Dame Roma Mitchell is remembered as Australia’s first female judge. But Queenslander May Lahey beat her to the punch when she became a judge in Los Angeles in 1928. Her lack of recognition is symptomatic of how Australia remembers expats, particularly women.
The Australian government had and has the power to do things necessary to establish and maintain its immigration detention facility on Manus Island, despite detention violating PNG law.
A new lawsuit against the CBA puts climate change in a new legal light: a financial hazard. The case opens up fresh lines of attack on institutions that contribute to climate change.
The key question in a legal challenge to the ‘postal plebiscite’ is whether information about Australians’ opinions on same-sex marriage constitutes ‘statistical information’.
Given the events of the past week, now is an opportune time to discuss reform of a section of the Constitution that makes dual nationals ineligible to sit in parliament.
Unlike most domestic criminal law, the laws governing the behaviour of Australian armed forces apply to criminal conduct alleged to have taken place overseas.
It is obviously important to protect the institutional integrity and independence of the judiciary – but the judiciary and judicial decisions should not be immune from criticism.
Terrorism laws contain extra hurdles to secure a conviction, so prosecutors and police may prefer to charge offenders with murder or assault in some cases.
The usual procedures for extradition between countries with substantial and complex bilateral relations – like those that Australia and China have – will now not be available.
In a world where educational opportunity is unjustly distributed, there are questions as to whether private schools should be exempt from paying income tax.
New South Wales law provides no clear definition of the crimes that fall into the worst possible category. This leads to inconsistent and unfair sentencing.
In many cases, a reference will contain negative things about its subject. This is part of a reference’s design: the referee should give a full and frank assessment.