Western Australia bill

Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025

WAIn CommitteeMetadata only

Zoe only has APH summary and progress metadata for this Bill. Deep analysis is withheld until official Bill text or explanatory material is available.

Jurisdiction

Western Australia

Making Date

2025-08-14

Collection

bill

Parliamentary Progress

IntroducedFirst ReadingSecond ReadingCommitteePassed HousePassed SenatePassed BothRoyal Assent

Plain English Summary

3/10 complexity

What this Bill does (in plain language)

The Bill changes the Gene Technology (Western Australia) Act 2025 so that an extra Commonwealth law — the Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act 2000 (Commonwealth) — and the legislative instruments made under the gene-technology laws are treated as part of Western Australian law. (See clauses 4–10.)
It adjusts definitions and headings so the parent Act refers to those Commonwealth Acts in the plural (that is, more than one Commonwealth Act are applied). (See clauses 5–7.)
It adds a new short provision saying that where the Act or WA regulations made under it provide for a tax, that tax is imposed. In short: if the applied laws or local regulations create a tax or charge, the State law will be treated as authorising its imposition. (See clause 11, new section 30A.)
The timing: the Bill’s technical items (short title, commencement) come into force on royal assent; the rest starts when section 69 of the underlying WA Act begins operation. (See clause 2.)

Who is affected

Businesses, researchers and other parties that handle genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in WA and who need licences or approvals under the Gene Technology regime.
People or organisations liable to pay licence charges or other monetary obligations that follow from the Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act or the applied Commonwealth legislative instruments.

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Source excerpts

Direct links to excerpts of the current source text in Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025.

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Document excerpt 1

Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025

31—1 page i Western Australia Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025 Contents

Short title 2
Commencement 2
Act amended 2
Long title amended 2
Section 4 amended 2
Part 2 Division 1 heading amended 3
Section 6 amended 3
Section 12 amended 4
Section 14 amended 5
Section 15 amended 5
Section 30A inserted 5 30A. Imposition of tax 5

page 1 Western Australia LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025 A Bill for An Act to amend the Gene Technology (Western Australia) Act 2025. The Parliament of Western Australia enacts as follows:

Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025 s. 1 page 2

Short title1 This is the Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment2 Act 2025.3
Commencement4 This Act comes into operation as follows —5 (a) sections 1 and 2 — on the day on which this Act6 receives the Royal Assent;7 (b) the rest of the Act — on the day on which the Gene8 Technology (Western Australia) Act 2025 section 69 comes into operation.10
Act amended11 This Act amends the Gene Technology (Western Australia)12 Act 2025.13
Long title amended14 In the long title delete the 1st bullet point and insert:15 16 • to apply the Gene Technology Act 200017 (Commonwealth) and the Gene Technology (Licence18 Charges) Act 2000 (Commonwealth) and legislative19 instruments under those Acts as laws of the State;20 and21 22
Section 4 amended23 (1) In section 4(1) in the definition of amending Act paragraph (a)24 delete “(Commonwealth); or” and insert:25 26 (Commonwealth) or the Gene Technology (Licence Charges)27 Act 2000 (Commonwealth); or28 29

Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025 s. 6 page 3 (2) In section 4(1) in the definition of Commonwealth gene1 technology instrument delete “(Commonwealth);” and insert:2 3 (Commonwealth) or the Gene Technology (Licence Charges)4 Act 2000 (Commonwealth);5 6 (3) In section 4(1) in the definition of Commonwealth gene7 technology law delete paragraph (b) and insert:8 9 (b) the Gene Technology (Licence Charges)10 Act 2000 (Commonwealth); and11 (c) the legislative instruments under those Acts;12 13 (4) In section 4(2) delete “(Commonwealth),” and insert:14 15 (Commonwealth) or the Gene Technology (Licence Charges)16 Act 2000 (Commonwealth),17 18 6. Part 2 Division 1 heading amended19 In the heading to Part 2 Division 1 delete “Act” and insert:20 21 Acts22 23 7. Section 6 amended24 (1) In section 6(1) in the definition of Commonwealth gene25 technology Act:26 (a) delete “Act” and insert:27 28 Acts29 30

Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025 s. 8 page 4 (b) after “(Commonwealth)” insert:1 2 and the Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act 20003 (Commonwealth)4 5 (2) Delete section 6(2) and insert:6 7 (2) The Commonwealth gene technology Acts —8 (a) apply as laws of the State; and9 (b) so apply as if they were Acts.10 Note for this subsection:11 Under section 18(2), the Interpretation Act 1984 does not12 apply to the applied gene technology law.13 14 (3) In section 6(3) delete “Act applies” and insert:15 16 Acts apply17 18 Note: The heading to amended section 6 is to read:19 Application of Commonwealth gene technology Acts as laws of20 the State21 8. Section 12 amended22 In section 12(2)(c) after “(Commonwealth)” insert:23 24 or the Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act 200025 (Commonwealth)26 27

Gene Technology (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2025 s. 9 page 5 9. Section 14 amended1 In section 14(1)(a) and (b) after “(Commonwealth)” insert:2 3 or the Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act 20004 (Commonwealth)5 6 10. Section 15 amended7 In section 15(1) after “(Commonwealth)” insert:8 9 or the Gene Technology (Licence Charges) Act 200010 (Commonwealth)11 12 11. Section 30A inserted13 After section 30 insert:14 15 30A. Imposition of tax16 To the extent that this Act or the local regulations17 provide for a tax, the tax is imposed.18 19

Source text

Sourced from the Western Australian Legislation website (legislation.wa.gov.au). Not the authorised version.