What it does
The Biosecurity (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2015 performs three interlocking functions that together decommission the century-old quarantine regime and integrate the Biosecurity Act 2015 into the wider Commonwealth statute book.
First, it effects outright repeal. Schedule 1 item 1 repeals the whole of the Quarantine Act 1908. Item 2 repeals the Quarantine Charges (Collection) Act 2014. These repeals take effect on 16 June 2016, the same day section 3 of the Biosecurity Act 2015 commences (see the table in section 2(1)).
Second, it executes a sweeping programme of consequential amendments. Schedule 2 contains 55 discrete items that amend 18 separate Acts. The technique is consistent: obsolete definitions are repealed (e.g. Customs Act 1901 s 4(1) definition of “AQIS”), references to “quarantine” are replaced with “biosecurity risk (within the meaning of the Biosecurity Act 2015)” (Customs Act 1901 paragraphs 5A(5)(a)–(b), 5B(5)(a)–(b)), office-holders are renamed (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 subsection 303GW(5)(a) substitutes “Director of Biosecurity” for “Director of Animal and Plant Quarantine”), and new cross-references are inserted (Biological Control Act 1984 paragraph 5(2)(a) now lists the Biosecurity Act 2015). In the National Health Security Act 2007, the definition of “listed human disease” is imported from Biosecurity Act 2015 s 42 and new objects are added to s 8(e)–(f). These amendments are not cosmetic; they realign statutory powers, offences and discretions so that the new risk-based language operates coherently across the Commonwealth statute book.
Third, and most substantially, the Act supplies an exhaustive transitional code. Schedule 3 contains special rules, commencing on Royal Assent, that allow the Director of Biosecurity and Director of Human Biosecurity to designate first points of entry without satisfying the usual prerequisites in Biosecurity Act 2015 ss 223(2) and 229(2). These determinations are time-limited to the three-year “transition period” (item 1(6)), although that period can be extended by legislative instrument not subject to disallowance (item 1(4)–(5)).