In our March 2011 edition of the Public law report, we
discussed the Civil Dispute Resolution Bill 2010 (Cth) and similar
legislation in NSW and Victoria. This article provides an update on
the status of the legislation, and briefly discusses the new
Federal Court rules and forms.
Overview of the Act
The operative provisions of the Civil Dispute Resolution Act
2011 (Cth) commenced on 1 August 2011. The Act encourages parties
in dispute to take genuine steps to resolve their dispute before
commencing proceedings in the Federal Court or Federal Magistrates
Court (certain types of proceedings are excluded).
A person takes genuine steps to resolve a dispute if the steps
constitute a sincere and genuine attempt to resolve the dispute,
having regard to the person?s circumstances and the nature and
circumstances of the dispute. The Act does not prescribe what
genuine steps are, but it sets out examples of what might amount to
genuine steps, including:
