The 562-Day Hole: The Standard Governing General-Insurance Transfers Sunsetted by Mistake, and the Federal Court Kept Applying It

On 1 October 2016, Prudential Standard GPS 410 — the instrument that supplies the content of statutory preconditions to the Federal Court's confirmation of general-insurance business transfers — was automatically repealed under the sunsetting provisions of the Legislation Act. APRA's own explanatory statement records why: the Federal Register of Legislation had mislabelled GPS 410 itself as repealed back in 2007, so it never appeared on the Attorney-General's sunsetting lists. APRA did not remake it until 16 April 2018 — 562 days later, a figure computed here from the two register dates. In between, the Federal Court published reasons confirming fourteen schemes of transfer in eight matters, and every one of the eight judgments — all captured and searched for this analysis — cites GPS 410 as an operative standard while never using the words 'sunset' or 'repeal'. In the largest — IAG's consolidation of seven insurers, which had approximately 3.24 million active policies on issue as at 30 June 2016 — the judgment finds notices were published 'in accordance with paras 9 and 10 of GPS 410' on four dates in 2017 when the instrument was not in force, and APRA told the Court it was satisfied there had been 'material compliance with the procedural requirements under the Act and the standards and with the court's dispensation orders'. Neither judgment in the matter mentions the sunset.