In the media
Police stopping and photographing kids on the streets
'illegal', say civil libertarians
The Mount Isa operation, which has seen hundreds of
children intercepted in three weeks, should be stopped, says
Queensland's Civil Liberties Council. But politicians are
suggesting the initiative could be expanded to other regional
cities such as Cairns (18 January 2018).
More...
Year of human rights achievements for HRLC
The launch of a campaign to end strip searching of women
in prison is one of dozens documented by the Human Rights Legal
Centre in its Annual Report. Other campaigns highlighted in the
Annual Report 'On the Right Side of History' include
against offshore detention, removing kids from adult prisons,
ending Aboriginal deaths in custody, LGBTI rights, and the
protection of the right to political protest (17 January 2018).
More...
New second Parliamentary Counsel appointed
The Attorney-General announces the appointment of Mr
Keith Byles PSM as Second Parliamentary Counsel to the Office of
Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) for a seven year
period (16 January 2018).
More...
Legislative Activity for Queensland in 2017: Key Acts in
Crime, Environment and Workplace Safety
In 2017, the Queensland Parliament passed a total of 44
Acts, with many of the key Acts focussing on criminal legislation
reform, child protection, environmental issues and workplace issues
(16 January 2018). More...
Vital the rule of law is upheld despite warring
words
Ensuring the rule of law is respected and maintained is
vital to the strength of Australia's legal system, the Law
Council of Australia has reiterated. The national peak body,
representing the legal profession, today backed colleagues at the
Law Institute of Victoria in defending the rule of law,
particularly the independence of the judiciary (15 January 2018).
More...
Political attacks on the judiciary undermines the
independence, integrity and impartiality of Australia's legal
system
The Australian Bar Association (ABA) has
the highest respect for the independence, integrity and
impartiality of the judiciary across Australia and is very
concerned by recent political attacks on the Victorian judiciary
(13 January 2018).
More...
Significant corruption revealed in Australian Public
Service
Two new reports have highlighted the extent of corruption
in the Australian Public Service (APS). One of the
says that corrupt practices may cost the economy as much as $72
billion dollars since 2012 (12 January 2018).
More...
'Creeping Stalinism': secrecy law could imprison
whistleblowers and journalists
Proposed changes to Australia's official secrecy laws
a threat to democracy, say human rights and media organisations.
Government whistleblowers and journalists who report on leaked
information could face 20 years' imprisonment if changes to
Australia's official secrecy laws pass parliament (11 January
2018).
More...
Man to face perjury charge after legal profession
investigation
A 29-year-old Inala man was yesterday served with a
Notice to Appear in Court to face one charge of perjury following a
Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC)
investigation into suspected criminal activity within elements of
the legal profession in Queensland (11 January 2018).
More...
Vodafone breaches verification rules for prepaid
mobiles
Vodafone Network Pty Limited will significantly improve
its processes for verifying the identity of prepaid mobile
customers under an enforceable undertaking accepted by the
Australian Communications and Media Authority. This follows an ACMA
investigation that found the company failed to verify the identity
of at least 1,028 customers before activating their prepaid mobile
services (11 January 2018).
More...
Commissioner concludes investigation into Amazing
Rentals data breach
The Commissioner is confident on the facts available that
personal information was mishandled by Amazing Rentals. However,
given the company is no longer trading the Commissioner is unable
to enforce action against it (10 January 2018).
More...
Open data – too much sharing, too little
care
Who's reading your health information now? There can
be benefits from sharing health and other personal information
among health care professionals and researchers. But any such
sharing must be based on an understanding of potential risks. It
must occur only within an effective legal framework, with controls
appropriate for those risks (09 January 2018).
More...
Encouraging results in child protection pilot
programs
An evaluation of an ambitious collaboration between
Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) and two community legal
centres (CLCs) has found priority clients have
received more comprehensive legal assistance under the pilot
program (08 January 2018).
More...
Government move allowing security cleared lawyers in
counter-terrorism control orders welcomed
The Law Council has commended the Australian Government
for creating a 'special advocate' regime that would allow
security-cleared lawyers to represent individuals that are subject
to specific counter-terrorism control orders. The details of the
special advocate regime are included in the National Security
Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Amendment Regulations
2017 made public today (21 December 2017).
More...
Building a more diverse and inclusive legal
profession
Law Council of Australia President, Fiona McLeod SC, said
three new tools available on the Law Council website delivered
national leadership on the issue of diversity and equity and would
provide lawyers with important information to help them grasp the
opportunities presented by changing times, expectations, and
workplace laws (20 December 2017).
More...
Australian Bar Association welcomes new Federal
Attorney-General Christian Porter
The Australian Bar Association (ABA)
welcomes the announcement today [19 December 2017] of the
appointment of Christian Porter MP as the 37th Attorney-General for
Australia (19 December 2017).
More...
QFES employee and business owners charged with official
corruption – 19 December 2017
Three additional people have been charged with serious
criminal offences following a joint investigation led by the Crime
and Corruption Commission (CCC). The latest
charges are linked to the previous arrest of a Queensland Fire
Inspector who was charged with official corruption in November (19
December 2017).
More...
In practice and courts
Privacy Changes
Data breach notification will become mandatory as of February
2018 for all Australian entities required to comply with the
Privacy Act 1988. When Federal Parliament passed the
Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 last
year, it started a process that means from 22 February 2018, all
entities covered by the Australian Privacy Principles will have
clear obligations to report eligible data breaches within 30 days.
If an eligible data breach is confirmed, entities must provide a
statement to each of the individuals whose data was breached or who
are at risk, and notify the OAIC. Privacy data breaches will also
change in 2018.
OAIC: What the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme means for
schools
The Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB)
scheme comes into effect on 22 February 2018, and private schools
and private tertiary educational institutions across Australia will
be required to comply (06 December 2017).
More...
OAIC: Retailers mandatory data breach reporting
obligations from 2018
From 22 February 2018, retail businesses with an annual turnover
of $3 million or more, or that trade in personal information, will
be required to comply with the Notifiable Data Breaches
(NDB) scheme. It is important to understand your
obligations under the NDB scheme before commencement on 22 February
2018 — find out more, and start preparing for the scheme,
with our draft NDB
resources.
More...
OAIC: Review completed
The independent review of the Privacy (Credit
Reporting) Code 2014 (Version 1.2) (the CR
Code) conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) has been completed (13 December 2017).
More...
High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia Bulletin [2017] HCAB 10
(21 December 2017).
More...
AAT Bulletin
The AAT Bulletin is a weekly publication containing a
list of recent AAT decisions and information relating to appeals
against AAT decisions:
Issue No. 1/2018, 15 January 2018
More...
No changes to AAT reviews as Department of Immigration
and Border Protection (DIBP) becomes part of Department of Home
Affairs
The AAT's power to review decisions has not changed.
The AAT is able to review decisions made by officers of the former
DIBP as well as decisions made by officers of the new Department of
Home Affairs. Forms and information products will be updated to
reflect this change (23 December 2017).
More...
Forces of Change – Defining Future Justice
Conference 2018
The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration is
pleased to announce the Forces of Change – Defining Future
Justice Conference will be held at the Stamford Plaza Brisbane,
Queensland from 24 – 26 May 2018. More...
Queensland
QAO Audits in Progress – expected tabling date
February 2018
Enforcement and recovery of unpaid fines; Fraud risk
management; Use of confidentiality provisions in government
contracts. More...
Queensland Law Reform Commission releases a consultation
paper inviting submissions on Queensland's laws relating to the
termination of pregnancy
The Queensland Law Reform Commission has been asked to
conduct a review into modernising Queensland's laws relating to
the termination of pregnancy. The Commission has released a
Consultation Paper (WP No 76) inviting written submissions in
response to the questions posed in the paper. Consultation closes
on 13 February 2018.
More...
OAIC Queensland: Privacy Impact Assessment and Privacy
Complaint Management training videos now available
Are you responsible for dealing with privacy related
matters? Check out these two videos on Privacy Impact Assessments
(PIA) and Privacy Complaint Management
(PCM) (14 December 2017).
More...
Queensland Courts: draft Guidelines for expert evidence
in the Land Court
The draft Guidelines for expert evidence in the Land
Court are available for consultation. The Guidelines outline both
current and proposed procedures for expert evidence in the Land
Court of Queensland. The Court invites constructive feedback on any
aspect of its expert evidence procedures whether current or
proposed by 5 February 2018.
More...
QLS: Court of Appeal two-monthly sitting system
The Court of Appeal has proposed to adopt a system of
two-monthly sittings. Call-overs for the first of these sittings
will be held in November, with the first of the two-monthly
sittings in February and March 2018.
More...
Published – articles, papers, reports
Legal rights audit 2017
Morgan Begg; Institute of Public Affairs: 27 December
2017
This report illustrates the ongoing erosion of legal rights
that persists in Australia. This has been measured by an analysis
of the content of all legislation passed by the federal parliament
in 2017.
More...
OAICnet 18 December 2017
In this issue: Notifiable Data Breaches scheme resources
finalised; New Australian Government Agencies Privacy Code
resources; Notifiable Date Breaches scheme webinar recording;
Review of Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code 2014 completed;
Australian participates in APEC CBPR System; Recent FOI decisions.
More...
AIJA News
Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
Incorporated – December 2017.
More...
Guide to judicial conduct: (third edition)
The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
Incorporated.
Melbourne, Vic: Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
Incorporated, 2017.
More...
IBAC Insights Issue 14
Release date: 22 December 2017.
More...
Public Law Review update: Vol 28 Pt 4 [subscription
access]
The latest Part of the Public Law Review includes the
following content: Comments: "The Incorporation by Reference
of Technical Standards in Legislation: A Developing Issue"
– Stephen Argument; "Expanding the Entrenched Minimum
Provision of Judicial Review? Graham v Minister for Immigration and
Border Protection" – Lisa Burton Crawford;
"Judicial Enforcement of New Zealand's Reserved
Provisions" – Andrew Geddis; and the following Articles:
"Unveiling the Public Interest: The Parameters of Executive
Discretion in Australian Migration Legislation" –
Gabrielle Appleby and Alexander Reilly; "An Impasse in New
Zealand Administrative Law: How Did We Get Here?" – MB
Rodriguez Ferrere; "Non-statutory Executive Power"
– KM Hayne; and Developments.
Journal of Judicial Administration update: Vol 27 Pt 1
[subscription access]
The latest Part of the Journal of Judicial Administration
includes the following articles: "Contempt and the Australian
Constitution – Part I" – Anthony Gray;
"Pleading Guilty: Issues and Practices – A Socio-Legal
Research Case Study" – Kathy Mack, Sharyn Roach Anleu,
Jordan Tutton; and "Sustainable Justice: A Guiding Principle
for Courts" – Dr Andrew J Cannon AM.
Cases
The
Australian and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Freedom
of information) [2018] AICmr 6
Freedom of Information — Whether reasonable steps
taken to locate documents — (CTH) Freedom of Information
Act 1982 ss 24A, 55D.
Virginia
Plowman and Australian Securities and Investments
Commission (Freedom
of information) [2018] AICmr 5
Freedom of Information — Whether reasonable steps
taken to locate documents — Whether disclosure would have a
substantial adverse effect on the management or assessment of
personnel — Whether contrary to public interest to release
conditionally exempt documents — (CTH) Freedom of
Information Act 1982 ss 11A(5), 24A and 47E(c).
'NQ'
and Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (Freedom
of information) [2018] AICmr 4
Freedom of Information — Whether reasonable steps
taken to locate documents — (CTH) Freedom of Information
Act 1982 s 24A.
'NP'
and Bureau of Meteorology (Freedom
of information) [2018] AICmr 3
Freedom of Information — Information as to the
existence of certain documents — (Cth) Freedom of
Information Act 1982 s 25.
'NO'
and National Library of Australia (Freedom
of information) [2018] AICmr 2
Freedom of Information — Whether documents subject
to legal professional privilege — Whether disclosure would
disclose commercially valuable information — Whether
disclosure of personal information unreasonable — Whether
disclosure would unreasonably affect an organisation or undertaking
in respect of its lawful business affairs — Whether contrary
to the public interest to release conditionally exempt documents
— (CTH) Freedom of Information Act 1982 ss 11A(5),
42, 47(1)(b), 47F and 47G(1)(a).
'NN'
and Department of Human Services (Freedom
of information) [2018] AICmr 1
Freedom of Information —Whether disclosure would
have a substantial adverse effect on the management or assessment
of personnel — Whether contrary to public interest to release
conditionally exempt documents — (CTH) Freedom of
Information Act 1982 ss 11A(5), 47E(c).
Giddings
v Australian Information Commissioner [2017]
FCAFC 225
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW – freedom of information –
where delegate of the Information Commissioner decided not to
continue with review – where decision of the Information
Commissioner set aside on review – no error exposed.
PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – whether order should have been made
for the proceedings to be held in camera pursuant to s 37AF of the
Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) – where
onus on appellant to establish that order should be made –
whether such an order was "necessary" in the
circumstances – apprehended bias – whether claim of
apprehended bias "firmly established" – whether
allegations of bias irresponsibly advanced.
TORTS – misfeasance in public office – elements of the
tort of misfeasance in public officer – whether
administrative decision-maker's action pursued with knowledge
or reckless indifference as to whether it was in excess of power
– whether administrative decision-maker's action pursued
with malice. Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act
1977 (Cth) s 16; Federal Court of Australia Act 1976
(Cth) ss 17, 37AF(1), 37AG, 50 (repealed); Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) ss 54W, 55K; Federal Court
Rules 2011 (Cth) r 36.01(2)(c).
Gallo
v Chief Executive, Department of Natural Resources and
Mines [2017]
QSC 331
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW — JUDICIAL REVIEW
—REVIEWABLE DECISIONS AND CONDUCT — STATUTORY
INTERPRETATION — Where applicant seeks statutory review of a
decision regarding the applicant's water entitlement as
licensees under the Water Act 2000 (Qld) — where
applicant argued the decision-maker erred by failing to take a
relevant consideration in to account — whether s 66(3)(a)
Water Regulation 2002 (Qld) needed to be taken into
account — whether a water entitlement of 0% bespeaks error
— whether the decision maker should have taken the outcomes
listed in the Water Resource (Barron) Plan 2002 (Qld) into
account.
Bradshaw
v Moreton Bay Regional Council (No 2) [2017]
QCAT 455
ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW – ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNALS
– QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL –
destruction order in respect of dangerous dog – where further
risk of non-compliance identified.
Legislation - Commonwealth
Legislative Instruments
Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Code of Practice)
Determination 2017
02/01/2018 - This instrument
establishes the minimum standard of practice for notifying affected
persons of reviewable decisions, including the content of the
reviewable decision and outlines the affected persons' rights
to review those decisions. Administrative
Appeals Tribunal (Code of Practice) Determination 2017
Acts
Age
Discrimination Act 2004 -
16/01/2018 - Act No. 68 of 2004 as amended.
Ministers
of State Act 1952
15/01/2018 - Act No. 1 of 1952 as amended.
Freedom
of Information Act 1982
12/01/2018 - Act No. 3 of 1982 as amended.
Public
Interest Disclosure Act 2013
12/01/2018 - Act No. 133 of 2013 as amended.
Ombudsman
Act 1976
10/01/2018 - Act No. 181 of 1976 as amended.
Federal
Court of Australia Act 1976
03/01/2018 - C2018C00005 - Act No. 156 of 1976 as
amended.
Court
Security Act 2013
03/01/2018 - C2018C00004 - Act No. 128 of 2013 as
amended.
This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.