Scrutiny of Bills under Bills of Rights: Is Victoria’s Model the Way Forward?

The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) is a short but very contentious statute consisting of 49 terse sections. This article is concerned with probably the least controversial (and one of the shortest) of those: '30 The Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee must consider any Bill introduced into Parliament and must report to the Parliament as to whether the Bill is incompatible with human rights.' Less controversy doesn’t mean no controversy. Without detracting from the significant issues that have arisen about the rest of Victoria’s Charter, this paper sets out some of the reasons why the Charter’s legislative scrutiny provision needs some scrutiny of its own. The discussion will first examine the purpose and operation of Charter s. 30. It will then consider the difficulties of reporting under that section. Finally, it will detail further scrutiny functions under the Charter.