In coming months, the High Court – the highest court in Australia and the final arbiter on the meaning of the Constitution – will decide several high-profile cases. These decisions, which may result in…
Queensland attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie has taken decisions about detaining sex offenders in prison after their sentences have been served into his own hands.
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There is a good constitutional reason for not allowing politicians to make decisions which result in imprisonment. It’s called the separation of powers and is meant to ensure that politics does not intrude…
People with intellectual disabilities are detained indefinitely under WA laws.
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People with intellectual disabilities who are found to be “unfit to plead” are still locked away for years on end in Western Australia. Similarly, in the Northern Territory, this detention occurs in prison…
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon should amend the Anti-Discrimination Bill.
AAP/Alan Porrit
Australia lacks a national bill of rights and the many attempts over the years to adopt one have failed. But Australia already has a raft of human rights laws, including many anti-discrimination acts…
The mother (centre) of the four young girls at the centre of a custody dispute arrives at court hearing in Brisbane.
AAP/Dan Peled
Last week’s Media Watch programme on the ABC discussed the role of the Australian media in the custody case of four Queensland children that has created headlines across the country over the past few months…
Tents at Nauru that await asylum seekers as their claims are processed.
AAP/Department of Immigration and Citizenship
The High Court’s decision in the M47 case is likely to be a pyrrhic victory for refugee rights. Last week the High Court ruled that the regulation that allowed the Commonwealth to deny a visa to a refugee…
The final pieces of the historical puzzle around the 1975 Whitlam dismissal are not as sensational as they first seem.
Image courtesy of National Archives of Australia. NAA: A6180, 13/11/75/33
Much hyperbole has been generated by the recent revelations concerning Sir Anthony Mason’s involvement in the 1975 dismissal, but for the most part it shows ignorance of the past. Earlier this week, The…
Australia’s High Court has dismissed the plain tobacco packaging case brought against the government by tobacco companies.
TRACEY NEARMY/AAP
This morning Australia’s High Court dismissed the plain tobacco packaging case brought against the Australian government by the world’s largest tobacco companies. The companies had challenged the government’s…
Fortescue founder and current non-executive chairman, Andrew Forrest has been a prominent critic of the federal government’s mining tax. The company has finally launched a much anticipated High Court challenge to the tax.
AAP
Perth-based mining giant Fortescue Metals Group has launched a last-minute High Court action against the mining tax, planning to argue the legislation - due to start on July 1 - breaches the Australian…
The High Court landmark decision in the school chaplaincy case is an opportunity for reform.
Flickr/petelawley
The historic majority Australian High Court ruling that the National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) is “invalid” is a gift to the argument for secular public education. Secular statutes (for example…
Attorney General Nicola Roxon and Minister for School Education Peter Garrett respond to the Williams High Court decision.
AAP Image/Penny Bradfield
Today, the High Court of Australia dramatically altered the previously understood scope of the Commonwealth’s power to spend money and enter into contracts. This decision has immediate repercussions for…
Australia’s High Court has found in favour of Internet service provider iiNet in a high profile piracy case that is being closely watched around the world.
AAP
In what is being billed as iiNet versus Hollywood, the Australian internet service provider has come out an apparent winner after the High Court dismissed a copyright infringement case brought by industry…
Gina Rinehart with daughter Ginia Rinehart attend a State Reception for Queen Elizabeth II in Perth.
AAP/Lincoln Baker
The dispute between Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, and her children is more than a private squabble between relatives. The high profile of the litigants meant the case was always going to attract…
Julia Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen after the High Court ruled the Malaysian Solution invalid.
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The Federal Government’s position on handling asylum seekers is in disarray. The High Court has ruled its Malaysia Solution invalid and the Coalition has indicated it will not support moves to amend the…
Would an increase in the number of asylum seekers being processed on the Australian mainland lead to London and Paris style rioting on the streets? According to press reports this week, that is what the…
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen faces severe problems after the High Court ruling.
AAP
The decision by the full bench of the High Court ruling the Gillard Government’s Malaysia Solution for dealing with asylum seekers who arrive by boat invalid creates a massive problem for the minority…
Protestors outside the High Court during a previous hearing in Malaysian Solution case.
AAP
The Gillard government’s refugee policy is in disarray after the full bench of the High Court today made permanent injunctions preventing the removal of asylum seekers to Malaysia. The action was initially…
In Australia, forensic evidence is coming under increasing scrutiny.
Andrea Hayward/AAP
FORENSICS AUSTRALIA – Jurors without technical training are frequently required to consider complex forensic evidence. It’s not just a matter of understanding the forensic evidence: in the case of “opposing…
Campaigners in Sydney protesting against the Malaysian Solution.
AAP
The High Court’s extension of an injunction preventing the deportation of asylum seekers under the so-called Malaysian Solution threatens to present the Gillard Government with a major political problem…