Allingham, Tony --- "TAS Law Reform Report" [1996] ALRCRefJl 18; (1996) 69 Australian Law Reform Commission Reform Journal 51

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ALRC Reform 69

TASMANIAN LAW REFORM COMMISSIONER

Model Criminal Code

Evidence

Charitable Collections

Debt Recovery and Enforcement

Police Offences

Uniform Succession Project

The Law Reform Commissioner is Professor Don Chalmers from the School of Business and Law at the University of Tasmania. He was appointed in 1991, having been a member of the previous Law Reform Commission from 1982-1987. His Acting Executive Officer is Tony Allingham. The Commissioner is currently working on six pojects.

Model Criminal Code

The Commissioner continues to monitor the work of the Model Criminal Code Officers Committee of the Standing Committee of Attorneys General.

Evidence

The Commissioner in conjunction with his Committee on Evidence, has completed a comprehensive review of the Uniform Evidence Act and has recently circulated a Draft Report for comment. The Draft Report recommends enacting the Uniform Act together with some supplementary legislation to pick up some extra provisions, for example provisions to allow children and other special witnesses to give evidence via closed circuit television. The current intention is that the final report should go to the Attorney-General by mid-1996.

Charitable Collections

This reference concerns the regulation of the collection of money and goods for charitable purposes and, in particular, whether the law should require public disclosure of the distribution of proceeds. It is in its final stages and it is likely that the Commissioner's report will go to the AttorneyGeneral by mid-1996.

Debt Recovery and Enforcement

A Discussion Report has been issued and distributed to finance industry representatives, consumer advocates and relevant persons, organisations and agencies with an interest in this area of the law. A final report is expected shortly.

Police Offences

Work is still proceeding to review Parts II, III, IV, IVA, V and VI of the Police Offences Act 1935 (Tas), which concern a wide range of criminal offences from drunkenness, vagrancy and opium smoking through to assault and offences of dishonesty. Particular attention is to be paid to the desirability of retaining the offence provisions contained within the specified Parts in their present statutory form, updating those offences or repealing them. Numerous submissions have been received and it is hoped to have a final report to the Attorney-General shortly.

Uniform Succession Project

The Commissioner is the Attorney-General's nominee as Tasmania's representative on this Project. In conjunction with expert consultant Ken Mackie and an expert committee, papers have been prepared on wills and family provision. The project is continuing and will probably take several years to complete.

Tony Allingham

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