Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Justices of the Peace) Amendment Bill 2013

Objective of the Bill

The objective of the Bill is to enable the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), for certain types of matters, to be constituted by two justices of the peace, one of whom must be a lawyer.

The Bill will enable the conduct of a trial of the expansion of the role of justices of the peace to hear minor civil disputes, excluding disputes with a value of more than $5,000 and urgent residential tenancies matters, in QCAT.

The trial will be conducted over six months commencing June 2013 at Brisbane, Ipswich, Southport, Maroochydore and Townsville. The objectives of the trial are to:

  • reduce the average time taken to finalise all minor civil dispute applications and improve the clearance rate for all minor civil dispute applications in the trial sites;
  • reduce the cost of hearing minor civil dispute applications in the trial scope; 
  • enable QCAT adjudicators, judicial registrars (who act as QCAT adjudicators in regional areas) and magistrates (who act as QCAT members in regional areas) to deal with more complex matters;
  • recognise the substantial voluntary contribution of JPs to the community and provide opportunities to improve, develop, and expand their role; and
  • contribute to Government commitments to improve the administration of Queensland’s justice system and frontline services for Queenslanders.

Other information

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Justices of the Peace) Amendment Bill 2013 and the Explanatory Notes are available from the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The Hansard transcript of the Explanatory Speech for the Bill can be found here.

Reasons for the Bill

Further information, including the reasons for the Bill, appear in the Explanatory Notes.

Referral

On 19 March 2013, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Hon Jarrod Bleijie MP, introduced the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Justices of the Peace) Amendment Bill 2013 into the Queensland Parliament.

In accordance with Standing Order 131 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, the Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (the Committee) for detailed consideration.

By resolution of the Committee of the Legislative Assembly, the Committee was required to report to the Parliament by 24 April 2013.

Report

On 24 April 2013, the Committee tabled its Report No. 28, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Justices of the Peace) Amendment Bill 2013. A copy of the report is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Government tabled its response to the Committee's report on 30 April 2013. A copy of the Government Response is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Justices of the Peace) Amendment Bill 2013 was passed by the Legislative Assembly on 30 April 2013.

Call for submissions

Submissions closed on 5 April 2013.

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