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‘Regrettable’: Abolition of ACT Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council slammed
Following the disbandment of the Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council by the Labor ACT government after just 18 months of operation, numerous ACT government bodies and associations have voiced their disappointment and frustration with the decision.
Grace Robbie
Last week, the newly elected Labor ACT government announced the disbandment of the Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council (LRSAC), a body tasked with advising the government on critical legal reforms and policy matters.
The decision, made public by Attorney-General Tara Cheyne during a session in the Legislative Assembly, came while the LRSAC was actively conducting an inquiry into the Bail Act 1992, with a report due by the end of June 2025.
In her statement, Cheyne acknowledged that the council’s establishment was funded through “non-ongoing” resources, which meant that the future was “always” subject to the priorities of the incoming government.
She explained that the “difficult decision” to disband the council was driven by the government placing a stronger focus on the Legislative Assembly’s role in carrying out investigative and policy work.
“Noting the stronger focus this term on the role of the Legislative Assembly and its committees in undertaking investigative and policy work to advise [the] government … I have regrettably taken the difficult decision to discontinue the council,” Cheyne said.
The decision has prompted strong reaction and criticism from the ACT Bar Association, which expressed how it is “deeply disappointed” over the government’s decision to disband the LRSAC.
President Brodie Buckland expressed that the abolition of the LRSAC was a “backward step for the ACT’s justice system”, describing it as an unfortunate first step for the new government in terms of law reform.
“To have this be the first substantive action taken by the new government in relation to law reform is a very regrettable start to its term in office.
“The LRSAC was instrumental to the process of considered law reform, and its loss is not readily able to be compensated for,” Buckland said.
“When the LRSAC was formed by the former attorney-general in 2023, he lamented the fact that the ACT government had disbanded the predecessor to LRSAC, being the ACT Law Reform Council. Now the government is abolishing the LRSAC too, without any successor body to replace it.”
The cessation of the LRSAC, Buckland argued, rendered the council’s preliminary work and efforts on the inquiry into the Bail Act 1992 and its perceived “incompatible” aspects with the Human Rights Act 2004 effectively “wasted”.
“The LRSAC was in the process of inquiring into the Bail Act 1992, which predates the introduction of the Human Rights Act 2004. There are multiple aspects of the Bail Act [that] are incompatible with the Human Rights Act, and the association was optimistic the current inquiry would address these problems.
“That opportunity has now been lost, and the preliminary work of the LRSAC on this issue has been entirely wasted,” Buckland said.
Due to this decision, Buckland detailed that “any claim made by the government that it is committed to advancing human rights is difficult to reconcile with decisions such as this”.
Shane Rattenbury, leader of the ACT Greens, also voiced his concerns, warning that the Labor government’s disbandment of the LRSAC could lead to more politically motivated “tough on crime” policies. “Now that sentencing law reform is purely in the hands of politicians, we can expect more ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric aimed at longer sentences and more restrictive bail approaches, rather than responding to evidence-based approaches that encourage rehabilitation,” Rattenbury said.
