141Non-legislative context generally

141 Non-legislative context generally (1) In working out the meaning of an Act, material not forming part of the Act may be considered. Note 1 See s 146 for the meaning of may and must. Note 2 See s 126 and s 127 for material that is, or is not, part of an Act or Note 3 See s 142 for material that may be considered in working out the meaning of an Act or statutory instrument. (2) In deciding whether material not forming part of an Act should be considered in working out the meaning of the Act, and the weight to be given to the material, the following matters must be taken into account: (a) the desirability of being able to rely on the ordinary meaning of the Act, having regard to the purpose of the Act and the provisions of the Act read in the context of the Act as a whole; (b) the undesirability of prolonging proceedings without compensating advantage; (c) the accessibility of the material to the public.

(3) Subsection (2) does not limit the matters that may be taken into account. (4) For subsection (2) (c), material in the register is taken to be accessible to the public. Note The register is the ACT legislation register (see dict, pt 2, def register).