Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this article is to consider the tensions within Australian free speech jurisprudence based on a hypothetical variant of the facts of the decision of the Supreme Court of the Northen Territory inPeach v Toohey. In particular, this article briefly explores the competing legal interests that operate when journalists seek access to restricted areas, in this case aborginal land, in the course of an investigation. After considering the case and the issues it raises the author develops a hypothetical that draws out some of the deeper tensions in this area of the law. The article concludes with proposals for new apporoaches to the test developed by the High Court of Australia inLangev Australian Broadcasting Corporationfor the balancing of freedom to discuss political and governmental affairs—including the public right to know— against other legitimate objectives such as the maintence of property rights and the privacy interests that can be associated with propety rights.

How should society manage sex offenders who are released from prison? How can sex offenders be detained in a way that prevents re-offending while respecting civil liberties? Professors McSherry and Keyzer focus on key modern policy responses to such questions, and the cases that propelled their development.

Electronic voting and counting are increasingly common and have been adopted in a number of Australian jurisdictions. Unfortunately, there is evidence that e-voting systems lack transparency. At present there are reasonable solutions for poll-site e-voting but none for remote paperless Internet voting. Although there are reasonable methods for statistical audits of electronically counted election results, Australian elections do not use them. The authors argue that a purposive approach should be taken to relevant electoral laws to ensure that genuine scrutiny of electronic electoral processes can be undertaken. This would require the source code and the voting data to be made available for testing. The authors recommend a number of legislative reforms to ensure the verifiability of e-voting. These reforms need to be undertaken to ensure that Australian elections are accurate, and consistent with the constitutional requirement of direct choice by electors.

Under federal legislation, if a person's conviction for a Commonwealth (or Territory) offence is more than ten years old, the person is not required to disclose to any person, the fact that the person has been charged with, or convicted of, the offence. Further, if a person's conviction of a State (or foreign) offence is more than ten years old, the person is not required to disclose to any Commonwealth authority in a State (or in a foreign country), the fact that the person has been charged with, or convicted of, the offence. Spent conviction rules are important to ensure that people are not tainted by the stigma associated with prior criminal conviction. Spent conviction provisions also ensure that people have behaved lawfully for a substantial period of time before they are able to resume full participation in society. Spent conviction laws also operate in State and Territory jurisdictions in Australia. The law governing spent convictions is particularly important to people seeking a federal professional licence, such as to be a tax agent, migration agent, or to provide credit services under federal law. It is important because applicants for these licences need to demonstrate that they are a "fit and proper person" to hold such a licence. A criminal conviction would ordinarily disqualify a person from complying with that requirement. This paper explores the operation of the spent convictions legislation in federal law. It is clear that federal legislation ensures that federal agencies cannot have regard to spent convictions when making a determination that a person is fit and proper. However it is equally clear that federal criminal law authorises appellate tribunals, such as the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, to have regard to any matter that they think is relevant when considering an appeal from an unsuccessful applicant, and, paradoxically, that can include a person's spent convictions. This anomalous position has been confirmed in a decision of the Federal Court and a decision of the Full Court of the ...

There is much debate about the scope of international law, its compatibility with individual state practice, its enforceability and the recent and limited degree to which it is institutionalized. This collection of essays seeks to address the issue of access to justice, the related element of domestic rule of law which does not yet figure significantly in debates about international rule of law. Even in cases in which laws are passed, institutions are present and key players are ethically committed to the rule of law, those whom the laws are intended to protect may be unable to secure protecti.

"There is much debate about the scope of international law, its compatibility with individual state practice, its enforceability and the recent and limited degree to which it is institutionalized. This collection of essays seeks to address the issue of access to justice, the related element of domestic rule of law which does not yet figure significantly in debates about international rule of law. Even in cases in which laws are passed, institutions are present and key players are ethically committed to the rule of law, those whom the laws are intended to protect may be unable to secure protection. This is an issue in most domestic jurisdictions but also one which poses severe problems for international justice worldwide. The book will be of interest to academics and practitioners of international law, environmental law, transitional justice, international development, human rights, ethics, international relations and political theory"--