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CLAUSE NOTES
VEXATIOUS PROCEEDINGS BILL 2011
Clause 1: Short title
Clause 2: Commencement
Clause 3: Interpretation of words used in the Bill �
particularly `Australian court or tribunal' which
includes all courts and tribunals, and also
bodies that don't fit into that description, like
the Guardianship and Administration Board.
Also included is a definition of `vexatious
proceedings'.
Clause 4: Ensures that the existing powers for courts
and tribunals to deal with vexatious litigants
and litigation are preserved.
Clause 5: Includes a list of persons able to make
application to the Supreme Court for a
vexatious proceedings order, and requiring
some classes of persons to seek leave from the
Court before applying.
Clause 6: Provides for the Court to make a range of
orders relating to vexatious proceedings.
Provides the test for vexatiousness, and
requires the Court to allow a person to be
heard before making an order.
Clause 7: Allows the Court to set aside or vary a
vexatious proceedings order on their own
initiative or on application by the subject of
the order or one of the people named in
clause 5.
Clause 8: Allows the Court to reinstate a vexatious
proceedings order where a person has
instituted or conducted a vexatious
proceeding within 5 years of a vexatious
proceedings order being set aside. The
reinstatement may be on the Court's initiative
or on application from a person named in
clause 5. The Court must allow the person to
be heard. The Court may also make any other
order the Court considers appropriate.
Clause 9: Provides that the Registrar of the Supreme
Court must arrange of the publication of
copies of orders made, varied, set aside or
reinstated in the Gazette and also a publicly
available register. It also allows the copy of the
order to be removed from the Register where
a person has died.
Clause 10: Provides that a person subject to an order
must not institute, or have another person
institute, proceedings as disallowed by the
order. If proceedings are instituted, they are
automatically and permanently stayed.
Clause 11: Allows and provides the process for a person
subject to a vexatious proceedings order, or a
person acting on concert with such a person,
to apply to the Supreme Court for leave to
institute proceedings. This clause also
disallows any appeal from the decision of the
Court in this matter.
Clause 12: Provides the criteria for the Court to dismiss
an application for leave to institute
proceedings, and allows the application to be
dismissed even if the applicant chooses not to
appear at the hearing.
Clause 13: Sets out the process for the Court to grant
leave to institute proceedings, including
affidavits to be served, that the applicant and
all relevant persons must be heard, and the
scope of evidence permitted. This clause also
includes the definition of `relevant person' for
the purposes of the section.
Clause 14: Provides that the administration of the Act is
assigned to the Minister of Justice, and the
responsible department is the Department of
Justice.
Clause 15: Provides for the consequential amendments
contained in Schedule 1.
Schedule 1: The Schedule contains amendments inserted in
the individual Acts to allow the appropriate
person in the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, the
Guardianship and Administration Board, the
Magistrates Court (including the
Administrative Appeals Division and the Civil
Division), the Mental Health Tribunal and the
Resource Management and Planning Appeal
Tribunal to apply to the Supreme Court for a
vexatious proceedings order.