{"id":"tas:sr-2018-073","name":"Proclamation under the Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018","slug":"proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"73 of 2018","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":184849,"registerId":"tas-tas:sr-2018-073-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Proclamation under the Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018","content":"> Proclamation under the Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018\n\nI, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, by this my proclamation made under [section 2 of the](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2018-023#GS2@EN) [Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2018-023)  –\n\n> > (a) fix 10 December 2018 as the day on which the provisions of that Act, other than [section 9](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2018-023#GS9@EN) , commence; and\n> \n> > (b) fix 1 January 2019 as the day on which [section 9](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2018-023#GS9@EN) of that Act commences.\n\n3 December 2018\n\nC. WARNER\n\nGovernor\n\nBy Her Excellency's Command,\n\nPETER GUTWEIN\n\nTreasurer\n\nDisplayed and numbered in accordance with the *[Rules Publication Act 1953](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1953-050)*.\n\nNotified in the *Gazette* on 10 December 2018\n\nThis proclamation is administered in the Department of Treasury and Finance.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The proclamation does not change the substantive scope or content of the Amendment Act; it only fixes commencement dates (10 December 2018 for most provisions, 1 January 2019 for section 9) and identifies administrative and notification details."},"complexity_factors":["Narrow functional scope: only fixes commencement dates rather than changing substantive law.","Single exception: separates commencement of section 9 from the rest of the Act.","Formal executive action: Governor acting with the advice of the Executive Council exercises the power (proclamation under section 2 of the Act).","Administrative detail: specifies administering department (Department of Treasury and Finance) and Gazette notification date.","Low regulatory detail: no operative governance or pricing rules are set out in the proclamation itself."],"plain_english_summary":"This proclamation sets the start dates for the Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018. Most of the Act commenced on 10 December 2018, while section 9 commenced on 1 January 2019. The Governor, acting with the Executive Council, fixed those dates and the Department of Treasury and Finance administers the proclamation. It therefore determines when the Act’s new governance and pricing provisions become legally effective for the persons and bodies covered by that Amendment Act."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Status Information - Currency of version","severity":"low","reasoning":"The 3-working-day update commitment only has operational meaning when amendments occur. Asserting currency over a 7+ year period with no visible amendments makes the update promise unfalsifiable in context.","confidence":0.45,"description":"The legislation states it is 'usually updated within 3 working days after a change to the legislation', yet the version is stated as current from 10 December 2018 'to date' (accessed 5 April 2026), implying no amendments have occurred in over 7 years. This is not inherently impossible but creates a tension where the update guarantee is rendered meaningless if there is nothing to update, making the currency statement vacuous for practical purposes."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"Authorisation - File last modified 12 December 2018","severity":"medium","reasoning":"A file last modified in 2018 cannot self-evidently be confirmed as current to 2026 without external verification. The document simultaneously asserts both static modification history and ongoing currency, which are logically in tension. Either the file has been updated (contradicting the modification date) or it has not (undermining the currency claim).","confidence":0.72,"description":"The document states the file was last modified on 12 December 2018, yet simultaneously asserts the version is current 'to date' (5 April 2026). If the file has not been modified since December 2018, the claim that it reflects current law as of 2026 is inherently unverifiable from the document itself, and the currency guarantee contradicts the modification date."},{"type":"other","section":"Document structure - repeated headings throughout","severity":"low","reasoning":"Duplicated headings and sections, if present in the authoritative version, would make it impossible to determine whether the document contains one provision or two identical provisions, and whether compliance with one satisfies the other.","confidence":0.55,"description":"Every heading and section in the document is duplicated verbatim (e.g., 'Status Information Status Information', 'Currency of version Currency of version', 'Authorisation Authorisation'). While likely a formatting or rendering error, if taken as the authoritative legislative text, it creates an absurdity where every provision exists in an undefined duplicated state with no mechanism for resolving which instance is operative."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Status Information - Currency of version: 'Version current from 10 December 2018 to date (accessed 5 April 2026 at 17:11)'","section_b":"Authorisation: 'File last modified 12 December 2018'","confidence":0.68,"description":"The document claims to be current as of 5 April 2026, but the authoritative file was last modified on 12 December 2018. These two statements are mutually contradictory: a document that has not been modified since 2018 cannot independently substantiate its own currency claim for 2026 without external amendment records, yet no amendments are surfaced in the document body."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Status Information - Table of Amending Instruments: '(click to view Table of Amendments)'","section_b":"Authorisation: 'File last modified 12 December 2018'","confidence":0.5,"description":"The existence of a Table of Amending Instruments implies amendments may exist, but the file modification date of 12 December 2018 and the absence of any amendment content in the document body suggests either no amendments have been made (making the table link superfluous) or amendments exist but are not reflected in the file modification date (contradicting the authorisation metadata)."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"A proclamation of this type has an inherently narrow and fixed purpose: to commence a previously passed Act on a specified date. There is no indication of any expansion or contraction from that original intent. The scope remains exactly as intended — a purely administrative commencement instrument."},"complexity_factors":["The document itself is purely procedural — it is a commencement proclamation with minimal substantive content","The underlying Amendment Act (not reproduced here) deals with corporate governance and utility pricing, which are moderately complex areas, but that complexity is not present in this document","Very little text is available to analyse — the document is largely metadata and administrative status information","No schedules, regulations, or operative clauses are visible beyond the proclamation's basic commencement function"],"plain_english_summary":"This Proclamation is the Tasmanian Governor’s formal notice that brought the Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018 into force on 10 December 2018. It activated legal changes to how water and sewerage services are governed and how prices are set, affecting Tasmanian households, businesses, the utilities that supply them, and their regulators."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a procedural commencement instrument with no substantive scope. It performs exactly the function intended: bringing another Act into force on specified dates. There is no scope to expand beyond this narrow technical purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely short document (under 200 words)","No defined terms","No cross-references to other legislation except the parent Act being proclaimed","Simple binary operation: fixes two dates, nothing else","No conditional logic, exceptions, or operative provisions beyond the commencement mechanism itself"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a **commencement proclamation** — a formal government notice that brings a law into effect.\n\n**What it does:**\n- It activates the *Water and Sewerage Legislation (Corporate Governance and Pricing) Amendment Act 2018* (a Tasmanian law that changes how water and sewerage companies are run and how they set prices).\n- It splits the start date into two parts:\n  - **Most of the Act** starts on **10 December 2018**\n  - **Section 9** (one specific part) starts later on **1 January 2019**\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- Tasmanian water and sewerage corporations (like TasWater)\n- Their customers (anyone who pays water bills in Tasmania)\n- The government regulators who oversee these companies\n\n**Why it matters:**\nWithout this proclamation, the Amendment Act would just sit on the shelf — passed by Parliament but not actually law. This document \"switches it on.\" The staggered start dates suggest Section 9 needed extra preparation time (perhaps new IT systems, staff training, or transitional arrangements) before it could take effect."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act","history":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act/history","analysis":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-water-and-sewerage-legislation-corporate-governance-and-pricing-amendment-act/documents"}}