Policy and Regulation

An energy company has taken the minister for climate change and energy to court for refusing to greenlight its Seadragon wind farm project, which would have placed up to 150 wind turbines in waters off the coast of Gippsland, Victoria. 

A new report from the Australian National Audit Office has found weaknesses in the Federal Court’s oversight of corporate credit cards, with the court agreeing to strengthen its policies and procedures, including in relation to the use of credit cards to cover taxi fares.

Offering a mixed review of the NSW budget on Tuesday, the Law Society of NSW welcomed the funding boost to legal aid and other key agencies but said the state should do more to modernize the courts.

A Senate report into the government’s use of consultants, launched in the wake of PwC’s leak of confidential Treasury information, has recommended an inquiry into whether partnerships should be subject to the same regulations as corporations and again called on PwC to release the names of all those involved in the leak of confidential government information.

A day after the National Anti-Corruption Commission closed its investigation of six officials linked to the Robodebt scandal, an appeals court has overturned a decision barring access by a campaigner to documents related to the disastrous scheme for collecting Centrelink debts.

A report tabled in Parliament has called for the introduction of a federal human rights law to replace the “inadequate” and “confusing” patchwork of state and federal laws, which the Law Council of Australia said was “long overdue”.

A Larrakia Danggalaba man has sought access to documents for a possible lawsuit over the federal government’s decision to greenlight the destruction of an Aboriginal cultural site to develop Defence housing. 

A new report has blasted the NSW government’s reliance on the Big Four consulting firms, saying it has led to a “downward spiral” of the public sector, and urged the state to never use their services for “core” government work and only as a “last resort” for other matters.

Moves to restore public confidence in the government reviews process are underway after the federal Parliament passed new legislation replacing the “damaged” Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which has been criticised for failing to stop the Robodebt scheme, with a new Administrative Review Tribunal.

The e-Safety Commissioner has expanded its case seeking to have X Corp remove posts that depict a stabbing of a bishop at a Sydney church, arguing X could have done more to prevent Australian users, including children and VPN users, from viewing the videos.