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Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Page: 1526

Mrs GRIGGS (Solomon) (16:10): I rise to speak on the Access to Justice (Federal Jurisdiction) Amendment Bill 2011. This is a bill to introduce amendments which have been generated by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. The provisions prepared by this committee relate to a model bill for procedural and jurisdictional matters relevant to the Federal Court and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The amendments are directed at changes in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1995, the Family Law Act 1975, the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976, the Federal Magistrates Act 1999 and the Judiciary Act 1993.

The amendments proposed by the bill aim to improve the functioning and efficiency of the discovery rules in civil proceedings specifically to provide more flexibility in costs orders and to allow pre-trial oral examination. They are also to implement the standing committee's model bill based on suppression and non-publication orders and to implement the standing committee's model bill concerning vexatious proceedings to align the jurisdictional limit of family law magistrates in WA with the Federal Magistrates Court and to provide more flexibility to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal when dealing with payment of fees.

The coalition supports measures to improve access to justice. As the member for Stirling said, the Howard government established the Federal Magistrates Court with the express desire to provide a low-cost forum for the uncomplicated and efficient determination of disputes. Any court proceedings, however, generate costs and delays. In the pursuit of justice, consistency of decisions and open justice, we recognise that the administration of justice includes a requirement for parties to disclose relevant information and materials, which often leads to costs and delays.

It is unfortunate that these processes can be abused by parties with a mind to intimidate, delay and financially out-shoot less well resourced litigants. Acceptance of this point therefore requires the court and tribunal rules to enable judges and arbiters the flexibility to detect, and the authority to prevent, such abuses. While existing rules provide some existing measures, this bill provides incremental assistance in terms of administration of justice to prevent the sidelining of matters by questions of process. The bill seeks to address some of the variance across Australian jurisdictions relevant to suppression and non-publication of orders. It has been suggested by stakeholders consulted in the preparation of this bill that some minor amendments to the suppression order regime and the explanatory memorandum in respect of WA family magistrates are necessary.

As I have said, the coalition supports the measures to improve the process of justice and rules designed to further progress open justice, including measures to improve access to justice with cost-efficiency. While we broadly support the measures introduced by this bill, the coalition reserves the right to introduce amendments to the bill in the Senate pending the outcome of the Senate committee's recommendations.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I call the Attorney-General for her summing up. In doing so, I would like to congratulate her on her promotion to that position.