# Act not to apply so as to exceed Commonwealth power

> act-s3A — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

3A Act not to apply so as to exceed Commonwealth power
          (1) Unless the contrary intention appears, if a provision of this Act:
                 (a) would, apart from this section, have an invalid application;
                      but
                (b) also has at least one valid application;
              it is the Parliament’s intention that the provision is not to have the
              invalid application, but is to have every valid application.
          (2) Despite subsection (1), the provision is not to have a particular
              valid application if:
               (a) apart from this section, it is clear, taking into account the
                    provision’s context and the purpose or object underlying this
                    Act, that the provision was intended to have that valid
                    application only if every invalid application, or a particular
                    invalid application, of the provision had also been within the
                    Commonwealth’s legislative power; or
               (b) the provision’s operation in relation to that valid application
                    would be different in a substantial respect from what would
                    have been its operation in relation to that valid application if
                    every invalid application of the provision had been within the
                    Commonwealth’s legislative power.
          (3) Subsection (2) does not limit the cases where a contrary intention
              may be taken to appear for the purposes of subsection (1).
          (4) This section applies to a provision of this Act, whether enacted
              before, at or after the commencement of this section.









          (5) In this section:
               application means an application in relation to:
                (a) one or more particular persons, things, matters, places,
                     circumstances or cases; or
                (b) one or more classes (however defined or determined) of
                     persons, things, matters, places, circumstances or cases.
               invalid application, in relation to a provision, means an application
               because of which the provision exceeds the Commonwealth’s
               legislative power.
               valid application, in relation to a provision, means an application
               that, if it were the provision’s only application, would be within the
               Commonwealth’s legislative power.