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On 19 June 2019, the High Court handed down its decision in the matter of Masson v Parsons. The case concerned whether a man engaged as a sperm donor was a parent within the meaning of the Family Law Act. Mr Masson had donated sperm to a lesbian mother on the understanding that he would…

While police and judicial officers are responsible for prosecuting and sentencing individuals for criminal offences, sometimes people in positions of authority are themselves charged with perverting the course of justice. This commonly arises in circumstances that amount to an abuse of power. A recent case from the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dealt with a…

The Queensland government announced in March that Queensland’s two privately operated prisons will be brought back under government control. The decision came in the wake of a Crime and Corruption Commission report on corruption in corrective services facilities. The report, released in December 2018, found that corruption was rife in private prisons and that the…

Acclaimed author Fiona Wright was last week refused entry onto a Qantas flight From Sydney to Alice Springs, resulting in her missing the NT Writers’ Festival. Wright claims the decision was ‘out and out discrimination’ against her as a person who suffers from a mental illness and requires the help of an assistance dog. She…

The operation of Queensland laws around sexual assaults has come under scrutiny in recent months, with calls emerging for the state to be brought into line with other Australian jurisdictions by abolishing the defence of honest mistake. Queensland lawyer and author and Bri Lee, whose memoir Eggshell Skull documents her experience of sexual assault as…

Two men of Aboriginal descent are facing deportation from Australia, under immigration laws introduced in 2014 that allow for the deportation of non-citizens who fail the character test. Both men were born overseas, have lived in Australia since they were children but were never granted Australian citizenship. Both are challenging their deportation and the lawfulness…

On 30 April 2019, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivered a decision in the challenges brought by South African sprinter Caster Semenya and by Athletics South Africa (ASA). The champion runner and the ASA had challenged the validity of the IAAF’s eligibility requirements for competing in the female category. The CAS dismissed the…

In the last few years, the UK and Ireland have legislated for a new family violence offence known as ‘coercive control’ towards an intimate partner or family member. The offence involves a pattern of domination and intimidation towards a family member that may include emotional or financial abuse, isolation and other forms of abuse, but…

Early this month the federal government committed to conducting a Royal Commission into the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disabilities. The commitment came after many years of campaigning by disability advocates for such an inquiry to take place and after serious allegations of physical and sexual abuse, neglect and exploitation in the…

On 11 April 2019, the Federal Court of Australia handed down its decision in the matter of Rush v Nationwide News Pty Ltd. The court found that publications made by the defendant about Australian actor Geoffrey Rush contained defamatory imputations and that the defence of justification did not succeed. It awarded  Rush damages for non-economic…

The Prime Minister has vowed to introduce tough new penalties for vegan activists if he is re-elected in May. The Melbourne CBD was shut down last week by a peaceful protest against the use and abuse of animals in factory farms. The protest was part of a national day of action, when protesters also targeted…

Tasmania this week became the first Australian jurisdiction to make the listing of babies’ apparent sex on birth certificates optional. The Tasmanian Senate this week passed the Justice and Related Legislation (Marriage Amendment) Bill, despite the opposition of the Liberal government. Under the new legislation, Tasmanians aged over 16 will also be able to change…

The High Court today handed down its decision in respect of two anti-abortion activists who challenged the constitutionality of laws restricting behaviour within safe access zones in Victoria and Tasmania. Kathleen Clubb of Melbourne and Graham Preston of Hobart, challenged fines they received for protesting within the no protest zones around medical clinics offering abortion…

On 13 March 2019 the High Court handed down its decision in a native title compensation matter where it considered the entitlements of the Ngaliwurru and Nungali peoples to compensation for the extinguishment of their native title rights and interests. The decision marks the first time the High Court has considered a native title compensation…

Today primary and secondary school students around the world walked out of school to demand action on climate change. Inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old who organised the first student strike over climate change in August 2018, the students striking in Australia made three specific demands to the Morrison government: Stop the Adani…

Cardinal George Pell was  sentenced today by the Victorian County Court for historical child sex offences. He received a total effective sentence of six years imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and eight months. The offences occurred in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996 and 1997 and the victims were two 13-year-old…

In the last five years, around 1500 New Zealand citizens have been deported from Australia after committing criminal offences in Australia. The number of deportations of NZ citizens increased sharply after the Migration Act was amended in 2014, giving the minister broader powers to cancel visas and amending the character test.  Many of those deported…

Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day that has been used to celebrate the achievements of women since 1910. International Women’s Day was first marked in Australia in Sydney in 1928 and had spread to all capital citied by 1931. Today, IWD is a day to reflect on the progress that has been made…

The man who drove a stolen car through Bourke Street mall, killing six people and seriously injuring 27 in 2017, was sentenced by the Victorian Supreme Court on 22 February 2019. Justice Weinberg called it one of the ‘worst examples of mass murder’ in Australia’s history and ordered James Gargasoulas to serve six concurrent life…

On 14 February 2019, the Industrial Chemical Charges Bill 2017 passed the Senate. The bill will limit the circumstances in which cosmetics that have been tested on animals can be placed on the Australian market. Australia has been slow to legislate against the use of cosmetic animal testing. The UK passed legislation in 1998 and…