Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Chair of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, I lay on the table Scrutiny of Bills Alert Digest No. 14 of 2008, dated 3 December 2008, and move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I seek leave to incorporate a tabling statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE FOR THE SCRUTINY OF BILLS TABLING STATEMENT

3 December 2008

In tabling the Committee’s final Alert Digest for the year (Alert Digest No. 14 of 2008), I would like to place on record the work of Emeritus Professor Jim Davis who has served as the Committee’s legal adviser for the last 25 years. Professor Davis will retire at the end of this month and I would like to formally acknowledge his enormous contribution to the Committee, and to the Australian Parliament, over those 25 years.

Not surprisingly, Professor Davis is the Committee’s longest-serving legal adviser. He has been with the Committee since his appointment in 1983, apart from only a 13-month leave of absence in which the Committee was assisted by the late Emeritus Professor Douglas Whalan.

Professor Davis has not only contributed to the scrutiny of bills but also to the scrutiny of delegated legislation, having worked as the legal adviser to the Standing Committee for Regulations and Ordinances for three years, from 1997 to 2000.

Professor Davis commenced his legal career as a lecturer-in-law at Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand in 1965.

He joined the Law Faculty at the Australian National University in 1968 as a Senior Lecturer, was promoted to Reader in 1971, and was appointed a Professor in 1989. He specialised in the areas of Contract, Tort and Conflict of Laws.

Professor Davis retired from the ANU in 2001, and on retirement was appointed an Emeritus Professor, and a Visiting Fellow in the Law Faculty. He still teaches in the areas of Contract, Tort and the Conflict of Laws in the Faculty’s post-graduate program.

Professor Davis has written many published journal articles, and has also written texts, namely:

• Greig and Davis, Law of Contract; and
• Balkin and Davis, Law of Torts (he is currently working on the 4th edition)

He has also worked as an editor and updater of the “Contracts” title of Laws of Australia and the “Torts” title of Halsbury’s Laws of Australia and has provided intensive courses on contract law for non-lawyers involved in the negotiation and administration of contracts.

The Scrutiny of Bills Committee plays an important role in the scrutiny of legislation and is absolutely vital to the good work of the Senate and the Parliament as a whole. Professor Davis has contributed greatly to the Committee’s essential work over the period of his association with it and has consistently provided expert and independent advice. His role in helping to ultimately protect the rights and liberties of the people of Australia must be recognised. 

On behalf of members of the Committee, past and present, I acknowledge Professor Davis’s contribution over the last 25 years, thank him for his work, and wish he and his wife, Judy, all the very best in retirement.

Question agreed to.