Closing arguments in Lehrmann defamation trial have begun

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Daily wrap  

• Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial: Lisa Wilkinson’s lawyer tells court there ‘can’t be any doubt’ that there was sex on night of alleged rape
   

  • 'Fundamentally dishonest man': Network Ten lawyers make closing arguments in Bruce Lehrmann's defamation case
     

  • today’s livestream here - NSD103/2023 Lehrmann v Network Ten - YouTube
     

  • many more exhibits uploaded to online court file yesterday - Lehrmann v Network Ten and Ors: Online File
     

• Alleged drink-driving senior NSW detective pleads not guilty over NorthConnex crash | Australian police and policing | The Guardian
   

• Australia’s eSafety commissioner sues X over lack of transparency | X | The Guardian
   

• SA police officer jailed for sexually assaulting teenager has conviction overturned
   

• Ex-LNP president oversaw transfer of $500,000 in Morrison government grant money to brother’s offset account, court hears | Liberal National party | The Guardian
   

• Alameddine crime network associate charged over firebombing of Friendlyjordies's Bondi home
   

• UN anti-torture watchdog urges Australia to reduce ‘extraordinary’ number of prisoners on remand | Prisons | The Guardian
   

• Unsolved murders inquiry in NSW calls for fresh inquests into deaths of several men

  • the report (by the Honourable Justice John Sackar - NSWSC) can be found here - Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes | NSW Government
     

• Teen accused of killing SA Police Commissioner's son granted permission to contact witness friend
   

• Gang member denied re-entry to Australia – Proctor
   

• Coal seam gas law changes would ‘weaken’ farmland protections, green groups say | Rural Australia | The Guardian
   

• Activists ‘crafted culture narrative’ to stop Barossa: Santos [The Australian paywall]

  • “Vanessa Whittaker, SC, for Santos told the court that the alleged impact to Ampiji and Crocodile Man was a constructed case not born of community belief, accusing Dr Mike O’Leary and the Environmental Defenders Office of coming up with a narrative to stop Barossa.”

Editor’s picks

• Anne Twomey - NZYQ and the preventive detention of non-citizens - YouTube
   

• AI Decision-Making and the Courts: a guide for Judges, Tribunal Members and Court Administrators (2023 update) - Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration - Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
   

• When AI gets it wrong, workers suffer | Pursuit by The University of Melbourne
   

  • “AI can be just as discriminatory in the workplace as any human manager and the law needs to catch up to this new reality”
     

• Flexibility, part-time work needed for better bench, says judge (Janine Pritchard -WASCA) [AFR paywall]
   

• Change ahead: Tips for transitioning to a new role - Law Society Journal
   

• Becker v The King [2023] VSCA 332 (21 December 2023)

  • [137] Of the 83 pages of the opening address across days two and three, only three pages are free from interruption.

     

    [138] The number of interventions and questions by the trial judge, during the course of the opening address by the prosecutor, exceeded 300.

     

    [185] What is clear is that under the adversarial system, it falls to the prosecutor to shape and deliver the opening address, unguided by the judge. The judge plays no role in shaping the prosecution case save for procedural or evidentiary rulings.

     

    [186] In this case, the judge trespassed over these boundaries.

     

    [187] The number and nature of the interjections saw the prosecutor’s opening to the jury turn ‘into something more akin to a workshop exercise’, to adopt the submission of the applicant.

     

    [188] Certainly, the transcript reads more like a ‘legal discussion’, between counsel and the bench concerning the relevance of documents and issues, than an opening address.
     

• Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 46) [2023] FCA 1630
   

  • COSTS — consideration of whether costs should be awarded in a lump sum under r 40.02 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth)
     

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