{"id":"tas:sr-2024-095","name":"Proclamation under the Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024","slug":"proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"95 of 2024","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":174496,"registerId":"tas-sr-2024-095-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Proclamation under the Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024","content":"> Proclamation under the Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024\n\nI, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, by this my proclamation made under [section 2 of the](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2024-018#GS2@EN) [Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2024-018) fix 31 January 2025 as the day on which the provisions of that Act commence.\n\n19 December 2024\n\nB. BAKER\n\nGovernor\n\nBy Her Excellency's Command,\n\nGUY BARNETT\n\nMinister for Justice\n\nDisplayed and numbered in accordance with the *[Rules Publication Act 1953](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1953-050)*.\n\nNotified in the *Gazette* on 24 December 2024\n\nThis proclamation is administered in the Department of Justice.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a procedural commencement instrument with no substantive scope. It performs exactly the function intended: bringing the parent Act into force on a specified date."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative provision: fixes one commencement date","No defined terms","No cross-references to other legislation (except citation of the parent Act and the Rules Publication Act 1953 for procedural compliance)","No conditional logic or exceptions","Standard proclamation format — essentially a template with blanks filled in"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a **commencement proclamation** — a formal government notice that brings a law into effect.\n\n**What it does:**\n- Sets **31 January 2025** as the date when the *Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024* (Tasmania) starts operating.\n\n**Who made it:**\n- The **Governor of Tasmania** (B. Baker), acting on advice from the **Executive Council** (the Premier and senior ministers).\n- Signed off by **Guy Barnett**, the Minister for Justice.\n\n**Why this matters:**\n- Laws passed by Parliament don't automatically start working. Someone (usually the Governor on ministerial advice) must formally \"turn them on\" by naming a commencement date.\n- This proclamation tells courts, lawyers, police, and the public exactly when the new rules about how children and vulnerable witnesses give evidence in court will apply.\n\n**Key detail:**\n- The proclamation was made on **19 December 2024** and published in the *Gazette* on **24 December 2024**, giving about five weeks' notice before the law takes effect."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This proclamation does not alter the substantive scope or content of the Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024; it only selects the Act’s commencement date as permitted by section 2 of that Act. Administrative responsibility is assigned to the Department of Justice and the instrument records executive approval and Gazette notification."},"complexity_factors":["Instrument is purely a commencement proclamation fixing a single start date.","Substantive legal effects are contained in the external Act (not in this instrument).","Legal formality: Governor acting on Executive Council advice (executive decision-making).","Administrative detail minimal but includes Gazette notification and administering department.","Dependency on section 2 of the named Act for authority to set the commencement date."],"plain_english_summary":"This proclamation sets 31 January 2025 as the date when the Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024 comes into force in Tasmania, using the power referenced at section 2 of that Act. It is issued by the Governor on the advice of the Executive Council, was notified in the Gazette, and is administered by the Department of Justice; from that date the Act’s provisions will apply to the courts, witnesses and legal practitioners covered by the Act."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"A proclamation by definition has a narrow, fixed purpose: to bring an Act into force on a specified date. There is no indication of any scope change from that original intent. The document does exactly what a commencement proclamation is designed to do."},"complexity_factors":["The document itself is a simple proclamation with no substantive legal provisions — it is purely administrative in function","Minimal text content; most complexity lies in the underlying amending Act which is not reproduced here","Standard form instrument with no exceptions, conditions, or definitions to interpret","The only meaningful information is the commencement date (24 December 2024)"],"plain_english_summary":"This Proclamation formally brings the Evidence (Children and Special Witnesses) Amendment Act 2024 into force in Tasmania, setting 24 December 2024 as the date the Act takes effect. \n\nAs a result, the Act’s new procedures and protections for children and other vulnerable (special) witnesses now apply in Tasmanian courts, affecting witnesses, legal practitioners and judicial officers; without the Proclamation the Act would not have commenced."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Status Information - Currency of version","severity":"low","reasoning":"This is a metadata/publishing artefact rather than a substantive legislative flaw, but it does create a logical inconsistency: the document cannot simultaneously be a static record 'last modified 24 December 2024' and also reflect an access date of 5 April 2026 as a contemporaneous fact. The 'to date' language is open-ended yet anchored to a specific future timestamp, which is self-defeating.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The document states it was accessed on '5 April 2026' yet the access date falls beyond any verifiable present date relative to a 2024 proclamation, and the version is described as 'current from 24 December 2024 to date'. The 'to date' construction implies ongoing currency, but the future access timestamp of 5 April 2026 creates a temporal paradox where the document purports to record a future access event as if it has already occurred."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Status Information - Legislation update notice","severity":"low","reasoning":"If a legislative change occurred on or just before 24 December 2024, the 3-working-day update window would span the Christmas/Boxing Day public holiday period in Tasmania, making literal compliance with the stated update standard practically impossible without an unstated carve-out.","confidence":0.5,"description":"The document states legislation 'is usually updated within 3 working days after a change to the legislation', yet the file was last modified on 24 December 2024 (Christmas Eve), a date on or immediately before public holidays in Tasmania when working days would not run. This creates an impossible compliance window: the 3-working-day update obligation cannot be met in the ordinary way around that period, yet no exception or tolling mechanism is stated."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Document structure - entire proclamation","severity":"high","reasoning":"A proclamation is a legislative instrument with operative legal effect — it typically declares that an Act or provisions of an Act commence on a specified date. Without any operative text, the instrument cannot discharge its legal function. Courts and persons subject to the parent Act cannot ascertain from this document alone which provisions are commenced and from when, rendering the proclamation legally empty.","confidence":0.85,"description":"The proclamation purports to be substantive legislation but contains no operative provisions whatsoever. A proclamation under an amending Act should, at minimum, specify the commencement date(s) being proclaimed for particular provisions. The document as reproduced contains only metadata, status information, and navigational text, meaning it is impossible to determine what legal effect, if any, the proclamation actually has."},{"type":"other","section":"Headings throughout","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Under the Acts Interpretation Act 1931 (Tas) and general statutory interpretation principles, headings form part of the Act and may be used as an aid to interpretation. Duplicated headings introduce structural ambiguity that, on the authoritative version, could create interpretive difficulties.","confidence":0.55,"description":"Every heading in the document is duplicated verbatim (e.g. 'Authorisation Authorisation', 'Status Information Status Information', 'Currency of version Currency of version'). While this appears to be a rendering/scraping artefact, if this were the authoritative published form it would create genuine ambiguity as to whether each doubled heading denotes two separate provisions or one, undermining the principle that legislation must be capable of clear interpretation."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"low","section_a":"Status Information - File last modified 24 December 2024","section_b":"Status Information - Version current from 24 December 2024 to date (accessed 5 April 2026 at 11:42)","confidence":0.65,"description":"The document simultaneously asserts that the file was last modified on 24 December 2024 and that it was accessed on 5 April 2026. If the file was last modified in December 2024, it cannot reflect or incorporate any changes occurring between that date and the April 2026 access date, yet the 'to date' currency claim implies it remains current and up-to-date as of April 2026. These two statements are in tension: a document last modified over 15 months prior cannot credibly assert currency 'to date' without qualification."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Status Information - 'usually updated within 3 working days after a change'","section_b":"Status Information - File last modified 24 December 2024 / Version current to 5 April 2026","confidence":0.4,"description":"The document asserts a policy of updating legislation within 3 working days of change, yet the file has not been modified since 24 December 2024 despite the version purportedly remaining 'current' through 5 April 2026 — a period of approximately 15 months. If no amendments occurred in that period this is not contradictory, but combined with the Table of Amending Instruments reference (implying amendments exist), the absence of any update since December 2024 sits in tension with the 3-working-day update commitment."}]}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024","history":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024/history","analysis":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-evidence-children-and-special-witnesses-amendment-act-2024/documents"}}