{"id":"nsw:act-1952-030","name":"Queen Victoria Building Site Act 1952","slug":"queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"nsw","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"30 of 1952","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":111294,"registerId":"nsw-act-1952-030-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name of Act","content":"#### 1 Name of Act\n\n1 Name of Act\n\n> This Act may be cited as the [Queen Victoria Building Site Act 1952](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1952-030).","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Exclusion of certain provisions from Crown Grant","content":"#### 2 Exclusion of certain provisions from Crown Grant\n\n2 Exclusion of certain provisions from Crown Grant\n\n> The Crown Grant dated the fourth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and enrolled in the Registrar-General’s Office in the Register of Grants Serial Number 197, pages 327, 328 and 329, on the thirteenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, whereby certain land was granted by the Crown to the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the City of Sydney and their Successors for ever for the following purpose, namely, as a site and place for a general market for the use and convenience of the inhabitants of that City, shall have and be deemed always to have had effect as if the purpose for which the land was intended and granted, the conditions relating to the setting apart, maintenance and user of the land, and the right of re-entry exercisable upon the happening of certain events had not been inserted in the Crown Grant.","sortOrder":1}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Based on available metadata, the Act has never been amended since it was passed in 1952, strongly indicating its scope has remained exactly as originally intended. No expansions, contractions, or modifications to its purpose are evident."},"complexity_factors":["Extremely narrow and site-specific scope — applies only to a single piece of land in Sydney","Never amended since 1952, suggesting minimal interaction with other legislation","Full substantive text was not available for analysis, creating some uncertainty about exact provisions","Age of the Act (70+ years) means it predates modern land management and heritage frameworks, potentially creating interpretive questions about how it interacts with contemporary laws","Short, purpose-built legislation with likely few operative sections"],"plain_english_summary":"## Queen Victoria Building Site Act 1952\n\nThis is a very old, short NSW law from 1952 that deals specifically with the **site (land) on which the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) stands** in Sydney's CBD.\n\n**What it likely does:** Based on its title and era, this Act was created to formalise the legal status, ownership, or management arrangements for the land on which the iconic Queen Victoria Building sits — a heritage shopping and commercial precinct on George Street, Sydney.\n\n**Who does it affect?**\n- Primarily relevant to government bodies (particularly the NSW Government and Sydney City Council) responsible for managing or administering the QVB site\n- Potentially relevant to anyone with a commercial or property interest connected to the QVB\n- The **Minister for Local Government** is currently responsible for this Act\n\n**Why it still exists:** Remarkably, this Act has been on the books completely unchanged since it was made on **21 October 1952** — over 70 years ago. It has never been amended. This is unusual and suggests it either serves a very narrow, specific purpose that hasn't needed updating, or it has been largely overtaken by other legislation but not formally repealed.\n\n**Practical impact today:** Very limited. The Act appears to be a narrow, site-specific piece of legislation. Most people — including most lawyers — will never need to engage with it. Its ongoing existence is more of a legal housekeeping matter than something with active day-to-day effect.\n\n> ⚠️ **Note:** The full text of the Act's substantive provisions was not included in the source material provided, so this summary is based on the Act's title, metadata, and historical context."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Status Information / Currency of version","severity":"low","reasoning":"While not a flaw in the substantive legislation itself, the metadata is internally inconsistent. A file last touched in 1995 cannot credibly be self-certifying as current through 2026, particularly given the site's own disclaimer that it is updated within 3 working days of changes. The implication is either the Act has never changed (plausible for a single-purpose 1952 site Act) or the currency statement is administratively hollow.","confidence":0.62,"description":"The legislation metadata states the file was 'last modified 7 June 1995' yet simultaneously claims the version is 'current from 21/10/1952 to date (accessed 3 April 2026)'. This creates an absurd temporal claim: a file unmodified since 1995 is certified as accurately reflecting the current state of legislation in 2026."},{"type":"other","section":"Authorisation / Responsible Minister","severity":"low","reasoning":"This is structurally common in Australian legislation but represents a genuine logical tension: the 1952 Act's operative provisions cannot have contemplated the 2023 Order, yet the 2023 Order purports to govern its administration. If the Act ever conflicted with the Order on ministerial function, the resolution mechanism would be unclear without examining the substantive provisions — which are entirely absent from the provided text.","confidence":0.41,"description":"A 1952 Act is listed as the responsibility of a Minister defined by a 2023 Ministerial Arrangements Order. The metadata cross-references contemporary machinery-of-government instruments to explain the administrative stewardship of legislation whose substantive content predates those instruments by over 70 years, creating a logical oddity where the authority structure governing the Act is newer than the Act itself by decades."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"low","section_a":"Currency of version — 'current from 21/10/1952 to date'","section_b":"Authorisation — 'File last modified 7 June 1995'","confidence":0.67,"description":"The version is simultaneously described as continuously current from 1952 through to the access date of 3 April 2026, yet the underlying file was last modified on 7 June 1995. These two claims are in tension: if the Act is genuinely current and maintained to 2026, the file should reflect a modification date consistent with ongoing maintenance; if it has not been modified since 1995, the claim of currency through 2026 is unsupported by the document's own provenance data."}]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation performs exactly one narrow, specific task: removing restrictions from a single historical land grant. There is no evidence of scope creep; the Act has remained focused on its original purpose since 1952."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative provision (section 2)","No defined terms section","No cross-references to other legislation","Straightforward declaratory language ('shall have and be deemed always to have had effect')","No conditional logic or exceptions","Total length: 2 sections, approximately 150 words of substantive content"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a short, historical piece of New South Wales legislation that removes restrictions on a specific piece of land in Sydney.\n\n**What it does:**\nThe Act modifies an 1846 land grant (Crown Grant Serial Number 197) that originally gave land to the City of Sydney for use as a public market. The original grant came with strings attached — it specified the land must be used as a market, required the City to maintain it for that purpose, and allowed the Crown to take the land back if those conditions weren't met.\n\nThis 1952 Act **strips away all those conditions**. It makes the grant behave as if those restrictions were never there in the first place.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The City of Sydney (the landowner)\n- Anyone dealing with the Queen Victoria Building site (the land in question)\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis Act cleared the legal path for the Queen Victoria Building to be used for purposes other than a traditional market. Without this change, the City might have faced legal challenges or Crown re-entry if it wanted to lease space to shops, offices, or other commercial tenants. It essentially converted a restricted public-purpose land grant into ordinary freehold title, giving the City full commercial flexibility over what is now one of Sydney's most famous heritage buildings."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952","history":"/api/acts/queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952/history","analysis":"/api/acts/queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/queen-victoria-building-site-act-1952/documents"}}