Current Path
Home ::Reform journal
The Australian Law Reform Commission is committed to raising public awareness of contemporary legal issues. The ALRC journal Reform provides a forum for high-quality debate on issues of law reform in an easy-to-read format.
Articles contributed by leading Australian and overseas experts provide a valuable opportunity for independent analysis of a variety of legal issues and processes. Reform also provides the latest news on local and international law reform projects in its regular feature 'Reform Roundup'.
Other regular features include 'Clearing house', which gives details of laws that are currently under review in both Australia and overseas; book reviews; and contact details for law reform bodies from around the world.
Reform was first released in January 1976 and is currently published twice a year, in Winter and Summer.
Reform online – full articles from the current and most past issues of Reform are now available online.
Current issue
Reform 94 - Housing 2009 was released on 9 December 2009.
Download the PDF (11 Mb)
David Weisbrot, outgoing President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, offers his final 'Comment' and considers the history and evolution of the journal since he began his Comment piece in Reform twenty editions ago.
This edition of Reform focuses on one of the most pressing issues facing the nation today, the ability to provide adequate housing for all Australians.
Federal Government initiatives in this area are outlined by the responsible Minister, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP.
Australian Human Rights Commission President, the Hon Catherine Branson, and her colleague Dr Cassandra Goldie assess the human rights implications of the national housing strategy, while Adam Farrar (NSW Federation of Housing Associations) considers the ramifications of a policy shift to community housing options.
Various aspects of homelessness are debated by Robin Banks (Public Interest Advocacy Centre) and Chris Hartley (Homeless Persons’ Legal Service), Karen Wilcox and Ludo McFerran (Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse), and Rebecca Reynolds (Twenty10).
Respected Aboriginal community leader Tom Slockee provides a personal perspective on Indigenous housing, drawing on his lengthy experience in this field. Chris Lamont (Housing Industry Association) discusses housing affordability, while Ian Winter (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute) calls for more informed and constructive debate around the social objectives of land use planning.
Other articles discuss reforms required in the areas of tenancy rights (Deborah Pippen, Tenants’ Union ACT); and housing for the elderly (Susannah Sage Jacobson, Public Interest Law Clearing House of Victoria).
The final article on this subject, by academic Graeme Wiffin, discusses the tensions that often arise in practice between providing housing and preserving heritage.