Call for Proposals

The Tasmania Law Reform Institute was established as a joint initiative of the State Government, the University of Tasmania and the Law Society of Tasmania. The Institute calls for submissions as to specific areas of the law considered to be in need of reform.

The functions and objectives of the Institute include the review of laws with a view to –

• the modernisation of the law;
• the elimination of defects in the law;
• the simplification of the law;
• the consolidation of any laws;
• the repeal of laws that are obsolete or unnecessary; and
• uniformity between laws of other States and the Commonwealth.

The Institute may receive proposals for law reform or research projects from the judiciary, the Attorney-General, the Legal Aid Commission, government departments, the Parliament, the legal profession, members of the community and community groups.

Submissions should be in writing and as detailed as possible. If it is impractical to make your proposal in writing please contact us to make other arrangements.

Proposals will be considered by the Board of the Institute with a view to undertaking a law reform project.

Due to funding and staff constraints, we are only able to commence a new community law reform project once every one to two years.

Selection criteria are used to assess the suitability of community law reform proposals received. These criteria are applied to determine which projects will be undertaken. The criteria are that the project must:

• relate to Tasmanian law;
• be of limited scope;
• be capable of being completed within the Institute’s available resources;
• benefit a significant proportion of the population, or a significantly disadvantaged proportion of the population;
• have some prospect of successful implementation; and
• not already be under review by government or Parliament.