Committees,+commissions,+advisory+bodies

=Agencies of law reform - Parliamentary Committees, Royal Commissions, Permanent Advisory Bodies=

Law reform can be brought about in different ways. Often Parliament creates new legislation or ammends existing law where it sees a need. To investigate the existing law and the research the changes that need to be made, Paliaments can set up committees to investigate these issues but for major reforms, reform commissions on either the Federal or State levels.

Established in 1975 as a permanent and full time commission to advice on law reform to the Australian government. The ALRC's responsibilities and authority is outlined by the Australian Law Reform Commission Act 1996 (Cwth). This act states that the ALRC's role is to: • simplify and modernise the law • harmonise and complement state and territory laws • systematically develop and reform law • improve access to justice • remove obsolete or unnecessary laws • eliminate defects and anachronisms in the law, and • consolidate, codify (put into legislation) and revise the common law. The ALRC is supposed to be completely independant and not influenced by the governement once the Attorney General has directed the Commission on the area of law that needs to be reformed. Once the Commission has come to recommendations, they report these back to the Attorney General to be considered by Parliament. The commission has a duty to not unduly interfere with any individuals rights and liberties and to comply with the provisions of the International Cvenant on Civil and Political Rights.
 * The Australian Law Reform Commission**

The ALRC has recently investigated areas usch ad the treatment of children and young people in the legal process, for example there recent report titled "Children and Young People". These areas are prominant in the media and the community tends to have a strong interest in them. The vigurous debate that can then be had is very beneficial to the process because opinions from many aspects of society are heard and considered which makes the reforms more widely acceptable. The nature of the final report that the ALRC submitts means that it presents all views on the matter, which makes the process more transperant and Parliament can consider them all.

The Law Reform Commission of New South Wales operates in very much the same way as the ALRC except it only is able to consider reforms of laws which operate within the State. The NSWLRC was actually the first permanent law reform commission to exist in Australia. Recently many of their reports have concerned issues of privacy, and what information must be disclosed and what could be considered an invasion of privacy.
 * Law Reform Commisision of New South Wales**

There are many different Parliaments in Australia and all of them have up to several committees who's role it is to investigate issues that are of concern to the community that parliament makes laws for. They then can make recommendations about law reforms. The advantage of Parliamentary committees over other reform agencies is the inclusion of members of Parliament representing the different political parties. This means that compromises can be made at this level to ensure the law will be passed when it reaches Parliament as a bill. Experts in the field which committee is investigating are also called in.
 * Parliamentary Committees**

A Royal Commission is set up by the government to investigate a very specific area of the law. A retired judge or legal expert generally heads the Commission and it is generally, but not always named after this person. The Royal Commissions Act 1902 (Cwth) gives the government the power to instigate these commissions on any matter. Royal Commissioners have a great deal of power. For example the Food For Oil Inquiry the Royal Commission had the power to require federal ministers and even the Prime Minister of the time John Howard, to give evidence. The Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission was very recent and alot of evidence was heard from individuals within the community as well as experts. Both of these commissions were instigated in response to issues that the public and media was very vocal about. These Commissions often take a very long time to come to their conclusions because of the large volumes of evidence they are considering.
 * Royal Commissions**

These a permanent bodies established by governments on either Federal or State levels to moniter, and propose changes to an area of law. Unlike many of the other commission already mentioned, many of these permanent advisory missions are not required to submit a report to Parliament but rather many, such as the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research publicise their findings directly. This ensures transparency and the public are easily able to access this information. Often this information is then used when different parties are lobbying the government for change and the media often uses it to support their research and campaigns.
 * Permanent Advisory Bodies**