{"id":"tas:sr-2024-077","name":"Proclamation under the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024","slug":"proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"77 of 2024","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":174466,"registerId":"tas-sr-2024-077-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Proclamation under the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024","content":"> Proclamation under the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024\n\nI, the Lieutenant-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 [Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2024-020) fix 4 December 2024 as the day on which the provisions of that Act commence.\n\n18 November 2024\n\nA. M. BLOW\n\nLieutenant-Governor\n\nBy His Excellency's Command,\n\nJANE HOWLETT\n\nMinister for Hospitality and Small Business\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 27 November 2024\n\nThis proclamation is administered in the Department of State Growth.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a standard commencement instrument that performs exactly the function intended—bringing the parent Act into operation on a specified date. There is no expansion or alteration of scope."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative provision fixing a commencement date","No defined terms","No cross-references to other legislation (except citation of the parent Act and Rules Publication Act 1953 in administrative notes)","No conditional logic or exceptions","Standard proclamation format used routinely across all Australian jurisdictions","Total length: 6 short paragraphs including formal sign-off and administrative notes"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a **commencement proclamation** for Tasmania's Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024.\n\n**What it does:**\n- Officially sets **4 December 2024** as the date when Tasmania's Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024 comes into force (starts operating as law).\n- Without this proclamation, the Act would remain on the statute books but wouldn't actually apply to anyone yet.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- **Primary producers (farmers)** in Tasmania who have debt disputes with banks or other creditors\n- **Creditors** (mostly financial institutions) who lend money to Tasmanian farmers\n- The **Department of State Growth**, which administers the scheme\n\n**Why it matters:**\n- The Farm Debt Mediation Act creates a mandatory process where farmers and creditors must try to resolve debt problems through mediation (a structured negotiation with a neutral third party) before a creditor can take enforcement action like foreclosing on a farm.\n- This proclamation is the final legal step that makes the protection real—without it, farmers facing financial distress wouldn't have access to the mediation safeguards.\n- It follows similar schemes already operating in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA, meaning Tasmanian farmers now have equivalent protections to their mainland counterparts."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Status Information - Currency of version","severity":"low","reasoning":"A proclamation described as 'current to date' of access implies it reflects the current legal state, but if no amendments have been made since November 2024 and the file has not been modified, the 'to date' currency claim is procedurally misleading rather than substantively inaccurate. It is a low-severity presentational absurdity rather than a legislative drafting flaw.","confidence":0.55,"description":"The proclamation states it is 'current from 27 November 2024 to date (accessed 5 April 2026 at 11:42)' yet the file was last modified 27 November 2024. This implies the instrument has remained static while simultaneously claiming currency 'to date' of access in 2026, creating a false assurance of currency without any actual updates having occurred."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Document Structure - Entire Instrument","severity":"high","reasoning":"A Proclamation under the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024 would ordinarily declare the Act or specified provisions to commence on a particular date. Without any operative clause, no legal effect can be ascribed to this instrument. Parties seeking to comply with, or enforce rights under, the Act cannot determine commencement or operative scope from this document alone. Whether this is a transcription/extraction failure or a genuine drafting omission cannot be determined, but on its face the instrument is legally inoperative.","confidence":0.72,"description":"The instrument as presented contains no operative provisions whatsoever. A Proclamation is a legal instrument that must contain substantive content - typically a commencement date or declaration bringing an Act into force. This document consists entirely of metadata, status information, and navigational headers, rendering it legally vacuous on its face."},{"type":"other","section":"Status Information - Table of Amending Instruments","severity":"low","reasoning":"Proclamations are typically not amended - they are single-purpose instruments declaring commencement. The presence of an amendments table infrastructure for a proclamation is unusual and suggests either a systemic application of amendment-tracking metadata to all instruments regardless of type, or that the instrument is more substantive than presented.","confidence":0.5,"description":"The instrument references a 'Table of Amendments' (via hyperlink) for an instrument that, as presented, contains no operative provisions capable of being amended. An amendment table presupposes amendable substantive content, creating a structural absurdity."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"low","section_a":"Status Information - Currency statement: 'current from 27 November 2024 to date'","section_b":"Authorisation - 'File last modified 27 November 2024'","confidence":0.6,"description":"The instrument claims currency up to the access date of 5 April 2026, but the authorisation section confirms the file has not been modified since 27 November 2024. These two statements are in tension: either the instrument has been updated to remain current (contradicting the unmodified file date), or it has not been updated and the 'current to date' representation is misleading."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"A Proclamation of this type has an inherently narrow and fixed scope — to commence the parent Act. There is no indication of any deviation from its intended purpose. It performs exactly the administrative function such instruments are designed to perform."},"complexity_factors":["This is a Proclamation only — a single-purpose instrument with no substantive operative provisions of its own","Its sole legal effect is to set a commencement date for another Act","No definitions, schedules, or technical legal frameworks are contained within the document itself","The underlying Act (Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024) would carry greater complexity, but that is not the document being analysed"],"plain_english_summary":"The Proclamation brings the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024 (Tas) into force from 27 November 2024, requiring creditors to offer and engage in mediated negotiations with indebted farmers before taking enforcement action.  \n\nIt gives Tasmanian farmers a legal right to mediation and imposes obligations on banks and lenders, affecting mediators who will run these processes and changing how farm debt disputes are handled."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This proclamation does not alter the substantive content, rights or obligations in the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024. It solely fixes the date the Act’s provisions commence (4 December 2024) under section 2 and records procedural formalities (signing, notification, administering department)."},"complexity_factors":["Single-purpose instrument that only fixes a commencement date","Reference to a statutory commencement power (section 2 of the Act)","Formal executive procedure: Lieutenant‑Governor acting with advice of the Executive Council","Publication formalities: Gazette notification and Rules Publication Act compliance","Administrative allocation: names the Department of State Growth as administering body"],"plain_english_summary":"This proclamation brings the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2024 into force by fixing 4 December 2024 as the commencement day under section 2 of that Act. It was made by the Lieutenant‑Governor on the advice of the Executive Council, notified in the Gazette, and is administered by the Department of State Growth — mechanically, it causes the Act’s provisions to start applying from that date."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024","history":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024/history","analysis":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-farm-debt-mediation-act-2024/documents"}}