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House of Representatives                                Ch 10                                                 p 338

Short title

The short title is a convenient name for the Act, a label which assists in identification and indexing. ¹ Clause 1 of a bill usually contains its short title, and this clause describes the measure in terms as if the bill had been enacted, for example, ‘This Act may be cited as the ² Crimes at Sea Act 1999 ’. Since early 1976 a bill amending its principal Act or other Acts has generally included the word ‘Amendment’ in its short title. When a session ³ of the Parliament extends over two or more calendar years and bills introduced in one year are not passed until an ensuing year, the year in the citation of the bill is altered to the year in which the bill finally passes both Houses. This formal amendment may be effected before transmission to the Senate after the passing of the bill by the House (when there may be a need to reprint the bill because it has been amended by the House) or before forwarding for assent.

It is not uncommon for more than one bill, bearing virtually the same short title, to be introduced, considered and enacted during the same year. ⁴ In this situation the second bill and subsequent bills are distinguished by the insertion of ‘(No. 2)’, ‘(No. 3)’, and so on, before the year in the short title. ⁵ Bills dealing with matters in a common general area may be distinguished with qualifying words contained in parenthesis within the short title. ⁶ In both these cases the distinguishing figures or words in the short title flow to the Act itself and its citation.

On other occasions a bill may, for parliamentary purposes, carry ‘[No. 2]’ after the year of the short title to distinguish it from an earlier bill of identical title. This is so, for example, when it is known that the earlier bill will not further proceed in the parliamentary process to the point of enactment or when titles are expected to be amended during the parliamentary process. ⁷ This distinction in numbering also becomes necessary for bills subject to inter-House disagreement, in the context of the constitutional processes required by sections 57 and 128 of the Constitution.

However, identification may not be permanent—it is possible for the short (and long) title of an Act to be amended by an amending bill. E.g. the Australian Passports (Transitionals and Consequentials) Bill 2004 proposed to amend the Passports Act 1938 ‘An Act relating to Passports’ to become the Foreign Passports (Law Enforcement and Security) Act 2004 ‘An Act relating to foreign passports and other foreign travel documents’.

Note that ‘the’ is not part of the short title.

See definition in Ch. on ‘The parliamentary calendar’.

For the numbering of appropriation and supply bills see Ch on ‘Financial legislation’.

E.g. Anti-terrorism Bill 2004 followed by Anti-terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2004.

E.g. Tax Laws Amendment (Retirement Villages) Bill 2004 and Tax Laws Amendment (Superannuation Reporting) Bill 2004.

E.g. Kyoto Protocol Ratification Bill 2003 and Kyoto Protocol Ratification Bill 2003 [No. 2].