On 2 March 2023, the Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, convened a national Roundtable (Roundtable) 1 with key stakeholders across all sectors of the personal insolvency system to better understand the pressure points and potential key areas for reform. The Roundtable brought together 24 organisations from a wide range of sectors with an interest in personal insolvency, including credit, finance, accounting, legal sectors and consumer groups. The Roundtable provided an...
Closes 29 September 2023
The Australian Government is committed to improving the family law system so that it is accessible, safer, simpler to use, and delivers justice and fairness for all Australian families. The Government wants to make sure separating couples can better understand the decision-making framework used in family law to resolve their property and financial matters confidently and safely. The release of the draft Family Law Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2023 (the exposure draft) is an opportunity to...
Closes 10 November 2023
On 22 September 2023 the Attorney-General announced the Australian Government’s response to the Final Report of the 2015 statutory review of the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (the Whittaker Review). The Whittaker Review made 394 recommendations with the overarching objective of simplifying the personal property securities (PPS) framework. The government has developed a comprehensive reform package in response to these recommendations, which includes amendments to the Personal...
Closes 17 November 2023
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Why we are consulting The Australian Government has...
Closed 17 September 2023
In March 2022, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) Sub-Committee on Accreditation (the sub-committee) deferred the re-accreditation of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) as an ‘A’ status National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) for 18 months on the basis...
Closed 22 August 2023
Please read the following information carefully before starting the survey. The Guidelines for NGOs: Working with trafficked people (NGO Guidelines) were developed by members of the National Roundtable on Human Trafficking and Slavery to help non-government organisations working with people...
Closed 20 August 2023
See what we've consulted on. See all outcomes
In July 2023, we sought public submissions for a proposal to amend the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and the Statutory Declarations Regulations 2018 to introduce new ways of executing Commonwealth statutory declarations.
The framework would allow a Commonwealth statutory declaration to be executed in any of the following ways:
We received written submissions from a range of stakeholders, including interest groups, academics and individuals. Stakeholders noted that the proposal would provide options for making statutory declarations that will increase accessibility for all Australians, regardless of their circumstances.
Stakeholders generally noted that electronic execution can save individuals and small businesses time and money, that the temporary measures have worked effectively, and that the COVID temporary measures should be retained. Stakeholders were also strongly of the opinion that the traditional, paper-based method be retained.
The digital option was also well received. Stakeholders noted the reform would have the following benefits:
The digital option was seen to reduce the risk of invalid declarations (e.g. failure to comply with the formalities). The ability to leverage an individual’s established digital identity with appropriate protections would also result in welcome efficiencies and flexibility, saving time and money. Some stakeholders supported the digital option, provided that there were appropriate privacy protections, data security, and fraud detection and prevention measures.
Thank you to all who provided a response.
The input we received made a substantial contribution to the development of the final proposed reform, including a number of safeguards that will address the issues raised by stakeholders.
The Attorney-General introduced the Statutory Declarations Amendment Bill 2023 into the House of Representatives on 7 September 2023. Access the Bill and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum on the Australian Parliament House website.
The Administrative Review Taskforce (Taskforce) conducted public consultation on reform to the administrative review system between April and May 2023. An Issues Paper was published seeking views on the development of a new federal administrative review body. The Issues Paper asked 67 questions on a wide range of matters relating to the design of the new federal administrative review body.
We sought public input through:
During the consultation period, we spoke with:
We received 287 short survey responses and 120 submissions in response to the Issues Paper.
Feedback provided through the public consultation is being used to inform the development of legislation and to plan the implementation of the new federal administrative review body.
The Expert Advisory Group, chaired by former High Court Justice, the Hon. Patrick Keane AC KC, has considered the results of consultation to inform their advice to government on the reform.
The Administrative Review Taskforce (Taskforce) conducted public consultation on reform to the administrative review system between April and May 2023. An Issues Paper was published seeking views on the development of a new federal administrative review body. The Issues Paper asked 67 questions on a wide range of matters relating to the design of the new federal administrative review body.
We sought public input through:
During the consultation period, we spoke with:
We received 287 short survey responses and 120 submissions in response to the Issues Paper.
Feedback provided through the public consultation is being used to inform the development of legislation and to plan the implementation of the new federal administrative review body.
The Expert Advisory Group, chaired by former High Court Justice, the Hon. Patrick Keane AC KC, has considered the results of consultation to inform their advice to government on the reform.