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On 3 December 2018 Dr Kerryn Phelps MP introduced the Migration Amendment ( Urgent Medical Treatment ) Bill to parliament. The legislation, if passed, will require the temporary transfer of asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru to Australia if they are assessed by two or more doctors as needing medical treatment. The legislation will…

The Victorian Premier has announced the state will be passing legislation to outlaw the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy. The Health Complaints Commissioner, which commenced an inquiry into the practice last year, found overwhelming evidence that the therapy does long-term damage to people who receive it. The inquiry into gay conversion therapy On 15…

On 26 January, Australia will celebrate Australia Day. The date on which Australia Day is celebrated has been the subject of increasing controversy, with many people feeling that the chosen date is offensive to Aboriginal people and divides, rather than unifies, the community. 26 January has been a national public holiday since 1994. What happened…

On 16 January 2019, the NT Coroner handed down his findings in the inquest into the death of Australian Defence Force soldier Jason Roger Challis while taking part in a live firing exercise near Darwin. The 25-year-old died after being shot in the head by his fellow soldiers after taking up an incorrect position behind…

A Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) decision late last year has called into question the state’s laws prohibiting firearm silencers. The decision considered the Queensland Police’s refusal to grant a farmer’s request to possess a silencer in order to more safely use his firearms to control invasive species on his property. The health benefits…

The Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton has come under fire after it has come to light that 27-year-old Neil Prakash, who was stripped of his Australian citizenship last month, does not, in fact, have Fijian citizenship. Contrary to the Minister’s assertion that Prakash is a dual national, the Fijian government has today denied that…

The National Transport Commission (NTC) is currently reviewing how the Australian Road Rules deal with driver distraction. The current rules relating to driver distraction were developed in 1999 when mobile phones were mainly used for calls and text messages and in-vehicle technology was limited to television screens. The review will consider the variety of ways…

As more and more information is stored digitally, a number of cases have come before the courts where a party has argued that a digital document has a testamentary intention and should be treated as a digital will. Traditionally, a will is required to have been executed in accordance with the formalities provided for in…

On 25 July 2018, the Victorian Government announced that it would introduce the Justice Legislation Amendment (Unlawful Association and Criminal Appeals) Bill. This Bill, if passed, will abolish the right to a de novo appeal in Victoria. What is a de novo appeal? A de novo appeal is an appeal from the Magistrates’ Court to the…

The Australian government has announced it will not be signing a United Nations migration pact, which was developed during 2018. The pact invites signatory states to work towards a more humane and cooperative approach to world migration and to adopt domestic practices that address migration issues in a safe, orderly and regular way through international…

A Labor and Greens bill, which would allow parents to choose whether or not to have their baby’s sex recorded on the birth certificate, has passed the Tasmanian lower house. The bill also allows people over 16 to change the gender on their birth certificate if they make a statutory declaration and have the support…

The Tasmanian government has this month released draft legislation that would impose mandatory reporting obligations on priests. If the new law is passed, Tasmanian priests will face criminal charges and possible jail time if they fail to report child sex offences that have been disclosed to them, including under the confessional seal. Similar legislation has…

The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention has condemned Australia’s detention of three asylum seekers. The group, which reports to the UN Human Rights Council, on which Australia has a seat, has expressed concern about asylum seekers and immigrants being detained around the world, and highlighted 94 cases of arbitrary detention around the world,…

Last week the historic Gay Conviction Expungement Bill passed the West Australian parliament. People in Western Australia with historic convictions on their records for having consensual gay sex prior to its decriminalisation in 1990 will be able to have these convictions expunged. Western Australia is the last Australian jurisdiction to pass such legislation, with a…

Nick Hardy-Clements, Jordan Vincent, Daniel Shestowsky, Michelle Makela , Jack Leitner, James Stevens, Carl Patterson Finch, Sylvie Maranis, Ali Rana and Tanguy Mwilambwe attended a black-tie event at The Star Sydney on 31 August 2018 where the winners of 2018’s Australian Law Awards (ALAs) were announced. Go To Court Lawyers was shortlisted in both the New…

On 16 August 2018, the Victorian Court of Appeal significantly reduced the sentence given to Akon Guode. Ms Guode was sentenced to a total of 26 years and six months imprisonment for the murder of her two four-year-old children, the infanticide of her 18 month-old child and the attempted murder of her five-year-old child. On…

The federal government’s attempt to put in place legislated targets for the reduction of carbon emissions over the next decade in the form of the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) has been abandoned as questions about Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership take centre stage. The questions of how best the country can agree on, legislate and achieve targets for…

The Senate will on Tuesday debate a bill that if passed will allow the territories to legislate for voluntary euthanasia. The bill was introduced by David Leyonhjelm and would reverse the 1997 ban on the ACT and NT legalising euthanasia, which voided the 1995 decision by the Northern Territory parliament to legalise assisted suicide. The…

A Queensland parliamentary inquiry is investigating the problem of wage theft in Queensland. The committee will be looking at the incidence of wage theft in the state, its impact on workers, families, businesses, the community and the economy. It will consider why wage theft is occurring, which industries or occupations it is most prevalent in…

A bill of rights is a list of the fundamental rights of citizens of a country. It exists to protect the rights of individuals from being violated by the state or by other individuals. A bill of rights can be entrenched or unentrenched. An entrenched bill of rights is contained within the constitution of the…