M3 - Learner Manual

It is crucial to stay up to date with law reform, as changes impact you, clients, the community and society as a whole. As laws and policy change, everyone has a legal responsibility to keep up with these changes.

In order to identify and interpret changes that have been made to legislation, it is important to know where you can gain access to authoritative and relevant information.

Primary sources of information are generally considered the most authoritative and include:

-       case law

-       legislation.

Secondary sources of information can provide you with the others’ opinions on the issue and include:

-       industry journals

-       law reports

-       academic texts

-       government documents

-       parliamentary releases

-       ministerial speeches.

Online legal libraries and databases are a good place to access secondary sources.

In the context of a workplace, it is essential to continually monitor, review and evaluate the organisation’s policies and procedures, and ensure that they are compliant with statutory requirements. Depending on the nature of a particular law reform, there may be aspects of workplace operations, which, by default, infringe amended legislation. Any identified infringements must be dealt with immediately, as conscious non-compliance could result in legal prosecution. A workplace’s relevant authority or legal adviser should consider conceivable changes to workplace practise and present improvements that may be made to workplace procedures which would ensure that they are compliant with amended laws.  These changes, once approved, must be implemented and all staff must be made aware of their new or altered legal rights and responsibilities.