LAW REFORM

To protect society and keep it functioning.

Laws outline acceptable behaviour and prevent confl ict within society.

To be eff ective, laws need to be known by the community, easily understood and able to be changed.

Laws also need to be acceptable to the individual members of society and society as a whole, and enforceable.

MAIN AIM OF LAW

REASONS FOR CHANGES IN LAW

Changing values in society

Changes in society Advances in

technology

Greater need for protection of community

Greater awareness of the need to

protect rights Greater demand for

access to the lawEncouraging

changes in values in society

When values and attitudes change to such an extent that a law is no longer acceptable to the majority of people in society, the law needs to change.

If a law is not accepted by the community it could lead to more and more people being willing to disobey it.

Example: same sex marriage

#1: CHANGING VALUES IN SOCIETY

Buying habits have changed in the last 100 years. There has been an increase in the use of packaging. Packaging has made it impossible to inspect the product before buying.

Under the Fair Trading Act 1999, the law has changed to protect the consumer and make sellers and manufacturers ensure their products are safe.

Alcohol abuse and binge drinking was increasing. Excise Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No 1) Act 2009 was passed to increase taxes on ready-to-drink alcoholic drinks by around 70% . This legislation was introduced in the hope it will discourage young people from drinking.

#2: CHANGES IN SOCIETY

Technology is constantly improving and opening up new frontiers. As it improves, new situations need to be covered by the law to reduce the opportunity for individuals and groups to be exploited or harmed.

Example: identity theft – in Victoria the Crimes Amendment (Identity Crime) Act 2009 (Vic) has been passed to try to overcome this problem.

Example: DNA

#3: ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY

One of the major rules of the law is to protect individuals from harm (physical harm or unfair practices). As new situations arise, new laws are required.

Example: mobile phones while driving and hooning laws

#4: PROTECTION OF THE COMMUNITY

When the protection of individual’s rights are infringed, and injustices are unable to be resolved through the law, the law needs to change to deal with these injustices.

Example: equal opportunity and anti-discrimination (discrimination on the grounds of age, impairment, pregnancy, race.

#5: PROTECTION OF RIGHTS

To take a matter to court is expensive and intimidating.

To assist people in their eff orts to seek a just resolution to disputes that arise, the law has been changed to provide alternative avenues of dispute resolution.

Example : tribunals, mediation

There have been changes to the law to provide more eff ective access to the law. Example: Drug Courts and Neighbourhood Justice Centres in Victoria.

#6: ACCESS TO THE LAW

Change law to encourage change in society’s values.

Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) provides legislative protection for an extensive number of human rights and setting out the responsibilities of government, organisation and citizens in the community.

Equal Opportunity Amendment (Family Responsibilities) Act 2008 (Vic) has provided change in values in relation to discrimination against a person on the grounds of the person being a parent or carer by making it unlawful to discriminate on these grounds.

#7: GENERATING CHANGING VALUES

IN SOCIETY

Formal groups: formal pressures for change in the law come from within the formal structures of the law-making process.

Informal groups: informal pressures come from individuals or groups who are not connected with the law-making process and cannot be instrumental in changing the law, but can try to influence the law-makers to change the law.

GROUPS THAT INITIATE LAW REFORM

FORMAL & INFORMAL GROUPS

Formal Groups

Law reform bodies

Royal Commissions

Commissioners of Inquiry

Statutory bodies

Parliamentary Committees

Informal Groups

Individuals

Political parties

Pressure groups

Institutions

Groups of people who join together because they have a particular common interest in trying to influence the government to change the law.

Example: Dying with Dignity Tasmania

INFORMAL GROUPS:PRESSURE GROUPS

INFORMAL GROUPS: PRESSURE GROUPS

Example: Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group

Each political party has a set of policies relating to how the country or state should be run. At the time of an election, the parties put these policies forward in the hope that the majority of people will vote for them.

When a party is elected, the new government will usually try to implement promises made during the election.

For example: former Rudd Government campaigned against workplace relations laws in the 2007 election. When they got into power, they changed the law to abolish Australian workplace agreement.

INFORMAL GROUPS:POLITICAL PARTIES

METHODS USED BY INDIVIDUALS & GROUPS

Petitions

Demonstrations

Media

A formal, written request to the government for action in relation to a particular law that is considered out-dated or unjust. It usually has a collection of signatures on it, which have been gathered by supporters.

A standing committee on petitions has been established to ensure all petitions presented to the House of Representatives are considered.

Epetition – a petition signed online (only in Qld and NSW)

METHODS: PETITIONS

Demonstrations are held to alert the government to the need for a change in the law.

For these to be successful, a large group of people must show their support for the change in the law and attend the demonstrations.

METHODS: DEMONSTRATIONS

Media coverage is required to gain community support and assist in alerting the law-makers to the need for a change in the law.

Newspaper – inform the public of both sides to a debate

Letters and emails to the editor

Radio – talkback shows that allow individuals to communicate their opinions about defects in the law and the need for change.

Television – television programs investigate problems in the community.

METHODS: MEDIA

Tasmanian Law Reform Institute

FORMAL GROUPS: LAW REFORM BODIES

Australian Law Reform Commission

FORMAL GROUPS: LAW REFORM BODIES

A Royal Commission is a body set up by the government (Commonwealth or State) to gather information about the operation of existing laws or to investigate any social, educational, or other matter. The commission has prescribed terms of reference and reports to the government on how any change might be achieved.

Example:

FORMAL GROUPS: ROYAL COMMISSIONS

FORMAL GROUPS: COMMISSION OF INQUIRY

Diff erence between Royal Commissions and Commission of Inquiry:

Specia l Commiss ions of Inqui ry are intended to operate separate ly f rom Royal Commiss ions . A l though both types of Commiss ion share many s imi lar i t ies , there are two main d iff erences. Fi rs t , i t i s the statutory duty of a Specia l Commiss ion of Inqui ry

“to make a report or reports to the Governor as to whether there is or was any ev idence or suffi cient ev idence warrant ing the prosecut ion of a specifi ed person for a specifi ed off ence.” 5 1

In other words, Specia l Commiss ions of Inqui ry are restr icted to inqui r ing into poss ib le off ences which may just i fy prosecut ion No such l imi tat ion is ev ident in the Royal Commiss ions Act 1923 and Royal Commiss ions can be employed for a wide range of purposes, inc luding making recommendat ions to government on matters of Po l icy. 5 2

The second main d iff erence is that a Specia l Commiss ion of Inqui ry shal l ,   in the course of a publ ic hear ing,  only receive ev idence that , in the opin ion of the Commiss ioner , would be l ike ly to be admitted into ev idence in re levant cr iminal proceedings. 5 3  However , in the case of a Royal Commiss ion:

“There is no ru le of law which obl iges a Commiss ion. . . to observe the ru les o f ev idence appl icable in courts o f law and i t i s common for an inqui ry to refer to the fact that the ru les o f ev idence are not appl icable to i t .”

FORMAL GROUPS

Parliamentary Committees inquire into a particular matter and cease to exist upon the presentation of a report.

FORMAL GROUPS: PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES

Read page 39 to 55

TEXTBOOK