on 1 January 2002 even though the Proclamation had not been published in the Gazette before 31 December 2001 (see section 4).\n- Makes the unpublished Proclamation legally effective as if it had been published before 1 January 2002 (s4(2)).\n- Applies section 7 of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 to this validating Act in the same way that section 7 applied to the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 itself (s5). Section 7 of the original Act deals with acquisition of property (see note in this Act and s5).\n- Declares that “past acts” — acts done on the assumption that the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 had begun on 1 January 2002 — are to be treated as valid as they would have been if the Act had actually commenced on that date (s6(1)–(2)).\n- Limits that retrospective validation to the extent it is within Commonwealth legislative power, and explicitly signals that it is intended to be read consistently with the corporations power (paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution) (s6(3)–(4)).\n- States the Parliament’s intention that these Commonwealth validations do not exclude any New South Wales law that can operate at the same time, and also that New South Wales may itself validate such past acts (s6(5)–(6)).\n- Commencement timing: sections 3, 4 and 5 are taken to have commenced on 31 December 2001 (to achieve the 1 January 2002 effect); the remaining sections commence on Royal Assent (s2 and commencement table).\n\n**Who this affects**\n\n- Parties who acted on the assumption the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 began on 1 January 2002 — for example, employers, unions, corporations, state bodies, or other entities affected by the repeal — because their past acts are now declared valid (s6(1)–(2)).\n- Owners of property that may have been acquired under the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001: this validation ties in with the acquisition rules and any compensation mechanisms in section 7 of that Act (s5).\n- The Commonwealth and the State of New South Wales: the Act expressly navigates federal legislative power limits and leaves room for NSW laws to operate or to validate acts as well (s6(3)–(6)).\n\n**Why it matters (practical effects and legal mechanics)**\n\n- Removes legal uncertainty about the commencement date of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 by treating the delayed Gazette publication as if it had occurred in time (s4).\n- Retroactively confirms actions taken by individuals, companies, or public authorities on the belief the repeal had begun on 1 January 2002, reducing the risk of litigation that would challenge those acts’ validity (s6(2)).\n- Preserves constitutional limits: the retrospective validation is framed so it only operates to the extent the Commonwealth has legislative power to validate (s6(3)–(4)), and it explicitly contemplates concurrent New South Wales law (s6(5)–(6)).\n- Affects property rights indirectly: because s5 imports the effect of section 7 of the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001, property acquisitions or compensation arrangements that followed from the repeal are placed on a validated footing as if the repeal had begun on 1 January 2002.\n\n**Costs, incentives and trade‑offs (mechanical view)**\n\n- Who pays: if the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 (as commenced on 1 January 2002) resulted in acquisition of property, compensation liability (if any) follows the acquisition rules in the original Act as applied by s5 — that can impose a fiscal cost on the Commonwealth or affect private owners’ entitlements depending on how section 7 operates.\n- Who decides: the Commonwealth Parliament decides the retrospective validation, but it confines the legal effect to areas within its constitutional powers and recognises a role for New South Wales law where concurrent operation is possible (s6(3)–(6)).\n- Behavioural change: the Act removes incentives for parties to unwind or challenge transactions carried out in reliance on the assumed 1 January 2002 start date; it preserves the status quo that occurred in that transitional period.\n- Implementation risk and litigation: by expressly limiting the retrospective effect to what is within Commonwealth power and allowing NSW law to validate or operate concurrently, the Act reduces but does not eliminate constitutional or state‑law disputes (s6(3)–(6)).\n\n**Key sections to look at**: objects (s3), validation of Proclamation (s4), application of acquisition provision (s5), validation of past acts and constitutional limits (s6)."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation performs exactly the narrow, technical function described in its title and long title — validating a specific Proclamation and related acts. No scope creep detected."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute (6 sections, ~2 pages)","Simple retroactive validation mechanism with clear operative provisions","Limited defined terms (only 'past act' effectively defined in section 6)","Some constitutional hedging in section 6(3)-(4) regarding legislative power limits","Cross-reference to NSW Coal Industry Act 2001 for 'dissolution date' definition in explanatory note only","Dual validation pathway (Commonwealth and State) in section 6 creates minor complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis Act fixes a bureaucratic stuff-up. Someone forgot to publish an important Proclamation (an official government announcement) in the Government Gazette before a deadline, which meant another law — the Coal Industry Repeal Act 2001 — might not have legally started when it was supposed to (1 January 2002).\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n- **The coal industry in New South Wales**, particularly businesses and workers affected by the winding up of the Coal Industry Act 2001\n- **Anyone who took action** between 1 January 2002 and when this validating Act passed, assuming the repeal had already happened\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nWithout this law, everything done in early 2002 based on the assumption that the Coal Industry Repeal Act was in force could have been legally questionable — contracts, decisions, payments, you name it. This Act:\n\n- **Validates the Proclamation** — making it legally effective even though it wasn't published in time\n- **Protects past actions** — anything done assuming the repeal was active is now legally bulletproof\n- **Preserves State powers** — makes clear that New South Wales can also pass its own validation laws if needed\n\nIt's essentially a legal \"oops, our bad\" that prevents chaos from a missed administrative deadline."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002","history":"/api/acts/coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002/history","analysis":"/api/acts/coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/coal-industry-repeal-validation-of-proclamation-act-2002/documents"}}