Law Report

A timely reflection on the legal responses to two separate but intimately-linked tragedies. During war we saw restrictions on food prices, protests and the freedoms of German Australians. During the Spanish flu crisis we saw maritime quarantines, closed internal borders and spats between the states and feds. Sound familiar?

News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst could still face charges despite the High Court ruling that the AFP's raid on her home in June 2019 was carried out on the basis of a flawed warrant. What does this case mean for the public's right to know and press freedom?

And an elderly man brutally attacked in a home invasion died eight months later, but the High Court ruled the attacker was responsible for his death. The case may have implications for the current NSW Homicide Squad investigation into the COVID-19 related deaths and infections on the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

The covid-19 crisis is forcing fundamental, previously unimaginable changes to way we organise and regulate employment. We take a look at the JobKeeper payment scheme.

Also, if you have an accident while working from home, are you covered by workers' compensation?

In an unanimous decision the High Court of Australia has quashed George Pell's convictions for historic child sex offences and has released him from prison.

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Day by day our courts are being totally transformed by the COVID-19 crisis. Civil courts are using video and audio links. New criminal jury trials have been suspended and judge alone criminal trials are becoming rare. A recent major drug conspiracy trial in the NSW District Court was derailed after concerns about safe distancing, but it wasn't the jury that raised fears of catching coronavirus.