The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 36

23 February 1992 The Sunday Age IBOKEY 3 Legal jargon makes an ass of micro-economic reforms First there Is the enormous numbeji of statutes to be re-written, as well at the number of standard legal form and contracts that proliferate. Second, there has been reslstandj from some sections of the legal profei sion. Concern ranges from fears th the use of simpler language may fact lead to greater ambiguity, to feaa 1 have previously been instituted as provided by this subsection). limns nin rMw Om tid(rf ls Act UM (CB WHAT THE LAW MEANS TJROCCEDtNGS may be commenced at any time for recoverable costs and expenses Incurred in the foreign proceedings and at later times for recoverable costs and expenses subsequently Incurred. Souror Plain Enfffh and Uw Law.

Iltport No. t. Law ftform Commotion of Victoria. WHAT THf LAW SAYS TyttCEEDMGS In respect of cause JT- of action arising under tnts eectlon, (to this subsection referred to at "coat in relation to proceed-kift instituted or before foreign court (In trtto subsection referred to ae the "foreign may be instituted, notwithstanding that the foreign proceedings are sun pending, respect of recoverable costs and ex-ptoses that have been Incurred by a defendant the foreign proceedings! at any time before he Institute the coat proceedings (other than recover- able costs and expenses kt respect of -Nch coat proceedings have previous- ly been Instituted ae provided by th subsection), and the institution of cost proceeds under this section in rata-. ton to foreign proceedings that are stM pending does not prevent the doferv dent from instituting cost proceedings, after Judgment has been given hi the foreign proceedings or the foreign proceeding have been discontinued or otherwise terminated, in respect of recoverable cost and expenses (other than recoverable costs and expenses ki respect of which cost proceedings Savings, though, can be made at a much simpler level.

A recent revision of court forms for road traffic fences eliminated two forms and substantially reduced a third. The reduction In paperwork freed four staff positions, and saved between $400,000 and $600,000 a year. While the cost of complying with unduly complex laws Is shared by everyone in the community, the greatest burden falls on Australian businesses. From Australia's mammoth tax laws to unnecessarily complex local by-laws, companies are fighting an increasingly costly battle to keep abreast of their rights and obligations. The cost of unnecessarily complex laws snowballs through society: the need for legal advice Is increased; administration Is made more costly; the likelihood of errors is Increased; and all too often the Issue ends In expensive litigation.

Even the Judiciary has difficulties understanding some sections of the law In a recent High Court decision, Mr Justice Deane said he found parts of the capital gains tax law almost Incomprehensible. er than the people who have to comply with the law. By making the law so unnecessarily complex, the law makers are simply creating an artificial demand for legal services," he said. The stylised jargon used in legal documents today can be traced back to the 19th Ceqtury reforms of the British lawyer Jeremy Bentnam. Complexity In language was encouraged by the fact that legal fees were calculated on the number of sheets or folios which the lawyers produced.

The managing partner with Melbourne accounting firm Mann Judd, ProfesiOT DavM KeJty: an appalling lack of concern for the reader. But while everyone supports simplifying the law, achieving it has not proved to be so easy. The State Government first asked the Law Reform Commission of Victoria to investigate this Issue in 1985. While the Government has embraced most of its recommendations, progress has been slow. The music man who got his profitable show on the road New magazine takes a chance in tight market 1 Mr John Barkla, welcomes any attempts to simplify legal language, but believes it will have a significant negative Impact on legal fees.

"If you make laws simpler, then fewer questions of law will arise and people will generally have less need for lawyers and accountants to interpret the law for them. "It will have a huge impact during the first year or two, creating added work for law firms as they explain what it all means to their clients. But after that the simpler laws will mean they need less legal advice," he said. Previous efforts to tap the yuppie market such as 'Savvy' and 'Now' magazines, failed within weeks of being launched. Richard Walsh, the chief executive officer of Australian Consolidated Press and publisher of 60 magazines including 'Women's Weekly' and 'Geo', says he "can't get a handle on who they are aiming "Maybe it shows a lack of imagination on my part, but I just can't see it" he said.

"I feel the success of 'People' in the US is historical because it was established in another era. It is very hard to start the same publication in another time and culture. "US magazines are slightly 'muzak', whereas Australian magazines are based on idiosyncracies, are more intimate, and have a voice that speaks through the magazine quite clearly. "If we thought 'People' magazine was such a good idea we would have done it ourselves." The 84-page black-and-white magazine, with 21 pages of color advertising, has an initial target circulation of 250,000. A market analyst, Mr Steve Allen, from Advertising Investment Services, said the target circulation was conservative.

"They spent the money, they now know more about the market than anyone," he said. Mr Allen said the publication was directed at the 2.5 million yuppies in Australia. "It can't fail," be said. "At a worst-case scenario they are only looking at picking up one reader in five. "The market is out there to be tapped.

I just don't know why no one has got it rieht. The hidden readers, according to Mr Alien, are the men who read women's magazines. Male readers are interested in the Issues covered by women's magazines, and advertisers want to sell to those readers, but both groups are unwilling to be directly associated with such titles as the 'Women's Weekly', 'New Idea' and 'Cleo. But 'Who Weekly' provides, in advertising parlance, a mutual reading environment that should bring advertising from the 'Good Weekend' and "The Bulletin' as well as the women's magazines, said Mr Allen. The Australian Pops Orchestra is the country's only privately owned orchestra.

Mlscha Merz reports on a unique business. N1 ATIONAL tours with operatic greats such as Dame Joan Sutherland and Jose Carreras are a far cry from managing a department la a large trucking company. But a dream has net only became a reality, It is also a fall-time business for the managing director of the Australian Peps Orchestra, Mr Kel MeMillaa. Mr McMillan Is the APO's fonder and Is preud ef the fact that It Is Australia's snly srehestra not funded by government Each concert either makes a profit or breaks even, whereas government-funded orchestras such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are straggling en $4 million annual subsidies. Applying the principles accumulated during years working for the family transport company, MeMillaa aad Caddy, has made him aalque In the area ef arts administration.

The orchestra was a part-time Job almost a hobby for Mr MeMillaa la Its early days, At Its inception In 171 It operated with six sponsors, three ef whom volunteered their money to help the orchestra. He concentrated then ea building the orchestra, establishing a guaranteed aad loyal audience. Concerts were often one-off events and were frequently sponsored ea a similar The name ef the orchestra was finally registered la IMS when Mr McMillan left his transport job and became full-time managing director ef the APO. Although concerts are crucial to the business, the orchestra relies heavily ea corporate sponsorship to meet the cost ef Its administration. Its major speaser Is the Commonwealth Bank ef Australia, bat the list Includes Measaate, Esaada, British Air aad Beadlgs Building Society.

The orchestra's music Is light aad anything bet elitist The familiar repertoire has bread appeal: Gersh By Susan Cavanagh BILLED as the biggest magazine launch in recent Australian publishing history, Time Inc Magazines' new people magazine 'Who Weekly' will hit newsstands on Tuesday. Not daunted by an already saturated magazine market, Time Inc Magazines ploughed $1.5 million into market research in 1991 to identify an untapped readership numbering millions in "middle The target audience, according to Bruce Hallett, publisher of 'Who Weekly', covers both women and men aged between 25 and 44 years of age, and "exactly" mirrors the readership of the 'Who Weekly' sibling in the United States, 'People' magazine. "The research gives some support to the premise that there is an important group of celebrities that are international," he said. "Madonna is not Just from Brooklyn. She's as popular in Melbourne as she is in Minneapolis." Among the celebrities tipped to grace the first cover are Hazel Hawke, movie star Kevin Costner and the Queen.

The name of the convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer has also been raised. But market watchers question whether the target audience will read this 'People' magazine lookalike. S3 Teat run: 'Who Weekly' playing the fame game. By Patricia Howard WIILE Australia strives to achieve greater efficiencies through micro-economic reforms, a much overlooked area is the unduly complex language of law in which the bulk of the nation's statutes and contracts are drafted. Legal Jargon, which has almost been lost in a Jungle of "notwithstandlngs" and "first-named Is becoming Increasingly incomprehensible, except to a handful of highly-trained specialists.

It Is conservatively estimated by the Law Reform Commission that the cost of writing, understanding and complying with laws written in this largely outdated and verbose language is more than $1 billion a year. Simply rewriting the Income Tax Assessment Act which is expounded in a volume about 20 centimetres thick of dense reading and Is widely regarded as one of the most incomprehensible acts In the world is expected to save the nation more than $600 million a year. Business warns Hewson on migration By Stephen Dabkowski THE Opposition Leader, Dr John Hewson, has failed to Impress one of his crucial constituencies business groups with his call that Australia's immigration intake should be cut back to as low as 50,000 people In the recession. Both the Business Council of Australia and the Master Builders Association yesterday cautioned Dr Hewson against making hasty political Judgments that would bring on large swings in Australia's net immigration rate. The Business Council believes that It would be unfortunate if the Issue of Immigration were to become part of a messy political debate In the lead-up to the next election.

The assistant director of the Business Council, Ms Chris Burnup, told The Sunday Age' yesterday that Government economic policy on Immigration should not be based on short-term shifts In the economy. "We think It Is important to have a stable long-term policy which Is politically bipartisan." Ms Burnup said the economic analysis was clear that immigration had made a contribution to the economic wellbetng of Australia. "The focus of this debate has always been quantitative. There needs to be a more qualitative element In Immigration about such things such as how well immigrants Integrate Into the community and their skill levels." Dr Hewson Indicated this week that he favored Australia's net immigration Intake being cut to levels similiar to those during previous recessions to between 50,000 to 75,000 people. The Government's target for gross Immigration this year Is 111,000, although this figure Is offset by permanent departures from Australia, running at about 32,000 people a year.

The Minister for Immigration, Mr Gerry Hand, Is expected to put a submission to Federal Cabinet In the coming weeks on what next year's intake should be. "It's Just a question of getting over the difficult circumstances of this recession, and our reduced capacity to absorb migrants, and then getting back to an expanded migration program, with the right weight, the right emphasis on skills," Dr Hewson said. "There is Just a lot of prejudice about that, not a lot of analysis." The Master Builders Association said that Dr Hewson should not Introduce large and unpredictable swings In Immigration under a coalition government The executive director of the Master Builders Association of Victoria, Mr Brian Mortson, said yesterday that the benefits of Immigration were long term. "For every 50,000 Immigrants, there Is a potential demand for 20,000 dwellings, leading to a 7.5 per cent Increase In the supply of skilled tradesmen, producing an Increase In GDP, aggregate real Investment and real capital stock. "On average, new migrants tend to purchase their first home within two years." A research paper produced by the Bureau of Immigration Research last December showed that halving Australia's Immigration rate would have a marked downward effect on private sector demand, particularly In private dwelling Investment Mm Hawsom urged not to make hasty poWcai Judgments.

sV Successful mode: Kel McMillan is proud of his unsubsidised Australian Pops mat it may lead to a sharp reduction ij legal rees. Chairman of the Law Reform Con mission of Victoria, Professor DavN Kelly, said the biggest obstacle in id traducing simple English to the lai was the existing legal culture. "It I really part of the desperate need Introduce micro-economic reform the entire legal profession." He Is critical of the language used li legal documents, believing it obscure) the meaning of the law from those i most deeply effects, the average citizen. "Some acts are Just a total Jumble Information. There Is often so mud preliminary Information that it coi fuses rather than clarifies.

For li stance, the definitions of terms withil an act can be four or five pages long; Professor Kelly said. "There Is also an appalling lack sold. The APO must have secure ticket tales or It would fold. 1 "We wouldn't be there without contributions from the Commonwealth Bank. It means we ha ve te succeed; la concerts.

They really have to make money. Government orchestral really cant hope for packed audiences whea they play two or three csacetts a week," Mr McMillan said. I The ll-plece APO plans about five events and a total of 12 concert a year, as well as accepting Invitations to play for the Melbourne later-national Festival and the Carreras tours. "That sort of work Is non-risk. We're engaged by other companies," Mr McMillan said.

The APO does about 75 "calls" a year. These calls last three hoars and Include rehearsals. Whea It plays at the Melbourne Concert Hall It has te pay SIMM a algbt fer the venae aad for the orchestra, which does net include rehearsals or advertising. i "It we were a waged orchestra 1 To reverse this situation, It suggests five options for "learning to play the game the Asian Avoid managing developments naively and "by the The report tells of an Australian Industrial company which, after thoroughly assessing the feasibility of an Investment In the Philippines, gazetted Its proposal In accord with local bureaucratic rules. A local entrepreneur, apparently confident that the Idea was well-researched given the reputation of the Australian firm, bought a second-hand mill and jumped Into the market with a "cheap The Australian firm lost SO per cent of the market and never really caught up," the study said.

"We doubt that this would be as likely In Australia but one learns to respect the speed and flexibility of local entrepreneurs In Asia and not to do everything by the book, or be trapped by bureaucratic rules." Make a sound choice of local partner. The report describes this as probably the single most Important choice In local positioning aad access to local customers. But it wares that local partners, by virtue of their own local alliances aad status, can be constraining. "In deciding whom to choose, there Is ae substitute for time, shoe leather and direct inquiries to determine the 11 of the land, who Is tied up with whom." Do aot rely excessively oa a local partner for local staff. concern for the reader.

The way most acts are designed, they are simply Impossible to read. The explanatory notes are almost impossible to understand. It really is quite simple to Just Insert simple explanations and examples of how the act is meant to work." Professor Kelly has done extensive work revising the form in which Australian laws should be written, and Is striving to have a course for legislative draftspeople introduced to speed the adoption of simple English. "It seems the drafters of legislation are always writing for the Judges rath- Orchestra. ptM cmmstopher beck we'd aeed multl-mllltoa-dollar subsidies, But this doesnt compare with anything else.

It's aa approach that a funded orchestra cant Mr McMillan said. Many of the musicians are teachers or people working in other areas ef the music industry who want te play la an orchestra but are unable te do so full time. Mr McMillan said he had a policy of aot poaching full-time musicians from other orchestras. "I employ casual musicians because there are plenty ef them, they need the work and they play very welt" he said. These polished musicians have performed with world-clan conductors such as Nicholas Bralthwaite, and artists Including Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Harry Secembe, Barry Humphries and Victor Borge.

They have also played la Kea Russell's preductioa of 'Madam Butterfly' fer the Vlctorlaa State Opera, and 'Alda' and Carmen' la Melbourne and Sydney. in Asia "The experience of many Australian ventures is that it is vital to Introduce their own systems, bring people in and broaden the local skill base," the study says. Learn to handle government The study observes that lower echelons of the bureaucracy "tend to be preoccupied with following the rules to avoid the very real punishment and blame that follows It says that strong local partners or very able local staff are critically important In dealings with government agencies. It also says that the "potential for paralysis" is greater with the growth of democracy in the region because "Interest groups get more Coping with local ethics. The study warns against adopting a "holier-than-thou" attitude, and concludes: "The key seems to be to know one's own ethical limits, to set them from the start and avoid being compromised.

Once compromised, you are gone." The study criticises 'endencyof Australian Arms to delegate the leadership for Asian developments and argues that the chief executive officer should be integrally Involved. While the study does not focus oa how the Federal Government can help firms succeed la Asia, It does raise several options that may be tackled in the Prime Minister's economic statement oa Wednesday. These Include Improving Infrastructure and dividend streaming to enable International investments "to compete oa equal terms with domestic BCA report points way i How Long Will Your Lump Sum Last? win, Cole Porter, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and the Beatles, and works such as 'La Travlata', 'Carmen' aad Alda'. Music and business have mixed weU for Mr MeMillaa, who plays clarinet and saxophone. But his ewa music has been set aside as he ploughs his time aad energy late ruining the orchestra a sevea-day-a-week Job.

The APO Is also kaewa as the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, which has a more classical repertoire and, according to Mr McMillan, always breaks evea aad seme years makes a profit Fsur years ago, the company made a profit of I5MM, but Mr MeMillaa will reveal ae ether figures. The secret of the orchestra's success Is that the musicians are not on full-time salaries; they are paid ea a coatract basis and the music Itself has a guaranteed audience. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Vlctorlaa Symphony Orchestra play regardless ef hsw many tickets are "It Is this dimension to operating In Asia, the fact that people and customs are not the same as In Australia, that substantially Increases the perceived risk for our business leaders and discourage them for championing more aggressive pursuit of Asian opportunities." 'The key teems to be to know one's own ethical limits, to set them from the sUrt end avoid being While the study says there is no "off-the-shelf' model for managing local business culture or ethics, It say that It often helps to adopt a local orientation, "sometimes with a cynical "By putting oneself la the local' position, oae can often anticipate and find uncomfortable developments more understandable and less threatening. They will still happen, but at least It Is possible to roll with the punches more readily." While the study, which draws oa the experience of a wide range of Australian companies in Asia, finds that there are significant opportunities for profits, sales aad growth, It concludes that the overall results la the region an If you are retiring or being retrenched and have received a lump sum, one of your biggest concerns is whether your lump sum will be adequate to meet your income needs for the rest of your life. FREE SEMINAR At our next FREE SEMINAR at 11 a.m.

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