Court cases: 

- Williams v Commonwealth of Australia [2012] HCA 23 (20 June 2012) http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/2012/23.html

- Williams v Commonwealth of Australia [2014] HCA 23 (19 June 2014) http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/2014/23.html

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Court case: 

Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth ("Communist Party case") [1951] HCA 5; (1951) 83 CLR 1 (9 March 1951)

Read judgment: 

http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/1951/5.html

Read the transcript.

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There’s a big debate about religious freedom in Australia after the federal government announced plans to introduce new federal religious discrimination laws. Most of the coverage of the religious freedom debate focuses on protecting the major religions, most notably Christianity.  

But there’s some religious groups that don’t get any coverage at all. What if you’re a witch or a Wiccan? A Druid or Shaman? How does Australian law protect your beliefs and religious practices? How has the law treated you over the years if you’re a conjurer or a psychic? 

Today JUST CASES rewinds to a 1930 case which went all the way to the High Court of Australia. 

Music- Lee Rosevere 'Last Call'- Lee Rosevere 'Introducing the Pre-Roll'

Court case- Hansen v Archdall and Smith [1930] HCA 16 44 CLR 265

http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showbyHandle/1/13142

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Numerous inquiries have uncovered widespread discrimination and exclusion against children at government schools around Australia. While state-run education departments are tasked with the responsibility of fixing this problem, there’s another institution in our society that has a major role to play: our courts. 

But the leading court case that dictates how the courts play this role - and which judges around Australia are obliged to follow - is seriously flawed.

SHOW NOTES

All music by Lee Rosevere

- 'Introducing the Pre-roll'

- '17 - Awkward Silences version b' 

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/

Storyteller

 - Dr Colin Campbell, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Hosts

 - Dr Melissa Castan & James Pattison

Further reading

- Purvis v New South Wales (Department of Education and Training) [2003] HCA 62: http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2003/HCA/62- 

'Improving Educational Outcomes for Children with Disability in Victoria: Final Report' (June 2018), E Jenkin, C Spivakovsky, S Joseph, M Smith, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University: https://www.justcasespodcast.com/s/Castan-Centre-Improving-Educational-Outcomes-for-Students-with-Disability.pdf

Victorian students with disabilities turned away from schools, report finds (ABC News, 29 June 2018): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-29/students-with-disabilities-victorian-government-schools-report/9923274

- Campbell, Colin D, "A Hard Case Making Bad Law: Purvis v New South Wales and the Role of the Comparator Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)" [2007] FedLawRw 4; (2007) 35(1) Federal Law Review 111: http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLawRw/2007/4.html

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Between 1999 to 2013, the SFO and a joint BBC/The Guardian investigation revealed that Rolls-Royce - which manufactures aircraft engines and defence systems, as well as their famed luxury cars - engaged in systemic criminal activity on a global scale. 

In 2017, Rolls-Royce came to an agreement with the SFO, in which the company agreed to pay £671 million in return for avoiding prosecution on bribery and corruption charges. 

This type of agreement - referred to as a deferred prosecution agreement (or DPA) - is gaining popularity. 

What exactly are DPAs? Do they pull the teeth out of the criminal justice system, which already struggles to convict people for white collar crime?

Read the transcript.

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For over twenty years anti-abortion protesters have picketed abortion clinics around Australia. To combat this targeted harassment of women seeking safe and legal abortions, state governments have passed ‘safe access zone’ laws which create an exclusion zone around abortion clinics which protestors cannot enter. 

Anti-abortionists argue these laws limit their free speech. Supporters of safe access zones argue these laws are vital to ensure the safety of women seeking health care. 

When this law was challenged by anti-abortion protesters who had breached the exclusion zones, the High Court was faced with a major balancing act.

 Storytellers

- Dr Tania Penovic, Faculty of Law, Monash University

- Dr Caroline Henckels, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Hosts

- Dr Melissa Castan & James Pattison

Further reading

- Explainer: what are abortion clinic safe-access zones and where do they exist in Australia? (https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-abortion-clinic-safe-access-zones-and-where-do-they-exist-in-australia-98175)

- High Court delivers landmark ruling validating abortion clinic ‘safe access zones’ (https://theconversation.com/high-court-delivers-landmark-ruling-validating-abortion-clinic-safe-access-zones-115062)

Music in this episode:

- Lee Rosevere - ‘Start the Day’

- Lee Rosevere - ‘Waiting For the Moment That Never Comes’

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Australians traditionally sees themselves as pretty secular compared to the rest of the world. But how Australians choose to fund their children’s education paints a very different picture. 

For every dollar the Federal Government spends per student in a private or independent school, public schools receive only around 75 cents per student. 

In 2017, Catholic schools received $8.4 billion in government funding, despite also being funded by fee-paying families. The Catholic Church in Australia is estimated to be worth between $20 billion to $30 billion. 

How can a secular government, in a country which espouses the separation of church and state, be allowed to fund religious schools? And when it comes to school funding, is our government playing favourites with religion?

Storyteller: 

Dr Luke Beck, Associate Professor, Monash Law School.

Hosts: 

Dr Melissa Castan & James Pattison

Extra material:

Attorney-General (Vic); Ex Rel Black v Commonwealth ("DOGS case") [1981] HCA 2; (1981) 146 CLR 559 (2 February 1981) http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA/1981/2.html

Music in this episode:

Nathaniel Wyvern - ‘Sanctuary of the Sky Gods’

Mid-Air Machine - ‘Breathing Out’

John Bartman - ‘Pepper the Pig’

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We speak to the judge who decided this important case and learn what it’s like to make such life-changing decisions. 

WARNING: This episode contains some difficult subject matter. There’s mentions of suicide, gender-identity issues, family violence and graphic content. If that’s difficult for you please find another episode of Just Cases to listen to. 

If anything in this episode brings up some difficult feelings for you please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue, or similar support services in your community.

Lifeline 13 11 14 / www.lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36 / www.beyondblue.org.au

Storyteller: The Honourable Nahum Mushin AM, former Judge of the Family Court of Australia and Professor of Law at Monash University. 

Hosts: Dr Melissa Castan & James Pattison

Music in this episode:

- 'Hot Pink' by Chad Crouch

- 'Backwater' by Chad Crouch

- 'Cross Stitch' by Chad Crouch

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“It’s not a story of a corrupt guy, Jacob Zuma,” says Hennie van Vuuren, the director of Open Secrets, a South African organisation that investigates economic crimes and abuses of power. 

“[Instead] it’s a story of a network of players around the globe - in corporations, arms companies, intelligence agencies - who have been working with accountants and lawyers and others who have facilitated this corruption. As we zoom out we start to see the links spread across the globe.” 

Hennie van Vuuren (www.twitter.com/hennievvuuren) is the author of 'Apartheid, Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit', which shows how a secret global network of banks, governments and big business dodged international sanctions to supply the last Apartheid regime with weapons, and how this legacy of corruption, which resulted in the gutting of democratic institutions and the murders of those who attempted to expose it, still survives to this day.

More information

- Open Secrets: www.opensecrets.org.za

- Podcast series: They Killed Dulcie www.opensecrets.org.za/they-killed-dulcie-podcast-series/

Music in this episode:

'Alum Drum Solo' by Blue Dot Sessions‘Melodramatic’ by DJ Ollie J

Read the transcript.

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A man is killed onboard. 

What follows is one of the most bizarre and sinister of diplomatic incidents. 

The hunt for his killers uncovers an international network of spies, and exposes a highly-coordinated attack planned from the highest echelons of world power. 

Music in this episode:

- Lobo Loco 'Fly of the Brants A'

- Blue Dot Sessions 'Boston Landing'

Read the transcript.

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The case of the ‘IWW Twelve’ sees a dozen local members of a radical worldwide movement caught in a perfect political storm.

Storyteller: Dr Stephen Gray, Monash Law School

Hosts: Dr Melissa Castan & James Pattison

Further reading:

- ‘Death Cults, Murdering a Police Officer, and the First World War' by Dr Stephen Gray (Alternative Law Journal) 

- 'Enemy Within? The Wobblies' by Nerida Campbell (Sydney Living Museums) 

- 'The Sydney Twelve — treason, conspiracy and conscription in Australia 1916' by Dr Barry York (Museum of Australian Democracy Blog)

All music in this episode by Podington Bear. 

Track listing:

- 'Elephants on Parade'

- 'Senseless'

- 'Kaleidoscope'

Find a transcript for this episode here.

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What lies ahead is not only a naval disaster, but a diplomatic dispute that throws a massive colonial power on a collision course with a young nation on the rise.

Music: 

- ‘This tuning is so dramatic’ by Monplaisir

- ‘35’C’ by King Imagine

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More than a century later, the current Banking Royal Commission in Australia continues to expose stories of banks behaving badly. 

But it remains rare for the people at the helm of banks and other major corporations - the company directors - to be held legally responsible for what goes on at their company. 

When things go wrong at a company who should cop the blame? And how far has the law come since the case of the Marquess of Bute and the Cardiff Savings Bank? 

Music in this episode:

- 'Swoon' by Inaequalis

- '35 'C' by King Imagine

- '2 AM' by Kenney Floreat

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WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of acts of a sexual nature, a violent nature, and a mention of suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

Read the transcript.

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West Coast player Andrew Gaff has been suspended for eight matches for punching 18-year-old Fremantle player Andrew Brayshaw behind play. 

Brayshaw has undergone surgery on a broken jaw and will require further treatment for three broken teeth. The teenager's first season in the game has come to an abrupt and violent end. 

The hit has prompted calls for all sorts of things; from a red card system in the AFL, to criminal charges and even jail time. 

On this episode of Just Cases we explore a similarly notorious incident in 1985. It led to the criminal prosecution of Leigh Matthews - a giant of Australian rules football held by many to be the greatest footballer to have ever played the game.

Music in this episode

Parallel Park 'Counterattack'

Silicon Transmitter 'Sphere'

Soularflair 'Cue 2 -Sad-HipHop-Backmasked piano cello Fortitude'

Read the transcript.

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The announcement comes in response to a growing heroin problem in Victoria. The number of Victorians dying from overdoses has doubled in the last five years, and in the Richmond area alone 34 people died from heroin overdoses in a single year, all within a four-block radius from where the new service will be established. 

In this bonus episode, Melissa talks with Dr Kate Seear, about how safe injecting rooms and needle exchanges work. 

How can they be legal while drugs are illegal? 

This extra audio was recorded just before the Victorian Government's announcement. 

If you haven't listened to Episode 4 of Just Cases there's a few things about the case that are mentioned so it might be worth going back and having a listen to Episode 4: They Don't Teach You This At Law School.

Read the transcript.

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The events of that evening are murky, but the resulting court case is unprecedented - and we still feel its effects. 

Music in this episode:

- 'Made Men' by Audiobinger (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

- 'You Cant Love Me' by Audiobinger (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

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One constitutional law expert describes this "shocking case" as one which "shows us how even very clever judges sitting on the High Court can sometimes make terrible mistakes". 

Music in this episode:

- 'China Town' by Audiobinger (CC BY-NC 4.0 license)

- 'Dream Big' by Audiobinger (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

Read the transcript.

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Music in this episode: 

- 'A Lil Somethin' Somethin'' by The Good Lawdz (CC BY-SA 3.0 license)

- 'Beach Aldente' by KieLoBot (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license)

Read the transcript.

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Music: 

'Has Pluck' by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0 license)

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When a policeman is murdered in a small country town, the stage is set for a showdown between his killers and a political system with everything to lose. 

Music in this episode: 

- 'Felt Lining' by Blue Dot Sessions (CC BY-NC 4.0 license)

- 'Attempt 1' by Jared C. Balogh (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license)

- 'Tracers' by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0 license)

Read the transcript.

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