means of influencing law reform

Question 1

What are the means of influencing law reform?

Answer 1

• petitions
• demonstrations
• use of the courts

Question 2

What is a petition?

Answer 2

A petition is a formal, written request to a member of parliament to create a law or amend an outdated or unjust law, signed by those who support it

Question 3

How is the petition accepted?

Answer 3

Most petitions are processed as e-petitions, and can be submitted to both houses of
parliament (Cth and Vic).

More commonly submitted to the lower house, and then will be tabled to parliament by the sponsoring member (Vic) or the petitions committee (Cth)

Petitions can then be referred to the relevant Minister for response.

Question 4

Strengths of petitions

Answer 4

• relatively simple, easy & inexpensive (eg. e-petitions)
• generate public awareness of an issue
• shows direct support for a view
• can easily get attention from politicians

Question 5

Weaknesses of petitions

Answer 5

• parliament has no obligation to act, especially due to large number of petitions
• if gov don’t support petition, unlikely bill on this issue will pass lower house
• not as publically visible as other methods (eg. demonstrations)
• hard to legitimise the petition- following the strict rules set by parliament

Question 6

Example of a petition

Answer 6

2022 #raisetheage e-petition: done to convince raising the age of crim. responsibility from 10 to 14 years. It was received by former Legislative Council member Fiona Patten, who used it to generate media interest in the issue and referred to it in question time.

Question 7

What are demonstrations?

Answer 7

A gathering of members of the community in a public place to alert parliament of a needed change in the law, and to show the participants’ support of the legislative change.

Question 8

Strengths of demonstrations

Answer 8

• likely to gain media attention
• increases public awareness
• effort required shows strength of their views
• more visual and attention grabbing (especially to members of parliament)

Question 9

Weaknesses of demonstrations

Answer 9

• sometimes very time-consuming, costly & difficult to organise
• can be disruptive/violent- leading to negative media attention focusing on the disruption rather than the issue
• may focus on an injustice/issue that cannot be changed by Parliament (eg. in another country)

Question 10

Example of demonstrations

Answer 10

26th Jan each year: change the date movement to protest the Australia day movements (raises community awareness)

Question 11

What are the two ways the courts can influence law reform?

Answer 11

• Challenging an existing law in a superior court can clarify a vague or unclear law. For example, courts can expand or limit the meaning of legislation through statutory interpretation. Even if a court challenge is unsuccessful, it may gain significant media coverage that may generate community interest in the decision and the possible need to change a law.
• Judges can rule that legislation made outside the power of the parliament (ultra vires) is invalid.

Question 12

What are the strengths of the courts?

Answer 12

• Unbiased experts make decisions
• Fair hearing for both sides of the debate
• Precedents slowly update the law based on real disputes
• Courts must deal with issues presented
• Judges’ decisons and comments can encourage Parliament to change the law

Question 13

What are the weaknesses of the courts?

Answer 13

• judicial conservatism-hard to convince judges to change the law
• unelected judges may not neccesarily represent community views and values
• time consuming & expensive
• law made by courts can be abrogated (except for High Court in constitutional disputes)