Law Report

The Law Report is asking some big picture questions about the pros and cons of facial recognition software use by police and retailers.

Should the Federal Government have powers to restrict the movement of former immigration detainees in the community?

How accurate is a recent report that claims Victorian courts issue more suppression orders than in any other Australian jurisdiction? 

What arguments and information should courts be hearing when they are sentencing an offender? In April, a tool to assist defence lawyers and judges will go national.

Matthias Bekier, former managing director of Star Entertainment, the company which operates Sydney’s Star Casino and Paula Martin, Star Entertainment’s former legal counsel both failed to address money laundering risks and criminal associations between 2017 and 2019.

That’s the finding of Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court, who at the same time dismissed similar cases against a number of Star Entertainment’s non-executive directors.

What does this finding mean for both executive and non-executive directors?

Guest: 

Anthony Whealy, former NSW Supreme Court judge, Chair of the Centre for Public Integrity and a Former New South Wales Court of Appeals Judge, he’s also a former assistant commissioner to the NSW ICAC. (Independent Commission Against Corruption)

To hear more in-depth expert coverage of the important legal stories and cases of the week, search for The Law Report podcast on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Law Report is shining a light on claims or disaster chasers who approach people whose homes have been damaged by a severe weather event.

Two former family law judges sit down with Damien Carrick to revisit a time before no-fault divorce, when unhappy spouses often employed private detectives to prove adultery. 

Queensland has introduced a bill to ban the slogans "from the river to the sea" and "globalise the intifada". Western Australia wants to give police the power to refuse a protest permit if a public event is deemed likely to promote hate. It comes after New South Wales imposed tight restrictions on the Sydney protest against the visit of Israel's president Isaac Herzog.

The Law Report speaks to Richard Hermer, attorney general for England and Wales, who was in Australia recently with a message centred on upholding the rule of law. And why do individuals and corporations donate to political parties? 

Can artificial intelligence reveal the assumptions judges make? Or help lawyers and litigants to identify appeal arguments?