Types of NSW Acts

Generally speaking, there are 2 kinds of NSW Acts:

• A principal Act is an Act that contains substantive legal provisions that are not limited to the repeal or amendment of other legislation. An example of a principal Act is the Crown Land Management Act 2016.
• An amending Act is an Act that is limited to provisions that either repeal or amend other legislation (or both). An amending Act typically has the word "repeal" or "amendment" (or both) in its name. See, for example, the Industrial Relations Amendment (Industrial Court) Act 2016.

The use of an amending Act is not the only way in which other legislation can be repealed or amended. It is common practice for amendments and repeals of other legislation to be included in a principal Act (usually in schedules) if they are required for the principal Act to come into force.

The Interpretation Act 1987, section 30C will repeal an amending Act once all of its repeals or amendments have commenced unless the Act provides differently. This will usually occur on the day after it is fully commenced. However, the repeal of an amending Act does not undo any of the repeals and amendments it makes because of the Interpretation Act 1987, section 30.