Page 3837 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 October 1991
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Complaints about the way in which legislation is drafted and amended are not new. Edward VI once said:
I would wish that ... the superfluous and tedious statutes were brought into one sum together, and made more plain and short, to the intent that men might better understand them ...
Of course, these days we would say "men and women might better understand them", but the point is clear. The finding of this review, that ACT Acts are often overamended and fragmented through delayed commencement, echoes those statements.
The commencement of self-government in the ACT should lead to the creation of relevant new legislation rather than encourage the adherence to outdated and perhaps unsuitable legislation which is kept functional through repeated amendment. This review indicates a preparedness to look to new legislation as an answer.
A process of thorough examination and reform of style and structure would not only make legislation easier to follow and use but also enable changes within legal, sociological and political thought to be adopted and reflected in the new legislation. Legislation has an important role to play in terms of bringing about social change, and the progressive nature of this review, as illustrated through the consideration of such things as Aboriginal customary law, is most promising in that regard. This progress, coupled with the elimination of outdated and irrelevant laws, would create excellence within the ACT legislation and minimise the extent to which legislation impacts negatively upon the community.
This review is not simply designed to highlight problems inherent within the structure of ACT legislation to enable improvements to be made and accessibility of the legislation improved, although this is a valuable and necessary function which it fulfils. It will also serve as a framework for a comprehensive and systematic program in which progressive reforms can be identified and adopted. Laws which present difficulties for a particular group, such as business or community bodies, can be focused upon and the perceived difficulties can be resolved.
The review program will enable the ACT to identify unimplemented reforms of the major law reform bodies which should be adopted in the ACT, as well as reforms of the States and the Northern Territory which are found to be of potential value to the ACT. Whilst this initial review has identified a failure to readily adopt the reforms of other jurisdictions, one should not draw from this a direction to
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