Law Report

For the first time a journalist is allowed to record in the Thomas Embling Hospital, Melbourne's Forensic healthcare facility. Meet therapists, the psychiatrist in charge and some of the patients who have committed a serious crime but are deemed not responsible for their actions due to mental illness.

Attorney-General Christian Porter has just lodged a defamation action against the ABC. And recently, the full Federal Court upheld a $120,000 damages payout to Senator Sarah Hanson Young by former Senator David Leyonhjelm.

Also, new research on who is most likely to commit a serious crime. A former prisoner or former forensic hospital patient?

Attorney-General Christian Porter has just lodged a defamation action against the ABC. And recently, the full Federal Court upheld a $120,000 damages payout to Senator Sarah Hanson Young by former Senator David Leyonhjelm.

Also, new research on who is most likely to commit a serious crime. A former prisoner or former forensic hospital patient?

Should there be an an independent inquiry into historic rape allegations against Attorney-General Christian Porter and if so, what should it look like?

Ron Sackville QC, AO, the chair of The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has been hearing harrowing accounts of the experiences of people with cognitive disability in the criminal justice system.

In a legal first, the Kaurareg people of Muralug island obtained an injunction under the Native Title Act preventing future damage. As a result the Torres Shire Council has just abandoned plans to build a harbour on a sacred site

If you go skydiving or hot air ballooning and tragedy strikes, who can you sue? The tour operator? In a unique unfolding case the Bureau of Meteorology is being sued.

The High Court of Australia has upheld the Continuing Detention Order for convicted terrorist Abdul Nacer Benbrika. Even though his fifteen year sentence is over, he is deemed to pose an ongoing threat and he remains in detention. Also, the High Court has agreed to hear the case of sacked marine physicist Peter Ridd. He was terminated after being disciplined repeatedly by James Cook University over comments he made about the research of colleagues and associated entities. He is critical of science linking coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. with climate change and polluted water.

Queensland Police has launched an exit scheme to help outlaw motor cycle gang members break away from their clubs.  It's the first venture of this kind in Australia.

And the High Court has ruled that issues around property division and maintenance can be heard in an Australian court, even when the divorce is overseas.

Two recent unfair dismissal cases may provide some insight into whether employers can sack workers who refuse a COVID-19 vaccination.

Also, a recent decision in the NSW Court of Appeal upholds a manslaughter conviction involving a failure to help a friend who needed urgent medical help.

If a consumer is injured by a faulty product, they can sue the manufacturer. In Australia, The law of Negligence or Torts forms a fundamental building block of our legal system.

As reporter Carly Godden discovers, these laws owe much of their origins to a case from the 1930's involving a pair of woollen long johns.