Legislative Instruments (Postponement of Expiry) Regulations 2025

The Regulations engage a small set of technical concepts from the Act and the mechanics of subordinate legislation. Those concepts, as expressed in the instrument, are:

• Postponement of expiry: The instrument exercises a power to delay the operation of the expiry mechanism in Part 3A of the Act for a discrete set of regulations. Section 4 effects a one-year postponement commencing on a specific date, 1 September 2025. The operative mechanism is temporal , the Regulations do not alter substantive content, only the date at which the automatic expiry under the Act would otherwise take effect.

• Categorisation by date of making: The triggering criterion for inclusion is that the regulations were made before 1 January 2015 (s 4). The Schedule 1 list demonstrates this criterion in practice: the included instruments carry making dates in the 2011-2014 period. The instrument therefore targets a cohort of older regulations rather than orders made after the cut-off date.

• Schedule-based instrument design: The Regulations operate by reference to Schedules. Schedule 1 provides the list of instruments whose expiry is postponed, Schedule 2 lists instruments declared to expire, and Schedule 3 effects repeal of a prior postponement instrument. This structure keeps the operative effect declarative and schedule-driven, with the schedules being the locus of the substantive lists.

• Commencement mechanics: The Regulations come into operation on the day on which they are made (s 2). The postponement period itself is specified to commence on a fixed future date, 1 September 2025 (s 4). This creates two timing layers: immediate commencement of the instrument and a deferred commencement of the postponement period.

• Interaction with the Act’s expiry mechanism: The instrument repeatedly references the Act and Part 3A as the source of the expiry it is postponing (s 4). That is, the underlying expiry is an automatic statutory mechanism in the Act rather than a stand-alone feature of any particular regulation. The instrument therefore functions as an intervention in the supervisory timetable that Part 3A imposes on delegated instruments.

• Repeal of prior instrument: Schedule 3 repeals the 2024 postponement instrument. This is a housekeeping measure removing the previous instrument from the statute book (Schedule 3). The repeal is a discrete action that avoids multiple overlapping postponement regulations remaining active, and it clarifies which postponement instrument is current.

• Differentiated treatment: The instrument treats different subordinate instruments differently. Schedule 1 items are preserved for one year, while Schedule 2 items are allowed to expire on 1 September 2025. The instrument therefore effects a partial continuation of the delegated-legislation stock rather than a universal postponement.

Each of these concepts is implemented tightly: the text names each affected subordinate instrument in the schedules; it specifies precise dates and a one-year period; and it defines the statutory reference points. There are no substantive amendments to the content or enforcement mechanisms of the subordinate instruments themselves. The Regulations are procedural-temporal in nature.

The immediate legal effect is on three discrete groups: the regulated subjects of the subordinate instruments listed in Schedule 1, the regulated subjects of the two instruments in Schedule 2, and the public agencies responsible for administering, enforcing and publishing those instruments.

• Regulated persons and businesses: Any person, business or entity that is subject to the regulations listed in Schedule 1 will have those existing regulatory obligations and entitlements continue in force for an additional year from 1 September 2025 to 1 September 2026 (s 4; Schedule 1). The list covers a wide range of sectors and activities, including but not limited to building and construction, public health, fisheries, energy, transport, liquor licensing, safety regimes, taxation-related subordinate rules, local government procedural or financial rules, and work health and safety. For each such actor, the immediate practical effect is to maintain the status quo for one more year; any compliance, licensing, reporting, fee or conduct obligations in those instruments remain binding.

• Regulated persons and businesses under Schedule 2 instruments: The two instruments in Schedule 2 , Disability Services (Assessment of Relevant History) Regulations 2014 and Family Relationships Regulations 2010 , are declared to expire on 1 September 2025 (s 5; Schedule 2). Persons or entities relying on arrangements under those two sets of regulations should prepare for those instruments to lapse on that date. That may have immediate operational consequences where obligations, rights, or administrative regimes under those instruments are not continued by other law.

• Administrative agencies and regulators: Agencies that administer the instruments in Schedule 1 must continue to administer, enforce and resource those instruments for an additional year. That includes continuing internal compliance processes, updating public-facing guidance, maintaining enforcement frameworks and possibly extending delegated administrative arrangements. Agencies administering the Schedule 2 instruments must prepare for their expiry on 1 September 2025 and for transitional or successor arrangements if required.

• Legal and compliance advisers: Lawyers, in‑house counsel, compliance officers, accountants and advisers must note the modified timeline. For matters that were planned around a lapse on 1 September 2025, the postponement means obligations remain intact, whereas in respect of the Schedule 2 instruments advisers must act on an impending expiry.

• Parliament and parliamentary officers: The instrument affects the timing of parliamentary scrutiny. The Act’s Part 3A expiry mechanism is intended to create periodic review points for subordinate legislation; by postponing expiry the instrument delays those review points for the listed instruments. Parliamentarians, committees, and oversight entities relying on the statutory timetable will see the dates shifted.

• The statute book and consolidators: Publishers, legislation officers and legal information services must capture the postponement, the expiry of the two listed instruments, and the repeal of the 2024 postponement instrument (Schedule 3), to maintain accurate records.

Who does not see a direct legal change: persons regulated by instruments not listed in Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 are unaffected by these Regulations. The Regulations do not change substantive policy, create new offences, or vary penalties in the instruments themselves; they only change expiry timing. The instrument therefore imposes the most immediate effect on those entities that currently operate under the named subordinate instruments.

The Regulations do not create new substantive duties or rights. Instead, they alter the temporal status of pre-existing duties and rights contained in the subordinate legislation named in the schedules. The legal consequence is that the duties and rights embedded in those subordinate instruments either continue in force for an additional year (Schedule 1) or lapse on the date identified (Schedule 2). Important operational details follow.

• Continuation of existing obligations and entitlements: For each instrument in Schedule 1, any obligation, right, licence, permit, procedure, fee, reporting requirement or administrative regime that the instrument creates will continue to be operative for the period specified by the postponement (s 4; Schedule 1). That includes obligations enforceable by regulators and rights exercisable by regulated persons. The Regulations do not amend these instruments’ contents; they preserve their legal effect by postponing expiry.

• Expiry effect for Schedule 2 instruments: The instruments listed in Schedule 2 will expire under the Act on 1 September 2025 (s 5; Schedule 2). Upon expiry, the duties and rights contained in those instruments cease to have force to the extent not preserved by other law. Where those instruments create processes (for example, assessment procedures, licensing conditions, or recognition of history), those processes end on the expiry date unless other statutory or regulatory arrangements subsist.

• Administrative duty to update: Agencies and legal publishers have a duty to reflect the change in the legal status of the named instruments. That includes updating registers, consolidations, guidance materials, compliance checklists and communication to regulated parties. The Regulations themselves are explicit that they commence on the day made (s 2), so the duty to record the change is immediate.

• No new enforcement provisions or penalties in this instrument: The Regulations are silent on penalties and do not create offences or enforcement mechanisms themselves. Enforcement continues under the substantive instruments and the Acts under which they were made. For this reason the rights to enforcement, review, appeal or liability attached to any of the regulated activities remain those that are provided in the underlying instruments and Acts; those rights are carried forward by virtue of the postponement rather than being created by it.

• Effect on transitional arrangements and sunset review: Where the underlying Act or instrument contains transitional, savings or sunset-review triggers linked to expiry, those processes will now be delayed for the instruments in Schedule 1, because their statutory expiry date has been postponed (s 4). Conversely, any processes tied to the expiry of a Schedule 2 instrument should proceed on 1 September 2025 (s 5).

• Record of repeal: Schedule 3 repeals the 2024 postponement instrument. The immediate administrative duty is to note that the 2024 instrument is no longer part of the statute book, and the 2025 instrument is the operative postponement instrument (Schedule 3).

In short, the key normative effect of these Regulations is temporal: they continue or end the force of existing rules rather than reshaping the content of duties or rights. Parties must act on the timing changes because duties and rights continue or cease according to the revised schedule.

The Regulations under review do not themselves prescribe penalties, enforcement regimes, or create novel offences. They operate solely to change expiry dates under the Legislative Instruments Act 1978. Consequently, enforcement and penalties remain governed by the substantive regulations and the Acts under which they were made.

• No direct penalty provisions: There is no clause within these Regulations imposing fines, sanctions or enforcement powers. The instrument's provisions (s 4 and s 5) are declaratory about timing. Therefore, any penal consequences for non-compliance are those contained in the instruments listed in Schedule 1 (which remain in force for an extra year) or in the underlying Acts and subordinate instruments that continue to apply to regulated persons.

• Continuity of existing enforcement: For instruments in Schedule 1, any enforcement mechanisms, infringement scheme provisions or criminal sanctions contained in those instruments or the parent Acts continue to be operative for the postponed period (s 4; Schedule 1). For example, if a Schedule 1 regulation prescribes an offence, that offence remains capable of being prosecuted or dealt with administratively during the extended timeframe.

• Expiry and cessation of enforcement powers: For the two instruments in Schedule 2, the expiry on 1 September 2025 (s 5; Schedule 2) means that any enforcement powers that rely exclusively on those instruments will lapse on that date. If enforcement powers are vested elsewhere or under an Act, they may persist. Whether criminal liability survives expiry depends on the drafting of the underlying instruments and any transitional or savings provisions they or their parent Acts contain; the Regulations do not modify those substantive transitional provisions.

• Administrative enforcement responsibilities: Agencies must plan enforcement resourcing and priorities on the basis of the changed time horizon. The decision to postpone expiry effectively extends the fiscal and administrative horizon for any agency enforcing the Schedule 1 instruments for another year. For the two expiring instruments, agencies should plan for cessation of relevant enforcement activities tied to those regulations on 1 September 2025.

• Record-keeping and public notice obligations: The Regulations commence on the day they are made (s 2). That requires agencies and legal information services to update public registers and notifications to reflect which instruments are continued and which are expired. Failure to communicate accurately could generate compliance uncertainty; while this is not a statutory penalty in the Regulations, it is an operational risk that could occasion enforcement misunderstanding.

• Interaction with Part 3A scrutiny processes: Because the instrument intervenes in the Act’s expiry timetable, any enforcement or scrutiny that depends on expiry-triggered parliamentary review will be delayed for Schedule 1 instruments. That changes the timetable whereby Parliament can act in relation to subordinate instruments subject to the Part 3A sunset mechanism, with indirect effects on enforcement oversight.

In summary, the Regulations do not add or remove penalties by themselves. They change the temporal scope during which existing penalties and enforcement measures attached to the named instruments remain in force, and they require administrative planning by enforcement agencies to reflect the altered status.

The Regulations operate by reference to and interact with the Legislative Instruments Act 1978 and with the parent Acts and subordinate instruments they name. The instrument is administrative rather than substantive, and its legal interactions are primarily temporal and structural.

• Interaction with the Legislative Instruments Act 1978: The instrument repeatedly invokes the Act and Part 3A as the source of the expiry it postpones (s 3; s 4). The Regulations therefore function as a device under the Act’s architecture to vary the expiry timetable of delegated legislation. The legal machinery of postponement operates within the constraints of the Act; the Regulations do not purport to override substantive provisions in parent Acts or change regulatory content.

• No amendment of parent Acts: The instrument neither amends nor purports to displace the Acts that empowered the subordinate instruments listed. It leaves intact the statutory bases, powers and limits in those Acts. The effect is therefore to maintain the delegated instruments in force without re-authorisation by primary legislation.

• Effect on subordinate instrument lifecycle: By postponing expiry, the instrument delays the sunset mechanism that Part 3A creates. That interacts with any statutory requirements in the parent Acts for review, re‑making, or sunsetting subordinate instruments. Where parent Acts impose review periods linked to expiry, those review points are correspondingly deferred.

• Regulatory coherence and overlapping instruments: Many of the listed subordinate instruments regulate related subject‑matter that may interact with other laws (for example, safety rules, licensing regimes, and local government regulations). The postponement preserves the current legal relationships and avoids potential gaps that might otherwise occur if instruments lapsed before replacements or reforms were enacted. Conversely, the expiry of the Schedule 2 instruments will create a legal gap unless replaced or saved by other law.

• Repeal of prior postponement instrument: Schedule 3 repeals the Legislative Instruments (Postponement of Expiry) Regulations 2024 (Schedule 3). That repeal interacts with the continuity of statutory instruments by ensuring a single active postponement instrument is current. It also prevents duplication or conflict between successive postponement instruments.

• Administrative law and procedural obligations: Because the instrument changes the timing of expiry, it may affect administrative procedural obligations that reference that timing. For example, any requirement for agencies to notify the public or to conduct consultations linked to an instrument’s expiry will now be bound to the revised dates. The Regulations themselves do not contain consultation requirements; they shift schedules that may trigger procedural steps elsewhere.

• Parliamentary oversight: The Act’s Part 3A likely contemplates a role for parliamentary oversight at expiry points; postponement therefore alters the schedule on which Parliament can exercise that oversight. The Regulations do not purport to curtail parliamentary powers, but they affect the timing of when the legislature may re-examine delegated instruments.

• Interaction with enforcement and judicial review: The Regulations do not change the substantive review rights that persons have under administrative law or in relation to the parent Acts. However, because instruments remain in force or expire on different schedules, the underlying rights or liabilities that might be the subject of administrative or judicial review will persist or cease accordingly. The instrument therefore indirectly affects the justiciable landscape by altering which legal bases remain available for challenge at any particular time.

In short, the instrument interacts most directly with the Act’s expiry architecture and secondarily with the parent Acts and the administrative processes that rely on the existence or expiry of particular subordinate instruments. The Regulations do not amend primary legislation or remove statutory limits on delegated power; they adjust timing.

The Regulations are a single, self-contained instrument with a targeted purpose and a limited amendment footprint reflected in Schedule 3. The legislative history section of the instrument records the principal details of enactment:

• Instrument identification and commencement: The Regulations are recorded as 2025 No 92, published in the Government Gazette on 14 August 2025 (Gazette 14.8.2025 p3397). The commencement clause states the Regulations come into operation on the day on which they are made (s 2), and the legislative history entry confirms 14 August 2025 as the commencement date.

• Repeal of the 2024 instrument: Schedule 3 expressly repeals the Legislative Instruments (Postponement of Expiry) Regulations 2024. That is the only repeal or amendment action recorded within this instrument. The repeal is targeted at the prior-year postponement instrument and ensures that the 2025 instrument is the operative instrument effecting postponement in this legislative period.

• No other amendments recorded in the instrument: The instrument contains no amendment provisions for any primary Act or for any of the subordinate instruments it lists. It does not amend the Act, does not vary the text of the named subordinate instruments, and does not introduce transitional or saving clauses beyond the timing adjustments expressly made in ss 4 and 5 and the Schedule entries.

• Temporal scope: The postponement effected by s 4 is limited in time to one year commencing on 1 September 2025. The limited timeframe is an explicit constraint built into the instrument; it is not open-ended. The instrument therefore provides a discrete postponement rather than a structural change to the expiry regime.

• No schedule of staged extensions: The instrument does not include any staged or conditional extension mechanisms. It specifies a single one-year postponement and a list of instruments to be postponed. The absence of contingency language or delegation in the text indicates the instrument’s effect is straightforward and bounded.

• Administrative housekeeping: The inclusion of Schedule 3 to repeal the 2024 instrument is an administrative or housekeeping change. It avoids cumulative layering of postponement instruments across years and gives a clear record of which postponement instrument governs the 2025-2026 postponement.

There is no record in the instrument of any prior amendments to it (as it is the principal regulation of its type for 2025). The Acts and subordinate instruments named may have their own amendment histories, but such histories are outside the text of this instrument. The legislative history entry gives the date of making and commencement and thereby anchors the amendment chronology at a single point in time.

The Regulations contain no reference to any litigation, nor does the instrument itself create new rights or liabilities that the document records as being subject to dispute. Within the text provided there is no mention of cases, judicial review, appeals or litigation outcomes. Accordingly:

• No litigation recorded against this instrument: The instrument’s legislative history and content do not record any court proceedings challenging the Regulations or their operation. The instrument is an administrative timing mechanism and the text includes no mention of disputes.

• Potential for judicial review: While the instrument itself does not record litigation, its effect,postponing expiry and thereby preserving subordinate instruments,could, in principle, be the subject of judicial review if a party alleged jurisdictional error or procedural unfairness in the exercise of the power under the Act. The instrument does not include material addressing such possibilities; the text makes no admission or indication of ongoing or past litigation.

• Litigation related to named subordinate instruments: The named subordinate instruments themselves may be the subject of litigation in external sources; however, no litigation history concerning those instruments is recorded in this Regulations text. Any judicial decisions about the substantive regulations listed would be located in court records or other legal sources beyond this instrument.

• No saved or saved-by-litigation entries: Some legislative instruments include saving clauses related to ongoing litigation; this instrument includes no such saving provision. The absence of a saving clause means that the postponed expiry applies mechanically to the listed instruments without bespoke litigation-linked exceptions spelled out here.

In short, the instrument’s text contains no litigation history and records no legal challenges. For practitioners, that means that any litigation-related issues must be identified by searching judicial decisions and administrative-review records concerning the underlying instruments rather than by reference to this instrument’s text.

This instrument is short and administratively focused, but there are several practical pitfalls and attention points for practitioners, regulators and regulated entities. These are matters where the literal wording of the instrument or its timing can create operational or legal surprises.

• Timing layers and effective dates: The Regulations commence on the day they are made (s 2), recorded as 14 August 2025 in the legislative history. However, the postponement period itself starts on 1 September 2025 (s 4). Practitioners must not assume immediate effect of the postponement for legal computation purposes; the operative preservation of the instruments begins on 1 September 2025 and runs for one year. This creates a short window between instrument commencement and the start of the postponement period in which administrative updates must be made.

• Postponement does not change content: A common misunderstanding would be to treat this instrument as amending substantive obligations. It does not. Each instrument in Schedule 1 remains subject to the same wording, penalties and administrative regimes as before; only the expiry date is shifted. Compliance and legal advice must therefore continue to reference the current substantive text of each regulation.

• Confusion over expiry dates: The instrument postpones expiry for a one-year period beginning 1 September 2025, so those regulations will next fall due to expire on 1 September 2026 unless further action is taken. Regulated entities and agencies should update compliance calendars accordingly. Conversely, the two instruments in Schedule 2 will expire on 1 September 2025; any processes or rights that hinge on those instruments will end on that date.

• Repeal of the 2024 instrument: Schedule 3 repeals the 2024 postponement instrument. If agencies or practitioners rely on automated consolidations, databases may still show the 2024 instrument unless they update promptly. This creates the risk of inconsistent public records and confusion over which postponement instrument is operative.

• Heterogeneous list of affected instruments: Schedule 1 aggregates a very large and diverse set of regulations across multiple portfolios (for example, Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012, Liquor Licensing (General) Regulations 2012, Stamp Duties Regulations 2013, Public Health Regulations 2013, and many others). That heterogeneity means the resource implications and compliance burdens of continuing the instruments vary widely across agencies and sectors. Each regime’s stakeholders must individually assess the consequences.

• Downstream reliance and contractual arrangements: Some contractual and licensing arrangements incorporate requirements or standards from the regulations listed. Postponement can affect the validity period of licences or certification requirements embedded in commercial contracts. Contracting parties should check whether the continuation or expiry of a named regulation affects their contractual obligations.

• Expectation management and reform timelines: If the postponement was intended to buy time for parliamentary review, re-drafting, or policy reform, those processes must be scheduled within the one-year window. The instrument itself contains no guarantee that substantive replacements or reforms will be produced in that interval.

• International or Commonwealth interactions: Some listed instruments have names suggesting coordination with Commonwealth or national regimes (for example, National Law applications, Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) (Savings, Transitional and Declaratory) Regulations 2013). The postponement may have cross-jurisdictional administrative implications; parties should check whether the timing change affects national conformity or intergovernmental arrangements.

• Administrative notice obligations: Because the instrument itself provides no transitional explanatory material, agencies must separately ensure that regulated parties are notified where appropriate. Failure to communicate the change can lead to non-compliance by regulated parties who mistakenly expect expiry or reform.

• No express transitional savings for certain active processes: The instrument does not specify transitional arrangements for ongoing proceedings, licence applications or investigations that may cross the 1 September 2025 date for the Schedule 2 instruments. Practitioners should therefore verify whether parent Acts or the substantive instruments provide saving or transitional clauses to protect ongoing processes.

These practical issues are not novel legal defects in the instrument; they are operational risks arising from the manner in which the instrument changes expiry dates. They require attention from counsel, compliance officers and administrative staff to prevent timing-related errors.

Compliance with the effects of these Regulations is predominantly an administrative and calendaring task for agencies, regulated entities and their advisers. There are no new substantive obligations created by the instrument; compliance therefore means recognising and acting on the changed timing for the instruments named.

For regulated entities and businesses affected by Schedule 1 instruments:

• Continue to comply with all obligations under the named instruments from 1 September 2025 through their postponed expiry period. The Regulations postpone each listed instrument’s expiry for one year commencing 1 September 2025 (s 4; Schedule 1). This means obligations, licences, reporting, safety standards, fees, and enforcement regimes remain enforceable until the postponed expiry date unless and until those instruments are otherwise amended or repealed.
• Update internal compliance calendars and risk registers to reflect the new expiry date (effectively 1 September 2026 for the postponed instruments). Do not rely on the prior expectation that expiry would have occurred on 1 September 2025.
• Review contracts, licences and compliance manuals that incorporate or reference standards from the named instruments to ensure they remain accurate. If contractual deadlines or compliance triggers were tied to the earlier expiry, parties may need to renegotiate or adjust notice periods.

For persons and entities affected by Schedule 2 instruments:

• Prepare for the expiry of the Disability Services (Assessment of Relevant History) Regulations 2014 and the Family Relationships Regulations 2010 on 1 September 2025 (s 5; Schedule 2). Identify any administrative processes, pending applications or ongoing obligations that rely on those instruments and establish contingency plans.
• Check whether the parent Acts or other subordinate instruments contain saving or transitional provisions that preserve rights or proceedings that would otherwise be lost upon expiry. If not, seek appropriate legislative or administrative action if continuity is required.

For regulators and administering agencies:

• Update registers, public guidance, licensing databases and legal consolidations to reflect that the instruments in Schedule 1 remain in force for one year from 1 September 2025 and that the Schedule 2 instruments will expire on 1 September 2025. The Regulations commence on the day they are made (s 2), so this administrative change should be implemented promptly.
• Assess resourcing and enforcement plans to account for the extended timeframe for Schedule 1 instruments and the cessation of Schedule 2 instruments. This includes any inspections, compliance campaigns, fee collections or enforcement actions planned around the prior expiry date.
• Communicate clearly with stakeholders, industry groups and affected persons about the timing change. Given the heterogeneous nature of Schedule 1, targeted notices to different sectors will reduce compliance risk.
• Ensure legal and policy teams use the 2025 instrument as the operative postponement instrument, noting Schedule 3 repeals the 2024 instrument (Schedule 3). Remove or archive references to the 2024 instrument in internal guidance to avoid confusion.

For lawyers, compliance professionals and advisers:

• Advise clients that the named instruments in Schedule 1 continue to provide the legal framework for their activities for an additional year commencing 1 September 2025, and that two instruments in Schedule 2 expire on 1 September 2025.
• Where a client’s operations anticipate reform, advise on timing consequences and recommend engagement with the relevant agency to follow whether substantive replacements or legislative amendments will be made within the one-year window.
• Review any pending litigation, licensing applications or administrative reviews that depend on the instruments’ existence and ensure that procedural steps required before the new expiry dates are taken.

General practical steps:

• Update legal databases and consolidations to reflect the postponement and the repeal in Schedule 3.
• Maintain a watch on government announcements for any follow-up instruments which might further postpone, renew, amend or replace the listed subordinate instruments.
• Ensure that any public-facing statements, compliance checklists or policy documents that mention imminent expiry are revised to avoid misleading stakeholders.

Compliance here is essentially timely legal housekeeping: recognising that the legal status of a group of subordinate instruments has been extended and acting to maintain operational, contractual and administrative continuity in light of that extension.