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Most Law Reform Commission websites, including the QLRCs, detail the current
projects being undertaken, with links to papers published and contact details for
further inquiries or comments. Most importantly, websites provide free electronic
access to recent publications and a facility to order hard copies of recent publications
for free, or earlier publications for a minimal fee. Invitations to make submissions
and the facility to do so electronically are also on the QLRC website. Such websites
differ in complexity: the QLRCs website is quite simple.33
The success of a website lies not just in the amount of interest it generates but in the
fact that it is an excellent aid to the allocation of limited resources. People visit the
website who have already been made aware of references by other means (usually
news media). They can access working papers, read the terms of references and the
key issues, without as had been done in the past contacting the Commission itself
to post or fax working papers. The development of the QLRC website has
significantly reduced the amount of work that the Commission must do in responding
to requests for papers. It is not, however, interactive in the sense that the
eDemocracy and other community consultation websites referred to earlier are, and
it would require major additional resources to make it so.
3.5 Consultation Initiatives
Victoria and New South Wales have Community Law Reform Programs an
initiative of those Law Reform Commissions in which members of the community
and community organisations are invited to make suggestions to the Commissions
about laws that create difficulties or need to be simplified or modernised. Such
programs have looked at a variety of matters including insurance law, conscientious
objection to jury service, liability for injuries caused by dogs, and neighbour disputes.
These Commissions undertake a preliminary investigation of any suggestions from
the community that have a likely prospect for reform. In NSW, if the preliminary
investigation indicates that there is a case for taking a matter further, a background
paper is prepared which is sent to the Attorney-General who decides whether a formal
33
http://www.qlrc.qld.gov.au visited 29/03/2004.