Legal Institutions Final Lecture

Final lecture: February 2011 The final lecture will be run as a Parliament. The business of the Parliament will be to debate, and if appropriate, pass the Cloud Seeding Bill, a copy of which follows. The consideration of the Cloud Seeding Bill will be interactive, so please come prepared to discuss and move amendments as a member of the newly formed Legal Institutions Parliament. We will need a Minister to move the legislation, and perhaps a Shadow Minister to speak against it – volunteers needed (and ideas can be workshopped with me ahead of time: ). If we have an Attorney-General from a State who wishes to challenge the constitutional validity of the Act (if passed) we may even need to convene a High Court for a decision on the It should be fun and useful if everyone participates – have a look at the legislative troubleshooting notes for ideas. Susan Carter

CLOUD SEEDING BILL 2011 No. XX of 2011 An Act to promote rainfall in drought affected areas by seeding all the clouds in such areas simultaneously. WHEREAS: it is desirable that all drought stricken areas within Australia be rained upon so as to allow farmers to plant and harvest their crops. The Parliament of Australia enacts: Short Title 1. This Act may be cited as the Cloud Seeding Act Object of the Act 2. The object of this Act is to promote rainfall in drought affected areas of Australia.

Interpretation 3. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears Aircraft means all aircraft used in civil aviation exclusively within the Commonwealth of Australia. Commencement date means 1 July 2012 National Cloud Seeding Day shall be the first day after the full moon in the sixth month of Organised sport includes hockey, cricket, baseball, golf, tennis and other sports. Seeding of Clouds 4. On National Cloud Seeding Day all owners and operators of aircraft within Australia shall seed all clouds within a 50km radius of their hangar between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7p.m. 5. All chemicals required for National Cloud Seeding Day shall be provided to owners and operators of aircraft by the Commonwealth Department of Rain, before National Cloud Seeding Day.

Compensation 6. Any persons playing organised sport on Local Government playing fields affected by the rainfall resulting from the seeding of the clouds shall be compensated by the relevant Local Government authority. Penalty 7. The Penalty for a breach of section 4 shall be 100,000 penalty units for corporations and 50,000 penalty units for individuals.

LEGISLATIVE TROUBLESHOOTING The draft legislation has been introduced into Federal Parliament. Is this an appropriate matter for federal legislation? Why? Why not? What is the source of federal legislative power? What power(s) specifically will the legislation rely on? Is all of the legislation within federal power? Does your advice change if you are instructed that the Australian government has become a signatory to an international treaty on drought prevention? If not within federal power, can the objects of the legislation still be achieved? Is the draft legislation within the legislative power of NSW? Why? Why not?

What is the purpose of the legislation? (Another way of considering this, is what is the “mischief” the legislation is designed to address.) Does the draft bill achieve its stated purpose? Where would you find the purpose of the legislation? Are there any matters which the legislature wants to achieve but which are not reflected in the bill itself? If there are any defects, will they be cured by rules of statutory interpretation or will they need to be cured at the legislative stage? If they need curing, what amendments do you propose? Does the legislation nominate a commencement date or does it come into operation on the expiration of the requisite period after assent? Will the Act be in force at all times when action is required to be taken under it? Assume you are a member of an opposition party, opposed to this Bill. If it becomes law, how could you seek to have it reviewed? Could it be challenged? If so, where and by whom? And on what grounds?

Problem question Assume the Cloud Seeding Act (Cth) 2011 is in operation Assume the matters mentioned in the Second Reading Speech Consider the following scenarios:

Jim owns an aeroplane and operates it out of a hangar at Coffs Harbour Airport. He is unable to participate in National Cloud Seeding Day as, due to flooding, he could not get to his hangar on that day. Advise Jim. Mary is 65. She is training for the National Seniors Pole Vaulting Championships. Her training was interrupted due to unseasonal rains which fell on National Cloud Seeding Day. Advise Mary.