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.
Family Court clients often have specific needs and vulnerabilities.
AAP/Alan Porritt
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 alleges breaches of law on transnational organised crime and human rights grounds in relation to Australia’s anti-people smuggling activities.
AAP/Scott Fisher
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.
How could Maurice Blackburn prove that poker machine gamblers might be misled by the ‘losses disguised as wins’ technique?
AAP/Paul Jeffers
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.
The government is set to extend control orders to children as young as 14.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
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 Turnbull government’s package of measures to respond to domestic violence is a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.
AAP/Julian Smith
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.
Labor’s Terri Butler is co-sponsoring a bill to make acts of ‘revenge porn’ a federal crime.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
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 has reported on the government’s proposed citizenship revocation laws.
AAP/Dan Peled
A parliamentary committee report recommends several welcome improvements to the government’s citizenship-stripping bill. However, several important concerns remain.
Trade union royal commissioner Dyson Heydon refused to find that he was affected by apprehended bias.
AAP/Joel Carrett
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
Applications from trade unions failed to convince Dyson Heydon to disqualify himself as royal commissioner.
AAP/Joel Carrett
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.
Dyson Heydon prided himself throughout his judicial career on the robust independence and intellectual integrity he brought to the role.
AAP/Renee Nowytarger
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?
Dyson Heydon is facing a push to remove him as royal commissioner investigating trade union corruption.
AAP/Joel Carrett
Judges and other officials – such as tribunal members and royal commissioners – must not only be impartial, they must also appear to be impartial.
Questions are being asked about why Man Haron Monis was free on bail, but a witch-hunt is unlikely to improve the process of deciding when to keep an accused person in custody.
AAP/Dean Lewins
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.
The message that terrorism is exceptional and egregious will be compromised if the current citizenship revocation bill becomes law.
AAP/Dan Peled
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.
Australia’s method of appointing judges to its highest courts is opaque and informal.
AAP/Lukas Coch
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.
What options is Australia left with for same-sex marriage rights?
Alex Bainbridge/AAP
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.