Estimates - Attorney-General - Legislative Reform

Ms BURNET - Thank you very much. Minister, I'm interested in your law reform agenda because there are so many pieces of legislation in need of reform, including the Residential Tenancy Act, workers compensation legislation, which I touched on before, the Civil Liability Act, Health Complaints Act, Integrity Commission Act, Personal Information Protection Act, Family Violence Act, just to name a few. And yet, you're almost halving the funding for the legislative development and review unit within Legal Services. So that's table 6.3, output group 2. And it shows from the 2025-26 budget $2.84 million. It goes down over forward Estimates to $1.6 million. Does this mean that you're giving up on reform? How many FTEs are currently employed in there? And what will be the number when cuts really bite in '28-29? 

Mr BARNETT - Thank you very much for the question. And I think you know me well enough that you can answer a very big no to 'Am I giving up on reform?'. I'm a reformist. I think you know that. Already in this year, we've passed 11 bills since the election last year and we've got 10 bills currently being debated in the parliament. We have a very big law reform agenda. You've made mention to some of them, for which I thank you, and there will be more, a lot more coming. 

Ms BURNET - But you can't keep doing more and more with less. 

Mr BARNETT - I'm just trying to explain and answer the question, if I could. We have a big law reform agenda and we will continue with that agenda. With respect to the particular aspects, in terms of the important role of the strategic policy and legislative review section of the department, I will pass to the secretary who can assist the honourable member. 

Ms BOURNE - The office currently has an FTE of 18.4. But as you highlight, over the forward Estimates there is a reduction in funding, which is predominantly as a result of the cessation of the additional funding it received for commission of inquiry legislative program work; and also some operational efficiencies that have been apportioned across outputs of the department. The legislative program, as the deputy's referred to, is large, as well as including a whole heap of work undertaken around updating regulations and core acts under the purview of the Attorney-General. And what the team continues to do, and does on a daily basis, is prioritise its work. The recommendations of the commission of inquiry (COI) continue to be a priority. And we're relatively comfortable that, by looking at how we plan out legislative work across the parliamentary year, that we can still prioritise COI work when that explicit funding for those additional resources no longer exists