EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No.1) 2014
Proclamation
Item 3 of the table in subsection 2(1) of the Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2014 (the Act) provides that Part 1 of Schedule 6 to the Act is to commence on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation. However, if the provisions do not commence within the period of 6 months beginning on the day of the Act receives the Royal Assent, they commence on the day after the end of that period. The Act received the Royal Assent on 24 September 2014.
The purpose of the Proclamation is to fix 1 January 2015 as the day on which Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Act will commence.
The Act amends the Migration Act 1958 (the Migration Act) to clarify the operation of various provisions as a result of recent court and tribunal decisions. It also makes a number of technical amendments.
Part 1 of Schedule 6 of the Act amends the Migration Act to remove the distinction between applications for visas that can be granted when the applicant is in the migration zone and which are subject to merits review under Part 5 or Part 7 of the Migration Act, and applications for other types of visas. In effect, all visa applications will be subject to the procedural fairness requirements provided for in section 57 of the Migration Act.
The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.