Ms Deirdre Malone:

In the submission, there are some details and analysis on FLAC's position on multi-party litigation, but it is really important to stress that these are often cases where there is significant bargaining power inequality between the groups of litigants. These are cases where the cost of taking the case is simply prohibitive, but there is a power when one can bring people together and bring cases on the basis of a class action. FLAC has put in a submission on the multi-party actions Bill, which was introduced I think in 2017 and which of course is available. We have seen no progress on bringing forward that Bill, on looking at the particular provisions of that Bill and at the efficiency and cost effectiveness and on what kind of mechanism one can introduce to the system. Additional analysis of that multi-party litigation or multi-party actions would be very welcome.