Human Rights

The legal industry has praised the historic appointment of Debra Mortimer as the first female Chief Justice of the Federal Court, noting her modern approach to managing cases and compassionate nature. 

Former senator Rex Patrick has brought novel proceedings against the Attorney-General seeking access to letters concerning the 2020 “sports rorts” scandal and challenging the government’s policy of denying access to documents after a minister has changed jobs.

Ashurst has lured the founding partner of McCullough Robertson’s employment and safety practice to expand its risk advisory offering amid increased regulation in the space.

A federal Human Rights Act would allow complainants to take their cases to federal court if conciliation failed to resolve their claims, under a proposed model of the law unveiled Wednesday.

Network Ten has fired back at journalist Tegan George’s reworked sex discrimination case, claiming that its alleged failure to prevent a “sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive” culture was not unlawful under the Fair Work Act.

The Albanese government has started a public consultation after ditching provisions from sex harassment legislation which would have forced parties to bear their own costs in discrimination litigation, noting that lawyers favour an ‘equal access’ costs model.

An anti-lockdown protester has lost her appeal of a decision dismissing her legal challenge to Victoria’s stay-at-home orders, with an appeals court finding the reduction in risk to public health “outweighed” impacts on freedom of speech.

The Western Australia government has foreshadowed a strike-out application just one month after being hit with a class action on behalf of detainees in the state’s detention centres.

Editors and journalists from Australia’s largest news organisations have protested recent changes to the Federal Court Rules that restrict the public’s access to documents filed with the court, calling it a “full-frontal assault” on open justice. 

The Western Australian government has won its bid to strike out a class action that seeks damages for alleged discrimination against First Nations Australians detained for unpaid fines.