01.04.2010
Consultation Paper to be released late April
The Consultation Paper for the Family Violence Inquiry will be released late April. It will be available on CDROM, as a PDF (via the ALRC website) and in HTML (via the AustLII website). A hard copy of the report will be available soon after. Given the importance of the subject matter, its complexity, the breadth of the Terms of Reference, and the need to provide the evidence base for our proposals, it will be a substantial paper.
In order to facilitate stakeholder participation and timely responses, the ALRC will simultaneously release a summary document. This will contain all the questions and proposals on which the Commissions are seeking comments and is intended to help streamline the submission writing process for you. We encourage you to use the summary document to frame your submissions and comments to us. As part of our ongoing reflections on our own practices, please tell us if this helps your involvement!
Make a submisison
Submissions are due early June – exact date to be advised in the Consultation Paper and by e-newsletter.
It will be possible to make submissions in several different formats:
1. Write a submission and email or post it to the ALRC
2. Use our online web form to complete a guided question-by-question submission
3. Submit general comments using the online comment box
4. Join our blog to make comments and discuss the consultation summary paper in a public arena
N.B The ALRC will publish a list of formal submissions received, both on our website and in our publications, so please remember to mark your submissions as CONFIDENTIAL if you want them to be treated as such.
The Commissions must submit the Final Report to the Commonwealth Attorney-General by the end of July and this means that any late submissions received may not be able to be considered by the Commissions in preparing the final recommendations for reform.
Planned consultations in April / May
Once the consultation paper has been completed, the ALRC and NSWLRC are planning to visit a number of states and territories and to organise further consultations on the proposals contained in the paper. We will be travelling to Brisbane in late April, to Western Australia and the Northern Territory at the beginning of May and to Townsville at the end of May. We are also planning to hold consultations in Melbourne, the ACT and Tasmania. In putting the consultation paper together the Commissions have already held over 50 consultations with a number of people and organisations from across the legal, community and judicial sectors.
Hilary Astor appointed Commissioner to the NSW Law Reform Commission
Professor of Law at the University of Sydney, Hilary Astor, has been appointed full-time Commissioner of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission for a three-year term. During her career, Professor Astor served as Associate Professor of Law at the University of Sydney (1994–1997) and since 1997 has held the position of Professor of Dispute Resolution at the same university. She also has extensive experience in teaching and research at universities in Australia and abroad including Brunel University, the University of British Columbia, the London School of Economics and Cardiff University. Professor Astor has extensively published in the areas of dispute resolution and mediation and was the inaugural Chair of National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council (NADRAC). Throughout her career she has worked on projects with state and federal governments, judicial officers and members of the legal profession, including the Australian Law Reform Commission. Professor Astor will be joining the Family Violence reference team as a Joint Commissioner for the Family Violence reference.