Australia’s origins in law are in English common law, where a common set of laws ensured consistency in process and principles across the country.
Australia’s modern legal system consists of three separate parts:
Common law is not the only source of law. Statute law or “legislation” is created by parliaments who present new laws (Bills) which are debated and voted on.
Watch the video about the Australian Legal System. It examines the Australian legal system, how the state and Federal parliaments make laws and how courts interpret those laws. There is a discussion of indigenous law resulting from the Mabo and Wik cases.
What is Constitutional Law? In this Big Ideas TV show (14/08/13) Paul Barclay from ABC Radio discusses the relevance of our Constitution with Professor George Williams, Samah Hadid, Tanya Hosch, and Jeffrey Bleich.
More videos:
Parliament can respond to calls from the community for change to laws through consultation processes, votes or referendums, parliamentary committees, Royal Commissions held after an event.
Click on the links below for more information about Law Reform:
http://www.alrc.gov.au/ - The Australian Law Reform Commission is a federal agency set up to review Australia’s laws.
http://www.lawreform.vic.gov.au/ - The Victorian Law Reform Commission is an independent, government funded organisation established to improve and update Victorian Laws.