Weisbrot, David --- "Comment" [2003] ALRCRefJl 1; (2003) 82 Australian Law Reform Commission Reform Journal 1

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Reform Issue 82 Autumn 2003

This article appeared on pages 1 & 71 of the original journal.

Comment

Professor David Weisbrot

Over the past few months, the ALRC has held two functions in its new offices that have caused us to reflect on the past work of the Commission. The first was our office opening in December 2002, performed by the federal Attorney-General, the Hon Daryl Williams, at which we unveiled a display of documents and photos from the founding of the Commission in 1975. The second was the re-dedication of the ALRC’s Michael Kirby Library in February 2003, with Justice Kirby — the foundation Chairman of the ALRC from 1975–1984 — speaking on the ‘winning formula’ of the ALRC.

Justice Kirby’s winning formula had ten ingredients which explain the success of the Commission as an institution. Many of these were unique ingredients, commenced during Justice Kirby’s chairmanship, and continued through to the operations of today’s ALRC.

As I write, the ALRC is busy finalising its report (with the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council) on the Protection of Human Genetic Information. The ALRC and AHEC have spent just over two years on this joint Inquiry. I believe that the Genetic Information report will be one of the stand-out reports produced by the ALRC, joining those on Human Tissue Transplants, Aboriginal Customary Law, Evidence, Privacy, Managing Justice, Admiralty, and Insolvency (the Harmer Report). It is interesting to note that a number of the elements that have made these past reports so well reputed can also be found in our current Inquiry.

The Issues Paper and Discussion Paper produced for the Genetic Information Inquiry already have received strong positive feedback from around Australia and from overseas, particularly for the quality of the writing and the depth of the research in this ground-breaking area. Much time was spent ensuring that the ALRC and AHEC had a thorough understanding of how current laws and procedures operate in practice, whether it be the processing of a life insurance application, the approval of genetic research by a human research ethics committee, or the realities of life in a laboratory.

The ALRC and AHEC also have ensured widespread consultation on this important topic which has the potential to affect so many people. Some 213 meetings have been held around Australia, including open public meetings in each capital city and a few regional centres, and 315 submissions have been received.

The final report — which we expect to become public after tabling in May 2003 — contains much of the same in-depth research found in the consultation papers, combined with findings from submissions and consultations, to inform the recommendations for change made by the ALRC and AHEC. It is likely to become compulsory reading for government officers, researchers, insurers, employers, law enforcement officials, public health administrators, and students working in this field for years to come.

The team established to undertake the project was not dissimilar to those teams that worked on ALRC projects in the 1970s and 80s. A full-time Commissioner was responsible for pulling together a team of Commissioners and staff, as well as working closely with AHEC as our joint partner on the project. We also had valuable help from the Advisory Committee and the Law Enforcement Working Group established at the start of the Inquiry, each of which consisted of experts drawn from various fields of relevance to the Inquiry.

One of the things that will make this Genetic Information report a ‘must read’ for years to come is that it comprehensively covers a field that has not been previously considered in such detail. This is inevitable with a field like human genetics, which involves the interaction of rapidly advancing science and technology with existing law and practice. However, the same comprehensive coverage can be said of the majority of ALRC reports, whether they have examined criminal investigations, insolvency, children in the legal process, or marine insurance. As noted by Justice Kirby, the thorough analysis of the law contained in ALRC reports is why judges — as well as lawyers, government officers, academics and students — consider them authoritative and refer to them with confidence.

I look forward to the new inquiry on gene patenting, which will also take the ALRC into an area of cutting edge science and technology, and critical issues of legal and social policy. In so doing, we will again use the law reform techniques which have stood the ALRC in good stead since they were pioneered by Justice Kirby.