Sir John Kerr probably made his own decision to dismiss the Whitlam government much earlier than he acknowledged publicly while alive – but he came to this conclusion in discussion with others.
Merging the back-end operations of Australia’s federal courts could have significant implications for the way in which resources are allocated to meet the needs of family courts and their clients.
Amnesty International believes its evidence shows that Australia organised or directed the crew of an asylum seeker boat to commit the crime of people smuggling into Indonesia.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn that plans to use Australian consumer law to argue that poker machine operators are engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct to trick gamblers into using poker machines.
Beyond general expressions of “opposition” to capital punishment, Australia did not emphasise specific human rights principles in its lobbying of Indonesia to spare Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
The royal commission has made a convincing case for a national scheme for redress: it is more prudent in terms of economies of scale, and more fair and equitable to survivors.
The internet, smartphones and social media mean that extensive sharing of private images without consent is far easier than in the past. And the severity of the harm victims suffer is far greater.
A parliamentary committee report recommends several welcome improvements to the government’s citizenship-stripping bill. However, several important concerns remain.
There are inherent shortcomings in a procedure that asks judges to make objective and rational assessments about how their own conduct, relationships or interests might appear to others
Dyson Heydon didn’t accept that merely agreeing to give the Sir Garfield Barwick lecture could create an appearance of bias. Judges and royal commissioners are allowed to have political views, he said.
How has a former judge with an avowed commitment to judicial independence and probity found himself at the centre of a very public controversy over his own impartiality?
The spotlight is on a 2013 decision to grant bail to Man Haron Monis, the man responsible for the Lindt Cafe siege a year later. It must be hoped risk-averse politicians can avoid knee-jerk responses.
Multiple concerns have been raised about the citizenship-stripping bill’s inattention to human rights, its differential impact upon dual and sole nationals, and its potential application to persons who commit relatively minor crimes.
It is no criticism of Australia’s judiciary to say that it would be preferable, both for them and the public, if they took office after a more transparent process.
Tony Abbott raised several possibilities on Australia’s road to achieving same-sex marriage. But the only way Australia will get there is through parliament.