1Name of Act
This Act may be cited as the Law Reform Commission Act
1967.
2Definitions
In this Act, unless the context or subject matter
otherwise indicates or requires:
Chairperson means the Chairperson
of the Commission.
Commission means the Law Reform
Commission constituted under this Act.
Commissioner means a
commissioner appointed under section 3 and includes the
Chairperson.
Reference means a reference
referred to in section 10.
s 2: Am 1981 No 1,
Sch 1 (1).
3Constitution of the Commission
(1)
There shall be a Law Reform Commission which
shall have and may exercise the powers, authorities, duties and functions
conferred and imposed upon it by this Act.
(2)
The Commission shall consist of a Chairperson
appointed by the Governor and not less than 2 other commissioners appointed by
the Governor.
(3)
A person is qualified to be appointed as the
Chairperson if he or she is a person who, in the opinion of the Minister, is
suitable for appointment by reason of:
(a)
being or having been the holder of a judicial
office,
(b)
experience as an Australian legal practitioner in
legal practice,
(c)
experience as a teacher of law,
or
(d)
academic attainment in
law.
(4)
A person is qualified to be appointed as a
commissioner, other than the Chairperson, if:
(a)
he or she is qualified to be appointed as the
Chairperson, or
(b)
he or she is a person who, in the opinion of the
Minister, is suitable for appointment by reason of the person’s special
qualifications, training or experience.
(5)
A qualification for appointment as the
Chairperson or a commissioner, other than the Chairperson, may be a
qualification obtained within New South Wales or outside New South Wales, or
partly within and partly outside New South Wales.
s 3: Am 1981 No 1,
Sch 1 (2); 2006 No 30, Sch 9.9.
3AFull-time and part-time commissioners
(1)
A commissioner shall, in accordance with the
instrument of appointment or reappointment, be a full-time commissioner or
part-time commissioner.
(2)
A commissioner appointed as a full-time
commissioner shall, except as provided by section 4 or except in so far as the
Minister otherwise approves in writing, devote the whole of his or her time to
the duties of the office.
s 3A: Ins 1981 No 1,
Sch 1 (3).
3BTerm of office
A commissioner shall, subject to this Act, be
appointed for such term, not exceeding 7 years, as is specified in the
instrument of appointment and is eligible for reappointment as a
commissioner.
s 3B: Ins 1981 No 1,
Sch 1 (3).
4Appointment of holders of judicial office as
commissioners
(1)
The appointment of a person who is the holder of
judicial office as a commissioner shall not, nor shall the person’s
service as a commissioner, affect the person’s tenure of that office or
the person’s rank, title, status, precedence, salary or other rights or
privileges as a holder of that office.
(2)
A person who is the holder of a judicial office
may, notwithstanding that the person is a commissioner, exercise powers as a
holder of that office, but while the person is a commissioner the person shall
not (unless otherwise provided by the instrument of appointment as
commissioner) be required to perform duties as a holder of that
office.
(3)
The service, as commissioner, of a holder of a
judicial office shall, for all purposes, be taken to be service as a holder of
that judicial office.
5Deputy Chairperson
(1)
The Governor may appoint a commissioner to be
Deputy Chairperson.
(2)
Subject to section 10 (2), the Deputy Chairperson
shall during the absence, illness or incapacity of the Chairperson or during
any vacancy in the office of the Chairperson have and may exercise the powers,
authorities, duties and functions conferred or imposed upon the Chairperson by
this Act.
s 5: Am 1981 No 1,
Schs 1 (4), 2 (1).
6, 7
s 6: Rep 1981 No 1,
Sch 1 (5).
s 7: Rep 1981 No 1,
Sch 2 (2).
8Remuneration, allowances, leave and
rights
(1)
A full-time commissioner, not being the holder of
a judicial office, is entitled to be paid remuneration in accordance with the
Statutory and Other Offices Remuneration Act
1975.
(2)
A part-time commissioner is entitled to be paid
such allowances and such fees as the Minister may from time to time determine
in respect of the part-time commissioner.
(2A)
The leave which may be granted to a full-time
commissioner, not being the holder of a judicial office, shall be as the
Minister may from time to time determine in respect of such
commissioners.
(3)
Where, by or under any Act, provision is made
requiring a person who is the holder of an office specified therein to devote
the whole of the person’s time to the duties of the office, or
prohibiting the person from engaging in employment outside the duties of the
office, the provision shall not operate to disqualify the person from holding
that office and also the office of a part-time
commissioner.
(4)
The office of a part-time commissioner shall, for
the purposes of any Act, be deemed not to be an office or place of profit
under the Crown.
(5)
The appointment of a commissioner, not being the
holder of a judicial office, shall, subject to this Act, be in accordance with
such terms and conditions as may be specified in the instrument of appointment
or as may be agreed upon by the Governor and the
commissioner.
(6)
The Government Sector
Employment Act 2013 does not apply to or in respect of the
appointment of a commissioner by the Governor and a person so appointed is
not, in the person’s capacity as a commissioner, subject to that Act
while the person holds office as a commissioner.
(7)
Schedule 1 has effect with respect to the
preservation of rights of certain persons on their appointment as full-time
commissioners.
s 8: Am 1976 No 4,
Sch 5. Subst 1981 No 1, Sch 1 (6). Am 1987 No 48, Sch 30; 2015 No 15, Sch 3.39
[1].
9Removal and vacation of office
(1)
The Governor may remove a commissioner, being the
holder of a judicial office, from office upon the address of both Houses of
Parliament, but not otherwise.
(2)
The Governor may remove a commissioner (not being
the holder of a judicial office) from office:
(a)
for inability, misbehaviour or failure to comply
with the terms and conditions of employment as a
commissioner,
(b)
if the commissioner, being a full-time
commissioner, engages, except in so far as the Minister otherwise approves in
writing, in any paid employment outside the duties of the
office,
(c)
if the commissioner becomes bankrupt, applies to
take the benefit of any law for the relief of bankrupt or insolvent debtors,
compounds with his or her creditors or makes an assignment of his or her
remuneration for their benefit,
(d)
if the commissioner becomes a temporary patient,
a continued treatment patient, a protected person or an incapable person
within the meaning of the Mental Health Act
1958 or a person under detention under Part 7 of that Act,
or
(e)
if the commissioner is convicted in New South
Wales of a crime or an offence which is punishable by imprisonment for 12
months or upwards, or the commissioner is convicted elsewhere than in New
South Wales of a crime or an offence which, if committed in New South Wales,
would be a crime or an offence so punishable.
(2A)
A commissioner may resign his or her office by
writing under his or her hand addressed to the Governor.
(2B), (3)
s 9: Am 1980 No 187,
Sch 1; 1981 No 1, Sch 1 (7); 1990 No 99, Sch 4.
10Powers and duties of Commission
(1)
The Commission, in accordance with any reference
to it made by the Minister:
(a)
shall consider the law, enacted or promulgated by
the Legislature of New South Wales or by any person under the authority of
that Legislature, with a view to, or for the purpose of:
(i)
eliminating defects and anachronisms in the
law,
(ii)
repealing obsolete or unnecessary
enactments,
(iii)
consolidating, codifying or revising the
law,
(iv)
simplifying or modernising the law by bringing it
into accord with current conditions,
(v)
adopting new or more effective methods for the
administration of the law and the dispensation of justice,
(vi)
systematically developing and reforming the
law,
(b)
shall consider proposals relating to matters in
respect of which it is competent for the Legislature of New South Wales or any
person under the authority of that Legislature to enact or promulgate laws,
and
(c)
may for the purposes of this section hold and
conduct such inquiries as it thinks fit.
(2)
For the purposes of any inquiry under this
section:
(a)
the Commission and the Chairperson shall have the
powers, authorities, protections and immunities conferred on a commissioner by
Division 1 of Part 2 of the Royal Commissions Act
1923, and that Act (section 13 and Division 2 of Part 2
excepted) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to any witness summoned by or
appearing before the Commission,
(b)
the provisions of Division 2 of Part 2 of that
Act (section 17 excepted) shall apply where the Chairperson or the Deputy
Chairperson, if he or she is a judge of the Supreme Court and is acting as
Chairperson, is presiding at the inquiry, and
(c)
the provisions of section 17 (1), (2) and (3) of
that Act shall apply where the Minister has, at any time, in, or in relation
to, the reference to which the inquiry relates, declared those provisions to
apply and where the commissioner presiding at the inquiry is a judge of the
Supreme Court.
s 10: Am 1981 No 1,
Schs 1 (8), 2 (3).
11
s 11: Am 1974 No 18,
Sch 1. Rep 1984 No 117, Sch 1 (1).
12Proceedings of the Commission
(1)
The Commission shall meet from time to time at
such places and times as the Chairperson directs.
(2)
The quorum for a meeting shall be two
commissioners.
(3)
The Chairperson shall preside at all meetings at
which the chairperson is present and, in the event of the votes being equal,
shall have a casting as well as a deliberative vote.
(4)
In the absence of the Chairperson and Deputy
Chairperson from a meeting the commissioners present shall choose one of
themselves to preside.
(5)
The Commission may regulate and conduct the
proceedings at its meetings as it thinks fit and shall keep minutes of those
proceedings.
(6)
Subject to this Act, the Commission may delegate
to any of the commissioners any of its powers, authorities, duties and
functions.
12ADivisions
(1)
The Chairperson may constitute a Division of the
Commission consisting of not less than 3 commissioners including, if the
Chairperson thinks fit, himself or herself, for the purposes of a reference or
any part, determined by the Chairperson, of a reference.
(2)
The Chairperson, if the chairperson thinks fit,
may, at any time, dissolve a Division constituted under subsection
(1).
(3)
A Division constituted under subsection (1)
shall, for the purposes of the reference or part in respect of which it is
constituted (including the making of any report on its work under the
reference or part), be deemed to be the Commission.
ss 12A–12C: Ins
1981 No 1, Sch 1 (9).
12BMeetings of Divisions
(1)
A meeting of a Division constituted under section
12A (1) shall be convened and presided over by the Chairperson or a member of
the Division specified for the purpose by the
Chairperson.
(2)
In the event of the absence from a meeting of a
Division of the member who, pursuant to subsection (1), is to preside, those
members of the Division who are present at the meeting may elect one of their
number to preside at the meeting.
(3)
The number of members who shall constitute a
quorum at any meeting of a Division is:
(a)
where the Division consists of an even number of
members—one-half of that number, or
(b)
where the Division consists of a number of
members that is not an even number—one-half of the even number next
above that number.
(4)
A question arising at a meeting of a Division
shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the members present and
voting.
(5)
If, at a meeting of a Division at which only 2
members are present, those members differ in opinion on a question, the member
presiding shall postpone the determination of the question to a meeting of the
Division at which more than 2 of the members of the Division are
present.
(6)
In the event of an equality of votes on a
question before a meeting of a Division at which more than 2 members are
present, the member presiding shall have a casting as well as a deliberative
vote.
ss 12A–12C: Ins
1981 No 1, Sch 1 (9).
12CProceedings not vitiated by vacancy
So long as there are 2 or more commissioners, no
act or proceeding of the Commission or any commissioner shall be vitiated by
reason only that, at the time when the act or proceeding was done, taken or
commenced, there was a vacancy in the office of any
commissioner.
ss 12A–12C: Ins
1981 No 1, Sch 1 (9).
13Reports
(1)
The Commission may from time to time and shall,
upon direction by the Minister, make an interim report on its work under any
reference.
(2)
The Commission shall at the end of its work under
any reference make a final report on its work under the
reference.
(3)
The Commission shall, as soon as practicable
after the thirtieth day of June in each year, make a report of the proceedings
of the Commission during the period of twelve months ending on that
day.
(4)
A report made by a Division of the Commission
constituted under section 12A (1) and signed by not less than 2 members of the
Division and a report (other than a report of a Division) made by the
Chairperson and one other commissioner shall be a report of the Commission for
the purposes of this Act.
(5)
The Commission shall furnish each of its reports
to the Minister. Any report furnished to the Minister must be tabled in each
House of Parliament within 14 sitting days after the Minister receives the
report.
(5A)
If a House of Parliament is not sitting when the
Minister seeks to lay a report before it, the Minister may present copies of
the report to the Clerk of the House concerned.
(5B)
The report:
(a)
is, on presentation and for all purposes, taken
to have been laid before the House, and
(b)
may be printed by authority of the Clerk of the
House, and
(c)
if so printed, is for all purposes taken to be a
document published by or under the authority of the House,
and
(d)
is to be recorded:
(i)
in the case of the Legislative Council, in the
Minutes of Proceedings of the Legislative Council, and
(ii)
in the case of the Legislative Assembly, in the
Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly,
on the first sitting day of the House after receipt of
the report by the Clerk.
(6)
The Minister or, with the approval in writing of
the Minister, the Commission may publish a report referred to in subsection
(1) or (2) before it is tabled in Parliament.
(7)
A report published pursuant to subsection (6)
shall, for the purposes of the Parliamentary Papers
(Supplementary Provisions) Act 1975, be deemed to have
been published under the authority of either House of
Parliament.
s 13: Am 1981 No 1,
Sch 1 (10); 1984 No 117, Sch 1 (2); 2009 No 37, Sch 1.7; 2011 No 8, Sch
1.5.
14Staff
Persons may be employed in the Public Service
under the Government Sector Employment Act
2013 to enable the Commission to exercise its
functions.
Note—
Section 59 of the Government
Sector Employment Act 2013 provides that the persons so
employed (or whose services the Commission makes use of) may be referred to as
officers or employees, or members of staff, of the
Commission.
s 14: Am 1981 No 1,
Schs 1 (11), 2 (4). Subst 2015 No 15, Sch 3.39 [2].
Sch: Rep 1981 No 1,
Sch 2 (5).