Our final episode for 2024!

This is part 2 of our speed round - answering your questions!

If you have a question for the Wigs, feel free to shout out to us on
Facebook. And don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast. 

Have a happy and safe holiday break and new year to all our lovely, loyal listeners. We love you!

Jim, Flic, Manny and Steve.

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As a finale for 2024, the Wigs took listener questions and answered them in a speed
round. This is Part 1 of the speed round covering a range of topics from the right to
disconnect as an employee, to the Disability Royal Commission recommendations,
the age of criminal responsibility and the use of good character evidence in sentence
proceedings. If you have a question for the Wigs, feel free to shout out to us on
Facebook. And don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode Stephen sits down for a wide ranging chat with Barrister Ghassan Kassisieh. The discussion is lengthy and covers lgbt rights, international politics, refugees, the politicisation of gay rights in the Israeli / Palestinian conflict and comparative law, among other things. Ghassan is a Barrister at 12 Wentworth Selbourne chambers in Sydney after being called to the Bar in September 2024. He has a public and commercial law practice. Ghassan was previously Legal Director at Equality Australia where his legal policy advocacy contributed to over 16 LGBTIQ+ legislative reforms, including Australia’s first scheme regulating medical procedures performed on intersex people without capacity to consent. 
Ghassan also has over 13 years’ experience working as a solicitor in commercial litigation and regulatory matters at Gilbert + Tobin in Sydney and Freshfields in London. We hope you enjoy the chat!

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It’s not every day of the week that a law is struck down as unconstitutional but that’s exactly what happened in the case of the Knitting Nanas against the State of NSW. Two Knitting Nanas Helen Kvelde and Dominique Jacobs with the help of the Environmental Defenders Office launched a constitutional challenge to s 214A of the Crimes Act 1900 that criminalised certain conduct such as remaining  “near” any part of a “major facility” (such as Town Hall or Martin Place Station) if that conduct “causes persons attempting to use the major facility to be redirected”, or if that conduct caused “partial closure” of the major facility, on the basis it impermissibly burdens the implied freedom of political communication. Reacting to the win, Knitting Nana Helen Kvelde said “We are happy the court has given some acknowledgement to the democratic right to protest. But these laws to me feel like a distraction. As if both Labor and the Liberal Party are trying to get the population angry with protesters instead of angry against politicians for failing to protect us from climate emergency. I’m not sure what we can do next, but it doesn’t feel right to just let this go. We need to fight for our democratic right to protest peacefully. I wish people would understand that ultimately these laws could affect anyone – anyone the government of the day does not like.”

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In this episode the wigs analyse the latest judgment in the federal prosecution of donald trump, in which the trial judge soundly rejected his application to terminate the prosecution on the basis that the biden administration is targeting him in a selective and vindictive manner. Judge Chutkan in rejecting the application also refused the former president discovery of documents in support of his application on the basis it was not supported by sufficiently cogent evidence. The Wigs in analysing the case compare the basis on which a political prosecution can be terminated in the USA with Australia and discuss cases here that have featured somewhat similar issues. 

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In this episode the wigs discuss a new police powers decision, Julie Bugmy v NSW Director of Public Prosecutions 2024 NSWCA 70, a recent decision of the NSW Court of Appeal. It concerns the law applicable when police arrest a person believed to have breached a condition of a grant of bail. Wig Stephen Lawrence actually appeared in the matter, instructed by his old employer the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT way back when it began in 2022 in the local court in Broken Hill before Magistrate Trad and the episode begins with a re-enactment of Stephen's short cross-examination of the main witness. The issues focused on in the cross-examination proved to be decisive in the appeal and concerned the legal requirements on police to consider certain circumstances and alternatives to arrest before arresting a person for breach of bail. 

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In March this year, the Wigs were back to record a live show at the Reasonable Cause Continuing Professional Development Conference. 

The topic was Ethics for Defence Lawyers and the panel discussion you are about to hear examined the basis of ethical obligations, the nature of the fiduciary obligations lawyers have, common ethical breaches, some of the reasons why they occur, and how lawyers should respond to complaints.

Reasonable Cause CPD gives 100% of its net profit to Reasonable Cause Inc., a charity that focuses on assisting disadvantaged young Cambodians to advance their education. 

Friend of The Wigs Mark Dennis SC runs Reasonable Cause and The Wigs are always happy to assist a very reasonable cause by donating their time. More info on reasonable cause at rccpd.net.au.

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In this episode, the wigs tackle a bill that passed the federal parliament recently and very substantially amended the part of the Criminal Code 1995 that creates crimes related to engaging in bribery in foreign countries. The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Bill 2023 passed the Senate on 29 February 2024. These laws implement Australia's international commitments to combat foreign bribery and impose substantial penalties on individuals and companies who engage in bribery while engaging in business overseas. The Wigs analyse the policy rationales for the laws, the elements, and some of the defences. The discussion also touches on some recent Australian prosecutions for this conduct.

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In this episode recorded on 19 December 2023, the wigs analyse the decision of the High Court in NZYQ v Minister for Immigration 2023 HCA 37, one of the most important public law decisions in recent decades which was handed down on 28 November 2023. In the decision, the court unanimously overturned an earlier decision in Al-Kateb. It held that long-standing constitutional principles forbid indefinite detention of non-citizens who cannot be removed from Australia. The judgment has been massively controversial and the federal parliament legislated in December last year in response to it to create a system of monitoring and regulation applying to those persons affected directly by the decision. We do apologise for the delay in releasing the episode but we hope it's still an interesting and useful discussion of one of the most important principles in Australian constitutional law, that detention is prima facie punitive and can generally only be imposed by a court following an adjudication of guilt.

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In this Wigs Extra Episode we present something a little unusual: a speech that Wig Emmanuel Kerkyasharian gave to the Legal Studies Association. 

Asked to speak about basic legal concepts in the context of the Legal Studies Syllabus, Emmanuel couldn’t resist the temptation to go philosophical, and presented a speech about what law is, and how it can be conceptualised as a meme. 

Many thanks to the LSA for sharing this recording with us and allowing us to present it to you.  

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