Value of Indexed Amounts in Legislation

Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act 1987

• The penalty amount to be paid for most Tasmanian offences such as drink driving fines and fishing offences, is expressed in penalty units.
• A penalty unit value is adjusted every year  based on consumer price index (CPI) movements in the previous year.
• The penalty unit value is published in the Gazette before 1 June each year for the next financial year, whether or not the value is to be increased.
• For more information, read the Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act 1987.

Civil Liability Act 2002

• The amount to which damages for non-economic loss is limited is adjusted in $500 increments, based on consumer price index (CPI) movements in the previous year.
• Amount A: If the value is not a multiple of $500, it is rounded to the nearest multiple of $500.
• Amount B: is five time 'Amount A', and is used in the calculations of the amount to which damages for non economic loss is limited in any given year.
• The value of the amount is published in the Gazette before 1 July each year for the next financial year.
• For more information, read the Civil Liability Act 2002.

Defamation Act 2005

• Section 35 of the Defamation Act 2005 provides for the periodic indexation of the amount to which damages for non economic loss is limited.
• Section 35 of the Act provides that the The value is calculated by the percentage change in the amount estimated by the Australian Statistician of the average weekly total earnings of full time adults in Australia over the four quarters preceding the date of the declaration. The revised figure is rounded to the nearest multiple of $500.
• The Act requires that on or before 1 July each year, the Minister is to publish an order in the Gazette specifying the value of the amount that is to apply from the date specified in the order.
• For more information, read the Defamation Act 2005.

Jurisdictional Limits in various Tasmanian Acts

Variation of Trusts Act 1994

The Variation of Trusts Act 1994 allows the Attorney General to vary charitable trusts where the value of the trust does not exceed certain amounts.

Approval for the variation of Trusts which exceed those limits must be sought from the Supreme Court

Section 7 of the Act sets out the monetary limits of the Attorney General's powers but provides that alternative amounts may be prescribed by regulation.

Prescribed Limits

By the Variation of Trusts Regulations 2014 the amounts in Section 7 were increased with effect from December 2014 as follows:

If the trust property consists of or includes real property (section 7(1)(a)) from $200 000 to $300,000 and

I f the trust property consists of personal property only (section 7(1)(b)) from $100,000 to $150,000.

Magistrates Court (Civil Division) Act 1992

The Magistrates Court (Civil Division) has jurisdiction to deal with civil claims which

1. fall within the monetary limits of the Court prescribed for section 7 or
2. are "minor civil claims" under section 3 of the Act.

Matters over the jurisdictional limit of the Division fall within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

The monetary limit for Section 7 (the "prescribed amount") is in section 3 of the Act - currently $50,000.

Section 3 sets monetary limits for "minor civil claims" of $5,000 and allows

1. new monetary limits to be prescribed for "minor civil claims" and
2. matters to be prescribed as minor civil claims (which may not necessarily involve a monetary value).

Prescribed Limits

By the Magistrates Court (Civil Division) (Minor Civil Claims) Regulations 2013 (S.R. 2013, No. 115) the following matters were prescribed to be minor civil claims for the purposes of para (b) of the above definition:

1. proceedings for damages under the Residential Tenancy Act 1997, if the amount claimed does not exceed $5,000;
2. proceedings under any provision of the Residential Tenancy Act 1997 that confers a right to apply to, or appeal to, the Court;
3. proceedings under any provision of the Irrigation Clauses Act 1973 that confers a right to apply to, or appeal to, the Court;
4. proceedings under any provision of the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992 that confers a right to apply to, or appeal to, the Court.