2021
A Discussion of Victoria's Pandemic Bill
Professor Kristen Rundle, Associate Professor Will Partlett and Associate Professor Maria O’Sullivan
10 November 2021
The Victorian Government recently introduced Australia’s first fit-for-purpose pandemic legislation, the Public Health and Wellbeing (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021. The Bill, which confers broad executive powers including powers of detention and imprisonment, has passed the lower house and will be debated in the Victorian upper house in mid November. The Bill has provoked controversy arising from the scope of Ministerial power, its interference with civil liberties and the adequacy of parliamentary oversight mechanisms. These questions involve complex issues of statutory institutional design that are highly relevant to the flexible state-level constitutional law systems in Australia.
This panel bought together public law experts to discuss the bill, to consider ways to improve parliamentary scrutiny over the pandemic powers and to consider whether the law should expire after a certain period of time. The Panel will be highly relevant to anyone interested in civil liberties, the rule of law and public health management in Victoria.
The High Court of Australia and Civil Liberties
A public discussion
13 October 2021
Our expert panel critically analysed a series of recent important decisions by the High Court of Australia on civil liberties in the fields of immigration law, law enforcement, and Indigenous rights. The panel reflected on the role of the High Court in protecting civil liberties more generally and broader themes that emerge from the High Court’s recent jurisprudence.
Cases discussed included:
- Smethurst v Commissioner of Police (unlawful search by police and remedies)
- Roy v O’Neill (warrantless police entry onto land)
- Lewis v ACT (damages and false imprisonment)
- Northern Territory v Griffiths (compensation for loss of Native Title)
- Love v Commonwealth (migration and Indigenous peoples)
- Commonwealth v AJL20 (immigration detention)
- Minister for Home Affairs v Benbrika (detention and judicial power)
Melbourne Law School and CCCS are grateful to the Alan Missen Foundation for its support of this event.
The Alan Missen Foundation was established in 1988 to commemorate the memory of the late Senator Alan Missen, who was for many years active in public life in Australia and was devoted to the cause of civil liberties and human rights.
The aim of the Alan Missen Foundation is to promote public education concerning civil liberties and human rights. This is achieved through providing support or sponsorship to events and organisations that promote education of civil liberties and human rights.
2021 CCCS Conference - Keynote Address
Hon. Justice Michelle Gordon AC
23 July 2021
The Conference commenced with a keynote address by the Hon. Justice Michelle Gordon AC, who considered the themes and legacy of Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth (1951).
Other speakers included the Hon. Justice Andrew Bell (President, NSW Court of Appeal), Hon. Justice Melinda Richards (Supreme Court of Victoria), Dr Ruth Higgins SC (Banco Chambers), Timothy Goodwin (List A Barristers), Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO (Melbourne), Professor Rosalind Dixon (UNSW), Professor Kristen Rundle (Melbourne), and Professor Jason Varuhas (Melbourne).
These speakers addressed two key themes. The first theme was the rule of law. Speakers considered its place in the High Court's constitutional case law, Indigenous perspectives on the rule of law following Love v Commonwealth, and comparative lessons. The second theme was government, courts and the law after COVID-19. Speakers considered legal issues arising from hotel quarantine, legal regulation of the use of soft law, emergency powers, and the use of technology in court proceedings.
A final panel marked the career of the Hon. Justice Geoffrey Nettle AC with a panel featuring the Hon. Justice Kenneth Hayne AC (formerly High Court of Australia), Julian Murphy (Melbourne), Julia Wang (Dever's List) and Dr Scott Stephenson (Melbourne).
The Jim Carlton Annual Integrity Lecture 2021
Professor Glyn Davis
7 May 2021
In this lecture Professor Glyn Davis AC speaks about the diminishment of the Australian Public Service’s (APS) capacity to provide 'frank and fearless' independent advice to governments. A loss of integrity and job security, loss of policy capacity, the ascendency of consultants over public service advice, and a drift of influence to ministerial staff who work outside public sector accountability frameworks are some of the areas of concern that have led to the APS’s diminished role within government. Glyn challenges us to rethink this loss of capability in our public agencies, and the consequences for integrity and informed debate in and beyond Parliament.
This lecture draws on Glyn’s recent experience as a member of the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service, commissioned by Prime Minister Turnbull and reporting late in 2019 as Our Public Service Our Future.
Jim Carlton was closely involved in the establishment of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, just one of his many contributions to high level policy advice and skilled administration. He was a Cabinet Minister in John Howard’s government, then became CEO of the Australian Red Cross and, later, a member of the Accountability Round Table (ART).
This lecture was a collaboration between the Accountability Round Table (ART) and the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the Melbourne Law School.