Category Archives: Law (Australia)

Legal Aid lawyers kept in the dark over ‘damning’ report on terror risk assessment tool

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Report which cast doubt over use of VERA-2R tool in detaining terror suspects post-sentencing was not shared with state governments or legal aid

Legal Aid lawyers were left oblivious to a damning government-held report which cast doubt on a tool used to lock up or control 25 of their clients on the basis they might commit a terrorist offence in the future.

Guardian Australia has revealed serious problems with the way the federal and New South Wales governments have wielded extraordinary powers to detain or control individuals for crimes they have not yet committed.

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Aboriginal legal services frozen or at risk of shutting in 17 communities across NSW and Queensland

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Advocates call for federal government to provide urgent funding for culturally safe legal services to prevent worsening Indigenous incarceration crisis

Four communities in Queensland have had their Aboriginal legal services frozen and more than a dozen communities in New South Wales are at risk of losing theirs, prompting calls for urgent funding from the commonwealth government to help First Nations clients.

Karly Warner, the chair of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services national peak body NATSILS, said communities were now at risk of not being able to access culturally safe legal services and lead to a worsening crisis of Indigenous incarceration.

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Lawyers outraged by government failure to disclose terrorism-prediction tool’s serious problems

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Hayley Le, whose clients were assessed to be at risk of offending due to extreme beliefs, calls for judicial review of ‘confronting’ conduct

Lawyers for four men targeted using extraordinary terrorism powers are outraged at the failure to disclose serious problems with a tool being used to predict their clients’ likelihood of future offending.

The lawyers say the conduct should be subject to urgent judicial review.

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‘Reasonable doubt’ as to Kathleen Folbigg’s guilt over deaths of her children, inquiry told

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Folbigg and her two daughters found to carry a rare genetic variation, which could cast doubt on her convictions, inquiry hears

Counsel assisting an inquiry into Kathleen Folbigg’s convictions have submitted there is reasonable doubt about her guilt over the deaths of her four children.

“On the whole of the body of evidence before this inquiry there is a reasonable doubt as to Ms Folbigg’s guilt,” Sophie Callan SC said, summarising her closing submissions on Wednesday.

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Three strikes: NSW falls behind rest of nation as Queensland reforms drug possession laws

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Queensland health minister says progressive changes will open up pathways for people to receive treatment

New South Wales will become the only state that doesn’t allow cautions for people possessing drugs after Queensland moved to mandate a three-strike system.

Doctors, police and drug reform advocates are welcoming reforms, passed on Thursday night, that will see Queensland take a more progressive approach to policing the personal consumption of illegal drugs.

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Ex-intelligence officer Witness J’s mother did not know he was in jail, sentencing remarks reveal

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ACT chief justice calls secrecy ‘anathema to the rule of law’ as sentencing decision finally made public

The Australian Capital Territory’s chief justice, Lucy McCallum, has described secrecy as “anathema to the rule of law” while releasing the long-awaited sentencing decision against Witness J.

The man, known by the pseudonym Alan Johns and also as Witness J, was jailed in complete secrecy after pleading guilty and being convicted for the disclosure of confidential information.

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NSW courts put all remaining Covid infringement cases on hold after ruling on legality of fines

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Exclusive: Urgent legal advice being sought by courts to clarify how decision could affect pending and finalised cases

A damning ruling about the legality of Covid fines has prompted New South Wales police to quietly withdraw some infringements from court and forced the judiciary to put all remaining Covid breach cases on hold, pending urgent legal advice.

Earlier this month, the status of tens of thousands of fines issued during Covid restrictions was cast into doubt by a NSW supreme court ruling, which found infringements that failed to properly spell out an alleged offence were invalid.

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#MeToo movement ‘seemingly affected’ Bruce Lehrmann investigation, inquiry hears

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Relationship between ACT police and DPP ‘beset by tension’, first public hearing told

The #MeToo movement and “intense public discussions” about low rates of convictions “seemingly affected” decisions made to investigate and prosecute Bruce Lehrmann for the alleged sexual assault of Brittany Higgins, an inquiry has heard.

Erin Longbottom, counsel assisting the inquiry into the Australian Capital Territory criminal justice system’s handling of the case, made that submission on Monday morning at the inquiry’s first hearing.

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Whether it was proper for ACT police to conduct a second evidence in chief interview with Higgins on 26 May 2021;

“Confusion about whether Mr Lehrmann should be charged and how matters affecting the credibility of Ms Higgins were to be treated by police in deciding whether to charge Mr Lehrmann, and by the DPP in deciding whether to present an indictment”;

Delivery of the brief of evidence to Lehrmann’s lawyers on 6 August, after he was charged but before a plea was entered, which included counselling notes about Higgins; and

“The apparent close engagement” between investigating officers and lawyers for Lehrmann during the trial “which led to some distrust between police and the DPP”.

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Legal experts criticise suggestions Indigenous voice will have veto power in parliament

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‘No substance in it,’ former chief justice Robert French says, while experts split on whether amendment should include ‘executive government’

Constitutional experts have criticised suggestions the Indigenous voice will have veto power in the Australian parliament, calling such prophecies “doomsdaying” and “distorting” of the truth.

Speaking at the first hearing of the joint select committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice referendum, a string of legal experts said the voice would be legislated to provide representations on relevant matters, akin to advice.

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Brittany Higgins’ and Grace Tame’s full press club address removed after defamation claim against ABC

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The video, which has been removed from the ABC’s YouTube channel, had 127,000 views by the time Bruce Lehrmann’s claim was filed

The video of Brittany Higgins’ and Grace Tame’s full National Press Club address on the treatment of women has been removed from YouTube after defamation proceedings were lodged against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The ABC has for months resisted legal demands for the video to be removed from YouTube, prompting Bruce Lehrmann to sue in the federal court for defamation last week.

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Thousands of Australian visa decisions may be affected by high court ruling, experts warn

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Advocates fear court’s decision rejecting Coalition-era policy could result in a hasty legislative fix

Migration and legal experts have warned the true number of visa decisions affected by invalid refusals of ministerial intervention is likely to be in the tens of thousands, after the high court rejected bureaucrats’ ability to block applications.

Advocates fear the court’s decision on Tuesday rejecting a Coalition-era policy that cases must show “unique or exceptional circumstances” could result in a hasty legislative fix.

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Constitutional expert gives legal tick to Indigenous voice in parliamentary submission

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Voice will not result in obligations on the executive or parliament, Anne Twomey says in submissions to inquiry

One of the nation’s top constitutional experts has reiterated to a parliamentary inquiry that the Indigenous voice to parliament won’t slow down government decision-making or clog up the courts.

Conservative critics have raised fears the voice could spur ongoing court challenges, but Prof Anne Twomey once again dismissed those concerns in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry probing the referendum.

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Defence whistleblower David McBride to stand trial four years and eight months after being charged

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Trial set down for 6 November for former military lawyer accused of leaking classified Australian defence information to journalists

Former military lawyer David McBride will have waited four years and eight months before facing trial for allegedly leaking classified defence information to the media.

McBride’s case was mentioned briefly in the ACT supreme court on Thursday morning, the latest step in protracted legal proceedings that have been in train since March 2019.

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Victoria to abolish the crime of public drunkenness starting Melbourne Cup Day

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Government sets start date for its move towards a public health approach to public intoxication

The criminal offence of public drunkenness will be abolished in Victoria from Melbourne Cup Day.

Victorian tender documents show the criminal justice response to public intoxication will be replaced with a health-based approach from 7 November.

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Consumer advocates reject media calls to preserve exemptions to Australian privacy law

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Centre for Responsible Technology ‘supportive’ of proposed reforms, calling them the ‘first significant upgrade of privacy laws in four decades’

Consumer digital rights advocates have rejected media companies’ call to preserve their exemption to privacy law, warning that commercial models should not be put ahead of public interest.

Peter Lewis, the director of the Australia Institute’s Centre for Responsible Technology, said it was “disappointing” that the Right to Know coalition “set up with the laudable goal of protecting journalists and whistleblowers is now being deployed to prosecute Big Media’s business interests at the expense of the public they purport to serve”.

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Manus Island and Nauru: previously unseen testimony and AI imagery reveal ‘unimaginable’ part of Australian history

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The witness statements were collected during more than 300 hours of interviews with refugees as part of a now discontinued pro bono class action

Thirty-two witness statements from refugees detained by Australia offshore on Nauru and Manus Island have been published as part of an exhibition chronicling, in graphic detail, conditions inside Australia’s offshore immigration processing centres.

The statements were collected during more than 300 hours of interviews with women and men detained offshore as part of a now discontinued pro bono class action that challenged the detention of a number of people forcibly held in immigration detention.

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Australian media companies reject proposed privacy law reforms

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Coalition of organisations says changes would have ‘devastating impact on press freedom’ and are not in public interest

Media companies have rejected a proposal to reform Australian privacy law, warning that the changes – including a right to sue outlets for serious invasions of privacy – are not in the public interest and would harm press freedom.

The Right to Know coalition warns the attorney general’s department’s proposal, released in February, would have “a devastating impact on press freedom and journalism in Australia without any clearly defined need or benefit”.

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Payday lender Cigno’s cash prize lottery raises concerns of consumer groups

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Past incarnations of the company which charged exorbitant fees for small loans were pursued in the courts by Asic

Payday lender Cigno is offering lottery-style cash prizes in a revamped business that is raising concerns from consumer groups it will target vulnerable Australians.

The Gold Coast company, which built its business on offering emergency cash to struggling households, has been pursued in the courts by the corporate regulator over past incarnations that charged exorbitant fees for small loans.

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Law council joins calls to abolish Australia’s powers to detain terrorist offenders to prevent future crimes

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Peak legal body endorses findings by independent monitor that recommends scrapping continuing detention orders

Australia’s peak lawyers body has urged the government to abolish “fraught” powers that allow terrorist offenders to be imprisoned so as to prevent possible crimes being committed in the future.

Last week a damning report by Australia’s national security law watchdog recommended scrapping continuing detention orders, which allow terrorist offenders to be imprisoned for three years on the basis of predicted crimes rather than for any crime they have committed.

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Sky News Australia broadcaster Erin Molan and Daily Mail settle defamation case

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Molan and media outlet mutually agree to discontinue legal proceedings at federal court mediation on Thursday

The legal stoush between the Daily Mail and Sky News broadcaster Erin Molan has been settled.

The Daily Mail on Thursday reached a walk-away settlement with the television presenter.

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