Much of the work of government is carried out by public servants with the assistance of lawyers. Because the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) (‘Human Rights Act’) is intended to change the way government works, it also has consequences for the way public…
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long called for structural reform to Australia’s institutional framework to protect and promote their rights. In recent years, however, state and territory governments have proven more receptive to…
The law of propensity evidence is in a state of flux in Australia as various State jurisdictions decide on their responses to recommendations of the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Controversy persists about the…
The small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector is the largest and most productive in Australia. Like all established market-based economies, ours is characterised by the use of contracts as a mechanism for exchange. Contracts often require…
Despite persistent criticism from international human rights bodies and experts, Queensland continues to permit the ‘lawful correction’ of children as a defence to criminal offences committed against them. The recent introduction of a human rights…
In this article we examine the recent High Court decision in LibertyWorks Inc v Commonwealth of Australia (‘LibertyWorks’). We argue that this decision fails to properly apply the implied freedom of political communication (the ‘implied freedom’)…
Public concern for the welfare of animals used in rodeo events is growing. Much of this concern is directed at the event of calf roping, an event that involves chasing, lassoing and throwing a calf to the ground. In all Australian jurisdictions, pain…
This article explains the distinctive nature of Islamic inheritance law and considers the extent to which Muslim residents in Australia can assimilate their faith-based obligations with their country-based obligations in matters of inheritance. The…
This article provides the first comprehensive analysis of Queensland’s new ‘journalist privilege’ provisions (or ‘shield law’), introduced into Div 2B of the Evidence Act 1977 (Qld) in 2022, and evaluates the merits of these provisions against…
This paper examines the brief lifespan (1907–20) of ‘Two Act’ entrenchment, a curious constitutional law idea which emerged in Queensland in the early 1900s. Its origins lay in an argument formulated by Queensland’s then Chief Justice, Pope Cooper,…
