{"id":"C1946A00015","name":"National Security Act 1946","slug":"national-security-act-1946","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"15 of 1946","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":14362,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1946A00015-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-31","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"National Security Act 1946","content":"NATIONAL SECURITY.\n\nNo. 15 of 1946.\n\nAn Act to provide for the termination of the National Security Act 1939–1943.\n\n\\[Assented to 18th April, 1946.\\]\n\n\\[Date of commencement, 16th May 1946.\\]\n\nPreamble.\n\nWHEREAS it is by the National Security Act 1939–1943 provided that that Act shall continue in operation until a date to be fixed by Proclamation, and no longer, but in any event not longer than six months after His Majesty ceases to be engaged in war:\n\nAnd whereas a state of war still exists between His Majesty and Germany, Italy, Japan and other countries:\n\nAnd whereas some considerable time must elapse before a state of peace comes into existence with each of the countries with which a state of war still exists, and it is desirable that the National Security Act 1939–1943 should be terminated before a state of peace with all of those countries has come into existence:\n\nBe it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—\n\nShort title and citation.\n\n1.—(1.) This Act may be cited as the National Security Act 1946.\n\n(2.) The National Security Act 1939–1943 is in this Act referred to as the Principal Act.\n\n(3.) The Principal Act, as amended by this Act, may be cited as the National Security Act 1939–1946.\n\n2. Section nineteen of the Principal Act is repealed, and the following section inserted in its stead:—\n\nDuration of Act, regulations, &c.\n\n“19. This Act, and all regulations made thereunder, and all orders, rules and by-laws made in pursuance of any such regulation shall cease to have effect at midnight on the thirty-first day of December, One thousand nine hundred and forty-six.”.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"model":"kimi-k2.5","source":"moonshot-batch","completionTokens":1760},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation precisely targets its stated purpose of terminating the 1939 Act. It does not expand beyond this remit; rather, it accelerates the sunset date compared to the original legislation's timeline, which is consistent with the stated intent in the preamble to end wartime powers sooner rather than later."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative provision (repeals and replaces only one section of the Principal Act)","No defined terms or interpretation section","No conditional logic or exceptions","Extremely short (3 effective sections total)"],"plain_english_summary":"This law pulled the plug on Australia's World War II emergency powers. During the war, the **National Security Act 1939** gave the government extraordinary authority to control prices, censor the press, detain enemy aliens, and regulate industry. Originally, these sweeping powers would linger until six months after formal peace treaties were signed with *every* enemy nation—including Japan, Germany, and Italy.\n\nThis Act says \"enough is enough\" and sets a hard deadline of **31 December 1946** for all those wartime regulations to vanish, even if peace treaties haven't been finalised with everyone by then. It was essentially the government's way of ending the \"war footing\" and returning to normal democratic rule, refusing to wait for slow diplomatic formalities while the country wanted to get back to business as usual."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act changes the duration mechanism of the Principal Act. The Principal Act had been described in the Preamble as continuing \"until a date to be fixed by Proclamation\" (subject to a separate maximum), which left continuation to executive proclamation. The 1946 Act repeals the old section 19 and inserts a new section fixing a statutory expiry at midnight on 31 December 1946, and provides that all regulations, orders, rules and by‑laws made under the Principal Act cease on that date (s.2, inserted s.19). This shifts the decision from a proclamation mechanism to a fixed parliamentary determination and removes executive discretion to extend operation under the Principal Act beyond the stated date."},"complexity_factors":["Very short and narrowly focused amendment (single repeal and insertion of section 19).","Direct automatic effect (statutory expiration of Act and all subordinate instruments on a single fixed date).","Interaction required with the Principal Act (the amendment changes the Principal Act’s duration mechanism).","Absence of transitional provisions or savings clauses for ongoing matters increases implementation risk despite statutory clarity.","Legal consequence affects many subordinate instruments collectively, which requires administrative action across multiple agencies before the expiry date."],"plain_english_summary":"What this law does, in plain language\n\n- This Act (the National Security Act 1946) gives the Principal Act (the National Security Act 1939–1943) a new, fixed end date. It repeals the previous section 19 of the Principal Act and inserts a new section saying the Principal Act, together with all regulations, orders, rules and by‑laws made under it, will cease to have effect at midnight on 31 December 1946 (see s.2, inserted section 19).\n\n- The Act also provides short title and citation details for the Principal Act as amended (s.1).\n\nWho it affects\n\n- Anyone subject to the Principal Act or to any regulation, order, rule or by‑law made under the Principal Act — including individuals, businesses and government agencies — will be affected because those instruments automatically stop operating on the specified date (inserted s.19).\n\n- The Executive branch (which previously relied on a proclamation mechanism under the Principal Act’s original wording) loses the ability to keep the emergency framework running by proclamation beyond the date now fixed by Parliament (see Preamble and the change effected by s.2).\n\nWhy it matters and how it works mechanically\n\n- Mechanism: Parliament replaces the Principal Act’s prior continuation mechanism with a statutory cut‑off. The inserted section 19 makes the Principal Act and all subordinate instruments cease at midnight on 31 December 1946. No further proclamation or separate action is required for cessation on that date (s.2, inserted s.19).\n\n- Official rationale stated in the Preamble: the Commonwealth notes that a formal state of war still existed with certain countries and says it is \"desirable that the National Security Act 1939–1943 should be terminated before a state of peace with all of those countries has come into existence.\" The Act implements that outcome by fixing a termination date (Preamble; s.2).\n\nCosts, incentives, trade‑offs and implementation risks (source‑grounded)\n\n- Who pays: regulated persons and entities must continue to comply with the Principal Act and its subordinate instruments until midnight 31 December 1946; enforcement and administrative costs remain with agencies until that date (inserted s.19).\n\n- Incentives and decision‑making: by fixing an end date in primary legislation, Parliament removes the earlier flexibility to extend operation by proclamation (Preamble; compare Preamble’s description of the earlier proclamation mechanism to the new inserted s.19). That produces legal certainty about when the wartime framework will expire, but it also prevents the Executive from extending the framework unilaterally beyond the fixed date.\n\n- Compliance burden and administrative discretion: the Act causes all regulations and subordinate instruments to cease automatically on the stated date (inserted s.19). The automatic cessation reduces ongoing executive discretion to continue those instruments past the fixed date, and it places on agencies and regulated parties the task of winding up or transitioning activities before that deadline.\n\n- Transitional and legal‑gap risk: the inserted provision does not set out transitional arrangements for matters still in progress under existing regulations, orders, rules or by‑laws. That creates a practical risk that outstanding regulatory processes, licences, prosecutions or administrative actions will need separate statutory or administrative treatment before the expiry date to avoid legal or operational gaps (inserted s.19).\n\n- Opportunity costs and follow‑on choices: if certain powers remain necessary after the fixed date, Parliament or the Executive must create new legal authority (through fresh legislation or other lawful instruments consistent with the Constitution). The Act therefore shifts the cost of any continued emergency powers from executive proclamation to explicit parliamentary action (Preamble; inserted s.19).\n\n- Concentration of benefits and costs: the provisions affect government agencies (which lose the continuing legal basis for emergency measures at the fixed date) and regulated persons (who regain freedom from those measures at the fixed date). The text does not allocate compensatory measures or transitional procedures; any concentrated interests seeking exceptions would need further legislative or administrative steps (inserted s.19).\n\nKey citations from the instrument\n\n- Short title and citation: s.1 (this Act and the Principal Act as amended may be cited as the National Security Act 1939–1946).\n- Termination rule and scope (regulations, orders, rules and by‑laws): s.2 inserts new section 19 providing that the Principal Act and all regulations made thereunder, and all orders, rules and by‑laws made pursuant to any such regulation, shall cease to have effect at midnight on 31 December 1946.\n\nSummary sentence\n\n- Parliament set a firm, statutory expiry for the National Security Act 1939–1943 and for all instruments made under it (midnight, 31 December 1946), replacing the earlier proclamation‑based continuation method and thereby creating legal certainty about the end date while leaving transitional issues to be resolved separately (Preamble; s.2, inserted s.19)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/national-security-act-1946","history":"/api/acts/national-security-act-1946/history","analysis":"/api/acts/national-security-act-1946/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/national-security-act-1946/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/national-security-act-1946/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/national-security-act-1946/documents"}}