Austlii launches Seminal Case Files database

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Daily wrap  

• Former top judge Allsop to Hong Kong court [AFR paywall]

  Democracy activists say Australian judges are taking China’s ‘dirty jobs’ after ex Federal Court chief Justice James Allsop joined Hong Kong’s Final Court of Appeal.
   

  • Senior judicial appointment: non-permanent judge from another common law jurisdiction of Court of Final Appeal
     

  • a copy of Allsop’s CV can be found here.
     

  • Other former Australian judges on the HKCFA are Justices Gummow, French and Keane - see here.
     

• Former Victorian Liberals director Sam McQuestin fined $40,000 over federal election ads | Liberal party | The Guardian
   

  • a copy of O’Bryan J’s judgment can be found here - Electoral Commissioner v McQuestin [2024] FCA 287
     

• Hundreds of unlawful non-citizens face jail if they refuse to cooperate in deportation from Australia | Australian immigration and asylum | The Guardian
   

• ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury defends meeting with acting DPP Anthony Williamson to discuss prosecution rates - ABC News
   

• Part IVA anti-avoidance rules: $60 billion in trust payments under cloud following ATO court loss [AFR paywall]

  Payments of around $60 billion from family trusts are under renewed legal scrutiny as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) considers whether to appeal its defeat in a landmark decision about tax avoidance.
   

  • a copy of the Full Court’s decision can be found here - Minerva Financial Group Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2024] FCAFC 28
     

• Concern over A-G’s failure on protocol [The Australian paywall]

  A three-year delay by the ACT government has led to a perception that some judicial appointees in the ACT lack the legal skills or experience for the job, a senior barrister says.
   

Editor’s picks

• Last night Chief Justice of Australia the Hon. Stephen Gageler launched the 1,000th Database to be made available on @austlii. The Database contains the complete case files of some of the key cases of the High Court. Current judges have chose 37 cases of Seminal Importance. The case files will be uploaded in tranches, there’s currently case files for 8 matters - including the Engineers Case, Communist Party Case and Tas Dams Case. Database is here High Court of Australia - Seminal Case Files
   

• What Does the Lasry Resignation Tell Us About Judicial Complaints Commissions? — Australian Public Law
   

• The wandering arch: A topographical history of the high court of Australia on circuit
   

  • Abstract: “This article examines the High Court of Australia's role as a travelling court, from Federation to its permanent installation in Canberra. Throughout its history, the Court faced major challenges to its circuit functions but ultimately retained its capacity to sit in various locations. The factors which militated against the continuance of circuits - (1) the cost to the Commonwealth; (2) accountability to the executive; (3) administrative centralisation; and (4) lessened prestige - were met with equally compelling aspects in favour of itinerancy: (1) the cost to litigants; (2) judicial independence; (3) the federal compact; and (4) institutional proximity. The ascendancy of the latter ensured the survival of the practice to the present day. Despite the advancement of communications and transportation, and with it, the falling away of more pragmatic justifications for the Court's circuits, they remain a unique feature of the Australian High Court which distinguishes it from its apex counterparts in other federal jurisdictions.”
     

• Mechanisms in the ART Bill to thwart Robodebt-type maladministration - Justice Kyrou (President of the AAT)
   

• The ART of merits review: Structural and operational flexibility - Justice Kyrou (President of the AAT)
  

• The legal implications of climate change - Law Society Journal
   

• Aviation law experts weigh in on 'pets in cabins' - Law Society Journal
   

• Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: Peter FitzSimons seeks costs over subpoenaed documents [SMH paywall]
   

  • Lehrmann v Network Ten and Ors: 14 March 2024 - Interlocutory application by Peter Fitzsimons
     

• Julian Assange handed legal lifeline by London's High Court after delay in appeal ruling - ABC News
   

  • a copy of the judgment and judgment summary can be found here - Assange -v- Government of the United States of America - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
     

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