The Government of Queensland, a member-state of the Commonwealth of Australia, is introducing legislation to subject banks and other financial institutions to class action writs issued by investors.

The legislation, announced recently by attorney-general Yvette D'Ath, is to apply to businesses generally. At present, Queenslanders who wish to take class action have to operate through other jurisdictions - notably other states such as states New South Wales and Victoria, which already have class action law - to do so.

Queensland's decision is the product of years of lobbying by lawyers who are now reported to be rubbing their hands at the prospect of the first cases. Bill Potts, the head of the Queensland Law Society, has told the national press that there are at least six large Queensland-based class actions under way or being prepared that have been routed through or 'forced into' the states of New South Wales and/or Victoria. Such contortions will soon not be necessary.

Class actions of a kind are already technically possible in the state, but only by people who have the same interest in the subject matter. It is usually very difficult to find a case in which everyone's claim is the same as everyone else's. The existence of such a rare case, moreover, does not stop the plaintiffs from making claims in their own right at the same time, thereby subjecting the respondent to the needless expense of cases on many fronts.