Information about the Inquiry

Access to Justice (Federal Jurisdiction) Amendment Bill 2011

Information about the Inquiry

On 25 November 2011 the Senate referred the Access to Justice (Federal Jurisdiction) Amendment Bill 2011 for inquiry and report.

The Bill amends the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975, the Family Law Act 1975, the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, the Federal Magistrates Act 1999 and the Judiciary Act 1903 to, among other things, enhance the Federal Court's powers concerning discovery; implement in all four federal courts the model bill of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General concerning suppression orders and non-publication orders; and  implement in all four federal courts the SCAG model bill concerning vexatious proceedings.

Submissions should be received by 31 January 2012. The reporting date is 22 March 2012. On 22 March 2012,the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 29 March 2012.

The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.

Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:

Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3560 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5794 or by email to legcon.sen@aph.gov.au.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.

Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.


For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone:+61 2 6277 3560
Fax:+61 2 6277 5794
Email:legcon.sen@aph.gov.au