This bill, passed by both houses on 25 June 2015, concerns bankruptcy, family law, and defining National Library material as part of the legal deposit scheme including the protection of movable cultural heritage.
Purpose of the Bill
As an omnibus Bill, the Civil Law and Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 (the Bill) has a number of purposes. These include:
amending the Bankruptcy Act 19661 to: – allow the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (Official Trustee) to act as a special trustee for a wider range of government agencies – provide that support (in the form of property or cash) provided by the National Disability Insurance Scheme is not divisible in bankruptcy – expand the offence of concealment to include electronic financial transactions – clarify the demarcation between indictable and summary offences (in line with the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)) and – clarify the locus or place where certain offences occur.
amend the International Arbitration Act 19742 (the Arbitration Act) to clarify the retrospective application of that Act to certain arbitral agreements prior to 6 July 2010
amend the Family Law Act 19753 (the FLA) to: – enable information provided as part of proceedings (in particular, experts reports) to be shared with state/territory child welfare authorities and – provide appeal rights in relation to court security orders.
amend the Court Security Act 20134 (the CSA) to allow for applications to vary or revoke court security orders
amend the Evidence Act 19955 (the Commonwealth Evidence Act) in relation to self-incrimination certificates, as well as making minor amendments that mirror provisions in the Model Uniform Evidence Bill
amend the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 19866 (the PMCH Act) to allow the continued functioning of the National Cultural Heritage Committee despite falls in membership numbers
amend the Copyright Act 19687 to extend the existing legal deposit scheme to electronic format
