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Civil Liability and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018

On 15 November 2018, the Hon. Yvette D’Ath MP, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, introduced the Civil Liability and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018.  The Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee for detailed consideration. The committee tabled its report on 28 February 2019. The Bill was passed with amendment on 23 October 2019. 

 

View	Civil Liability and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018
View	Introductory speech
View	Explanatory Notes
View	Report
View	Debate of the Bill in Parliament 12 June 2019 - transcript (pages 1939 to 1947)
	Debate of the Bill in Parliament 22 October 2019 - transcript (pages 3431 to 3486)
	Debate of the Bill in Parliament 23 October 2019 - transcript (pages 3537 to 3556)
	The debate can be viewed by clicking on the movie icon within the transcript

The main objective of the Bill is to amend the Civil Liability Act 2003 (CL Act) in response to recommendations 91-94 of the Redress and Civil Litigation Report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.  It made recommendations for improving the capacity of the justice system to provide fair access and outcomes to survivors of child sexual abuse wishing to pursue a claim for civil damages for personal injury arising from the abuse.

The Bill includes amendments to the CL Act to:

• Introduce a reverse onus (applied prospectively) under which an institution must prove it took reasonable steps to prevent the sexual abuse of a child in its care by a person associated with the institution to avoid legal liability for the abuse (reverse onus amendments); and

• Establish a statutory framework for the nomination of a proper defendant by an unincorporated institution to meet any liability incurred by the institution (proper defendant amendments).

The Bill also includes an amendment to section 64 of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 with the objective of ensuring that a person under a legal incapacity may recover the cost of trustee management fees in the award of damages for wrongful death of a member of the person’s family.

Committee Report

Related information

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Timeline

Submissions:	Closed
Public briefing:	Monday, 3 December 2018 - transcript
Public hearing:	Monday, 11 February 2019 - transcript
Report due date:	Thursday, 28 February 2019 - report