Eleven bills you should know about

In the final sitting weeks of 2024, the Victorian and Federal Governments have been busily debating legislation before the end of the year.  

Below is a summary of the key bills that affect the community legal sector and the communities we serve: 

1. Migration Amendment Bill 2024 (Cth) – passed: Significantly expands the Government’s powers to overturn protective provisions designed to protect refugees, deport people to other countries where they may face serious harm, and permanently separate people from their families. We OPPOSE this bill. 
   
   
2. Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024 (Cth) – passed: Bans the use of mobile phones and expands powers to search, screen and strip search people in immigration detention. We OPPOSE this bill. 
   
   
3. Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (Cth) – passed: Gives the Minister powers to ban people from certain countries from entering Australia and to compel people to cooperate with their own deportation or face a jail sentence of up to five years. We OPPOSE this bill. 
   
   
4. Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 (Cth) – passed: Introduces a blanket social media ban for any children under 16 to access social media platforms. We OPPOSE this bill. 
   
   
5. Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 (Cth) - withdrawn: This Bill would have put legal obligations on social media platforms to address false, misleading or deceptive content, or content reasonably likely to cause serious harm, and improve regulation of content. We SUPPORT this bill. 
   
   
6. Education and Other Legislation Amendment (Abolishing Indexation and Raising the Minimum Repayment Income for Education and Training Loans) Bill 2022 (Cth) - passed: Caps the HELP indexation rate to the lower of either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Wage Price Index (WPI), effectively reducing student debt for 3 million Australians by $3 billion. We SUPPORT this bill. 
   
   
7. Family Law Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2024 (Cth) – passed: Improves how family violence is considered in property disputes, notably recognising economic or financial abuse as a behaviour that may constitute family violence, and explicitly including family violence as a factor which can impact a person’s ability to make financial and non-financial contributions. We SUPPORT this bill. 
   
   
8. Universities Accord (National Student Ombudsman) Bill 2024 (Cth) – passed: Establishes the National Student Ombudsman to deal with complaints about, and conduct investigations into, actions of higher education providers. We SUPPORT this bill.  
   
   
9. Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill (Vic) - will be debated in 2025: Expands renters rights and protections and mandates new minimum standards for rental properties. We SUPPORT this bill. 
   
   
10. Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill 2024 (Vic) - will be debated in 2025: Expands existing legal protection against racial and religious vilification to include disability, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation, and updates the legal tests and defences for vilification. We SUPPORT this bill, but recognise areas for fortification. 
    
    
11. Terrorism (Community Protection) and Control of Weapons Amendment Bill 2024 (Vic) - will be debated in early 2025: Expands police powers to search and seize weapons without a warrant in designated areas. We OPPOSE this bill.