Review of the Local Court Act 2007

The NSW Attorney General is reviewing the Local Court Act 2007. The Act is available at the NSW legislation website. The review will determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the legislation remain appropriate for securing those objectives.

The Department of Attorney General and Justice invited interested individuals and organisations to make written submissions to the review. Submissions are now closed.

Statutory Review 

The Statutory Review of the Local Court Act 2007 conducted by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice was tabled in Parliament on 16 August 2018 and is available here. 

Outcome 

Following proposals in the Statutory Review, the Justice Legislation Amendment Act (No 2) 2017 amended the Local Court Act 2007 to provide the Local Court Rules Committee with a power to make rules setting Christmas vacations and providing for the hearing and disposal of proceedings during vacations. This amendment aligned the Local Court with the Supreme Court and the District Court in respect of the Christmas vacation.

The Bail (Consequential Amendments) Act 2014 amended the Local Court Act 2007 to clarify that a bail decision may be made as per the Bail Act 2013. This means that a decision maker determining whether to grant bail to a respondent who has been arrested for failing to appear in application proceedings, may consider matters ordinarly considered to ensure the appearance of the respondent at subsequent court dates. 

The Justice Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3) 2018 amended the Local Court Act 2007 to increase the jurisdictional limit of the Small Claims Division (section 29(1 )(b)) to $20,000. The NSW Department of Communities and Justice continues to monitor the jurisdictional limits of the Local Court.