The Omnibus Package amended the National Gas Access (Western Australia) Law to address minor administrative, procedural and drafting ambiguities and a technical constitutional law issue. The Package:
- clarified that “participating jurisdiction” and “Ministers of participating jurisdictions” referred to jurisdictions that have enacted all or part of the National Gas Law;
- amended the outdated reference to the Ministerial Council on Energy so it was flexible enough to cater for potential future name changes;
- removed the obligation for authorities, including the Economic Regulation Authority, to publish statutory notices in newspapers; and
- addressed constitutional law issues identified in R v Hughes (2000) by ensuring that duties conferred on Commonwealth bodies under the National Gas Law were constitutionally valid.
The Package commenced in other Australian jurisdictions in April 2021 as a result of the Statutes Amendment (National Energy Laws) (Omnibus) Act 2021 (SA) and National Gas (South Australia) (Commercial Arbitration Acts) Variation Regulations 2021 (SA). The reforms were agreed by Energy Ministers and national consultation on the legislative package conducted in April and May 2020.
Western Australia consulted on its intention to apply the Package to Western Australia in August and September 2024, releasing a consultation package comprised of an information paper and draft adoption instruments. No submissions were received.
The Omnibus Package was then applied to Western Australia with the commencement of the adoption instruments on 22 January 2025.
Consultation documents
No submissions were received.
