To Kill The Queen’s Enemies (And Keep the Peace As Well)

Samuel White

In January 2020, the Prime Minister of Australia announced that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) would move from ‘respond to request’ to ‘move forward and integrate’, signalling increased domestic deployments in response to the devastating bushfires over the summer of 2019/2020. Two months later, Operation COVID-19 Assist was established and constituted the largest deployment – domestic or external - of the ADF since World War Two.

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Book forum: Alan Robertson SC

Alan Robertson SC

Dr Amanda Sapienza’s Judicial Review of Non-Statutory Executive Action is an important work because it has as its centre of attention non-statutory executive action, rather than dealing with it, however well, in a more general context of public law. In this second category I would include, for …

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Book forum: Cheryl Saunders

Cheryl Saunders

Publication of a serious work on judicial review of non-statutory executive power in Australia is long overdue and Amanda Sapienza’s book is very welcome for this reason. I have watched her ideas on these complex issues develop since her presentation to the Cambridge Public Law Conference in 2016. …

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Book forum: Jackson Wherrett

Jackson Wherrett

On one level, Dr Amanda Sapienza’s Judicial Review of Non-Statutory Executive Action is a novel examination of an under-explored area of administrative law. At the same time, it joins a very long line of scholarship that considers the principle of the separation of powers. More particularly, it draws on the …

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Book forum: Amanda Sapienza

Amanda Sapienza

Between the pandemic and my post-PhD career choices, an in-person launch of Judicial Review of Non-Statutory Executive Action, which was published by the Federation Press at the end of 2020, was out of the question. So I’m indebted to the editors of AUSPUBLAW for hosting this online …

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The practical impacts of the ADJR Act on judicial review applications

Brenda Tronson

In this post I provide an overview, from a barrister’s perspective, of the approach I am likely to take when asked for advice regarding a potential judicial review application in relation to a Commonwealth administrative decision. While the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) (ADJR Act) …

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Corruption and Human Rights Sanctions in Australia: Where Public Law Meets Foreign Policy

Anton Moiseienko

In 2020, the Australian Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (JSCFADT) held an inquiry into the potential introduction of corruption and human rights sanctions, also referred to as ‘Magnitsky’ sanctions. The inquiry culminated in a report calling on the government to ‘enact stand alone …

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The Commonwealth Ombudsman: still fit for purpose?

Anita Stuhmche

This series celebrates and analyses the ‘new administrative law’ as it has developed in Australia since the Kerr Committee’s report 50 years ago. The focus of this blog is the Commonwealth Ombudsman. My argument is that the institution is no longer fit for purpose. …

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Proportionality, rights and Australia’s COVID-19 response: Insights from the India travel ban

Liz Hicks & Sangeetha Pillai

The closure of international borders has been a key pillar of Australia’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Australia’s strategy to “aggressively suppress” (in practice, eliminate) COVID-19 within its borders has relied heavily on restrictive measures, including flight caps and travel bans, to limit the importation of the …

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Superimposing private duties on the exercise of public powers: Sharma v Minister for the Environment

Ellen Rock

In May of this year, Bromberg J in the Federal Court handed down a key decision in climate change litigation which has made waves both within Australia and internationally. Sharma v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560 was a negligence claim commenced in connection with an application to expand …

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The “Car Park Rorts” Affair and Grants Regulation in Australia: How can We Fix the System?

Yee-Fui Ng

Yet another rorts scandal is swirling around the federal government, dubbed the ‘car park rorts’ affair. The Auditor-General has reported that a $389 million car park construction fund has been administered ineffectively and that the Minister had distributed the grants with ‘inadequate assessment’ for eligibility (at [25]). The Auditor-General’s …

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