Law Report

Robodebt has shown that relying on automated decision making tools can be disastrous. What checks and balances could be developed to guide the safe and ethical use of AI in government operations, policy making and service delivery?

After seven days of deliberation, a jury has found Erin Patterson guilty of murder and attempted murder. The 50-year-old woman was found to have deliberately poisoned four members of her estranged husband's family by serving them a meal containing poisonous wild mushrooms two years ago. The trial in the Victorian Supreme Court in Morwell, outside of Melbourne, ran for more than two months and has drawn international attention. 

The jury in mushroom cook Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial has retired to deliberate the verdict, guilty or not guilty. But what happens in there behind closed doors? 

When they retire to the deliberation room, should they leave all of their personal beliefs and prejudices at the door? And is this even possible? 

How does it work? 

In this episode from our special series Inside the Jury Room which first aired in 2018 Damien Carrick sets out to find the answer.  

US President Donald Trump has praised a landmark Supreme Court ruling that struck down 'universal injunctions' issued by lower court judges, made in response to his executive order on birthright citizenship. What are the implications for numerous Trump administration policies blocked by court injunctions? And for the legal boundaries of presidential power?

The Federal Court has ruled that the ABC wrongfully dismissed journalist Antoinette Lattouf for reasons including that she "held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza." In this special episode, the Law Report looks at what the verdict means for the ABC, and employers and employees more generally.

Warren Tredrea, a prominent Adelaide football personality who unsuccessfully sued Channel 9 for unfair dismissal, has argued in court that his legal debt to the media organisation was settled with a written IOU note. Is this an example of 'pseudolaw'? And how do pseudolegal arguments impact on the courts' work?

Huge property loss is upending the lives of communities in flood-hit parts of New South Wales — what's happening to the rise in insurance claims in areas prone to flooding? And a look back at 50 years of the Australian Racial Discrimination Act. 

Can art change lives? Confined 16 is an exhibition in Melbourne of First Nations artists who picked up the paint brush while they were in prison. 

The return of high-profile whistleblowing cases to court has renewed calls for legislative reform in Australia to better protect, provide oversight and support to, those who expose wrongdoing in the public and private sectors.

A Victorian woman is on trial accused of poisoning her lunch guests by serving them a meal laced with death cap mushrooms. And a Tasmanian couple banned from taking their alpaca into a supermarket is accusing the store of disability discrimination.