8.2 What is law reform?

The law is continually changing. Statutes are frequently amended, and case law evolves and adapts. Often the changes relate to more technical or formal matters and are intended to help the law work more effectively or more efficiently. Sometimes the changes, especially to statutory law, can be more substantive and reflect a change in the policy or values that the law is seeking to serve. Unsurprisingly, there are often intense debates about how the law should be changed. Those debates can take place in all sorts of forums, and the kinds of contributions to those debates can vary considerably.

A very important part of the law reform process is the various bodies whose role includes making recommendations for law reform. Most jurisdictions in Australia have their own law reform commissions, such as the Victorian Law Reform Commission and the Australian Law Reform Commission. These bodies stand at arm’s length from the government of the day. There are also many parliamentary committees, at state and federal level, that conduct inquiries into issues and often make recommendations for law reform. There can also be specific inquiries, such as royal commissions, created to review the law and practice in certain areas. The royal commission into the banking sector by Kenneth Hayne, a former Justice of the High Court, which took place from 2017 to 2019, is one of many examples. Many of these reviews and inquiries produce reports which make recommendations for changes to practice or the law or both.