Tasmania Law Reform Institute

Open for consultation now

The Institute has been asked by the Attorney-General to review the Coroners Act 1995 (Tas) and related rules, procedures and practices of the Magistrates Court (Coronial Division). The Institute has released an issues paper (PDF 3.3 MB) for consultation and is community consultations are now open. For more information, visit our consultation page.

Background

The Tasmanian Government has committed to implementing all recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings (the Commission). Recommendation 16 provides, in part, that:

The Sentencing Advisory Council should periodically review trends in sentencing for child sexual abuse offences in Tasmania and compare them with sentencing outcomes for equivalent offences in other Australian jurisdictions.

The Tasmania Law Reform Institute (TLRI) is collaborating with the Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) to produce the first report on sentencing for child sexual abuse offences in Tasmania. This report will serve as a ‘capstone’ document for subsequent reports produced by SAC.

Objectives of capstone document

1. Clearly explain to the Tasmanian community that the numbers of offenders being sentenced for Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) offences is unlikely to be a meaningful indicator of the actual rate of CSA offending in the community.
2. Summarise international evidence regarding recidivism rates for CSA offenders (which tend to be much lower than the community might expect).
3. Describe the evidence concerning the deterrent effect of increasing sentences for potential CSA offenders.
4. List key data sources that SAC will draw upon and the processes it will use to extract them efficiently. This will consider whether sufficient quantitative data can be obtained from Department of Justice or other accessible databases, including changes required in data capture. It will also consider the approach to obtaining qualitative data from Supreme Court sentencing comments.
5. Identify the predominant sentencing principles that have been articulated by the Tasmanian Supreme Court.
6. Provide a sound rationale for how frequently SAC will review trends (i.e. more specific than ‘periodically’).
7. Determine whether SAC’s monitoring system will include any sentencing data on CSA offending committed by young people above the age of criminal responsibility.
8. Determine how SAC should report on sentencing trends relating to online sexual offending against children, including producing, distributing child sexual abuse material. Because of the operation of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth), SAC will need to consider and report on sentencing guidelines that operate in that sphere.
9. Articulate SAC’s approach to analysing and reporting sentencing data.
10. Develop and describe a process for comparing Tasmanian data with data from other jurisdictions. This will necessitate: a clear explanation of important differences that exist between jurisdictions that complicate comparisons; and an explanation of the predominant sentencing principles that the Courts articulate in sentencing for CSA. This will need to be captured for Tasmania as part of the comparative model.

Background

The Associations Incorporation Act 1964 (Tas) regulates associations incorporated in Tasmania. This legal structure is widely used by not‑for‑profit organisations, community‑based groups, and sporting clubs. There are almost 4,000 such registered incorporations in Tasmania.

Establishing an incorporated association is relatively straightforward. However, ensuring the organisation’s ongoing success is more challenging.

The legislative framework under the Associations Incorporation Act 1964 (Tas) compounds the difficulties faced by committee members and exposes incorporated associations, and potentially individual committee members, to risk. Notably, Tasmania is the only Australian jurisdiction that has not articulated clearly stated statutory duties for committee members that are easy to locate and understand.

Scope of the project

The project will examine:

1. The adequacy of the Associations Incorporation Act 1964 (Tas)in recognising the committee of an Incorporated Association and articulating the obligations of committee members.
2. The adequacy of the Associations Incorporation Act 1964 (Tas)to provide a statement of duties of committee members.

The TLRI will analyse relevant international literature and undertake a cross‑jurisdictional comparison to identify effective statutory frameworks and models operating in other jurisdictions that promote good practice among incorporated associations. The TLRI will also consult with relevant Australian agencies and accounting professionals in Tasmania.