{"id":"tas:sr-2009-012","name":"Proclamation under the Wills Act 2008","slug":"proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"12 of 2009","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":315495,"registerId":"tas-tas:sr-2009-012-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-08","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Proclamation under the Wills Act 2008","content":"> Proclamation under the Wills Act 2008\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](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2008-058#GS2@EN) of the [Wills Act 2008](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-2008-058) fix 1 March 2009 as the day on which that Act commences.\n\n16 February 2009\n\nPETER G. UNDERWOOD\n\nGovernor\n\nBy His Excellency's Command,\n\nLARA GIDDINGS\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 25 February 2009\n\nThis proclamation is administered in the Department of Justice.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"A commencement proclamation has a fixed, narrow purpose: to bring another piece of legislation into force on a specified date. There is no indication of any scope change from that original intent. It has remained in force unchanged since 25 February 2009."},"complexity_factors":["The document itself is purely procedural — it contains almost no substantive legal content beyond activating another Act","Very limited text is available; the actual operative clause of the Proclamation is not reproduced in the provided content","Understanding its significance requires knowledge of the parent Act (Wills Act 2008), adding a minor layer of context","Commencement proclamations are a standard, well-understood mechanism in Australian law with minimal interpretive complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"This Proclamation brought the Wills Act 2008 (Tas.) into force from 25 February 2009, formally making its modernised rules on who can make a will, signing formalities, and when courts may excuse technical defects legally effective. It affects anyone in Tasmania making, amending, administering, or contesting a will, and those advising on estates."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"Currency of version / Status Information","severity":"low","reasoning":"If the Table of Amending Instruments shows no amendments, the file modification in 2018 is unexplained and potentially indicates an undisclosed administrative alteration to a legislative instrument, which would be procedurally irregular.","confidence":0.45,"description":"The document states it is 'current from 25 February 2009 to date (accessed 8 April 2026 at 1:50)' while simultaneously stating 'File last modified 4 September 2018'. A proclamation that has never been amended yet has a file modification date nearly a decade after commencement raises a question about what changed in 2018 without any legislative instrument record."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Entire document structure","severity":"high","reasoning":"A proclamation with no operative clauses cannot be complied with, interpreted, or applied. Parties subject to the Wills Act 2008 cannot derive any legal obligation or right from a document containing only administrative metadata. If this represents the complete legislative instrument, it is legally vacuous.","confidence":0.82,"description":"The document as presented contains no operative legal content whatsoever. A Proclamation under the Wills Act 2008 would be expected to contain at minimum a commencement date declaration, the Governor's signature block, and a substantive operative clause. The document consists entirely of metadata, status information, and navigation elements repeated multiple times, making it impossible to determine what legal effect it purports to have."},{"type":"other","section":"Status Information - repeated headings","severity":"low","reasoning":"Legislative instruments require textual certainty. Duplicated headings create ambiguity as to which instance is operative, though in practice this is a publication error rather than a substantive legal flaw.","confidence":0.55,"description":"Every heading in the document appears duplicated (e.g., 'Status Information Status Information', 'Currency of version Currency of version', 'Authorisation Authorisation'). While likely a rendering artefact, if treated as the authoritative text of the instrument, the document is self-referentially incoherent and no single authoritative version of any heading exists."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Currency of version: 'current from 25 February 2009 to date'","section_b":"Authorisation: 'File last modified 4 September 2018'","confidence":0.5,"description":"The instrument claims no amendments have altered its currency (it has been current since commencement in 2009), yet the file was modified in September 2018 — nearly nine years after commencement. These two statements are in tension: either the instrument was substantively unchanged and the 2018 modification was non-legislative (raising authorisation concerns), or a change occurred that is not reflected in the currency statement."}]},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The proclamation does not alter the substantive scope or content of the Wills Act 2008; it solely fixes the date on which the Act commences pursuant to s 2. It implements the Act as enacted rather than changing legislative coverage."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative action: fixes a commencement date rather than creating new rights or obligations","Authority reliance: made under s 2 of the Wills Act 2008 (statutory power to proclaim commencement)","Low stakeholder readjustment: affects timing for persons making or relying on wills rather than altering substantive law","Formalities only: includes executive signatories, Gazette notification (25 Feb 2009) and administrative responsibility (Department of Justice)","Limited discretion: Governor acts with Executive Council advice — discretion confined to timing rather than content"],"plain_english_summary":"This proclamation, made under s 2 of the Wills Act 2008, fixes 1 March 2009 as the day the Wills Act 2008 begins to operate. It therefore determines from what date people making or relying on wills must follow the rules in that Act. The proclamation was signed by the Governor (with Executive Council advice), notified in the Gazette on 25 February 2009, and is administered by the Department of Justice."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a commencement proclamation, which by its nature has a single, narrow purpose: to activate an Act of Parliament. It has not expanded beyond this original intent."},"complexity_factors":["Single operative provision fixing a commencement date","No defined terms","No cross-references to other legislation (except citation of the empowering section)","No conditional logic or exceptions","Standard formal language typical of commencement proclamations","Total length: approximately 100 words of substantive content"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a formal government notice (called a 'proclamation') that sets the start date for Tasmania's Wills Act 2008. The Governor of Tasmania, acting on advice from the state's Executive Council, has declared that the Wills Act 2008 will come into force (become legally effective) on **1 March 2009**.\n\n**What this means:**\n- Before this date, the old laws about making wills in Tasmania continued to apply\n- From 1 March 2009 onwards, the new rules in the Wills Act 2008 applied to wills made in Tasmania\n- This is a standard procedural step — most Acts don't start automatically when passed by Parliament; the government must formally 'turn them on' by setting a commencement date\n\n**Who it affects:** Anyone making, changing, or dealing with wills in Tasmania from March 2009 onwards.\n\n**Why it matters:** It provides legal certainty about exactly when the new will-making rules replaced the old ones."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008","history":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008/history","analysis":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/proclamation-under-the-wills-act-2008/documents"}}