Australian Public Law Blog

The Commonwealth’s Power to Regulate Medical Fees: Constitutional Limits and Contemporary Pressures — Australian Public Law Margaret Faux and Bruce Topperwien As Australians grapple with escalating out-of-pocket medical expenses, constitutional law has re-entered the policy conversation. The Federal Health Minister has pu...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Margaret Faux and Bruce Topperwien examine the Commonwealth’s constitutional power to regulate medical fees. First post in an upcoming series on out-of-pocket medical costs and the constitutional foundations of Medicare: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2026/3/...

Our March events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for March and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

The Government is not the same as us: eSafety Commissioner v Baumgarten [2026] FCAFC 12 — Australian Public Law Janina Boughey When a government official tells you to do something, the instruction carries significantly more weight than when another person, without the cloak of government authority, issues the...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Janina Boughey discusses the Full Federal Court case of eSafety Commissioner v Baumgarten and what it reveals about the limits on government agencies seeking to circumvent merits and judicial review by acting informally via ‘soft law’: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2026/3/...

Call for Expressions of Interest — Australian Public Law Call for Expressions of Interest to join the editorial team of AUSPUBLAW.

We are seeking expressions of interest from final year LLM students, HDR law students or others with relevant legal qualifications and experience from across Australia to join the AUSPUBLAW editorial team as a Joint Editor. www.auspublaw.org/blog/2026/02...

When is it illegal to attend a protest? Contempt of court and unlawful assembly following Commissioner of Police v Naser — Australian Public Law Henry Chen and Cherry Tang In this post, we challenge the comments made by the NSW Court of Appeal about the potential criminal consequences of an order ‘ prohibiting ’ a protest under s 25 of the S...

New on AUSPUBLAW: Henry Chen and Cherry Tang examine issues of contempt of court and unlawful assembly in relation to protests in NSW: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2026/2/...

AN0M in the High Court – CD v Commonwealth [2025] HCA 37 — Australian Public Law Rohan Balani ‘Operation Ironside’ was one of the largest covert investigations by the Australian Federal Police ( AFP ) alongside overseas law enforcement authorities, into transnational and serious ...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Rohan Balani reflects on the High Court’s decision in CD v Commonwealth [2025] HCA 37 and what it tells us about the scope of judicial power of the Commonwealth: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2026/2/...

What do we mean by 'public law' when we say that 'criminal law is public law'? – Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia book forum — Australian Public Law Malcolm Thorburn Nicholas Petrie and Julian R. Murphy have done Australia and the world a great service in putting together a terrific volume of essays on Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia ...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Malcolm Thorburn’s take on Nicholas Petrie and Julian R Murphy’s edited collection 'Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia: Overlap, Intersection and Inconsistency’. The final post in our final book forum for 2025: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/12...

Overlaps and Intersections in Theory and in Practice – Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia book forum — Australian Public Law Chris Carr SC and Minh-Quan Nguyen Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia deals with overlaps and intersections, in more ways than one.  For one thing, the volume methodically interrogates...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Chris Carr and Minh-Quan Nguyen share their reflections on Nicholas Petrie and Julian R Murphy’s edited collection 'Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia: Overlap, Intersection and Inconsistency': www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/12...

Criminal Law as Public Law – Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia book forum — Australian Public Law Gabrielle Appleby Nicholas Petrie and Julian R Murphy’s recently released edited collection, Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia: Overlap, Intersection and Inconsistency (F ederation Press...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Reflections from Gabrielle Appleby on Nicholas Petrie and Julian R Murphy’s edited collection 'Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia: Overlap, Intersection and Inconsistency': www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/12...

The beginning of a conversation – Criminal law and the broader field of Australian public law — Australian Public Law Nicholas Petrie and Julian R Murphy The thing we most wanted to achieve in collecting a series of chapters on Australian criminal law and public law was to start a conversation, or many conversations...

Starting today on AUSPUBLAW we have a special book forum on Nicholas Petrie and Julian R Murphy’s new edited collection ‘Public Law and Criminal Law in Australia: Overlap, Intersection and Inconsistency’. Nicholas and Julian's introductory post is out now!
www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/12...

Struggling to combat the code: An alternative account of reviewing automated decision-making in the UK - Combatting the Code book forum — Australian Public Law Alexandra Sinclair New technologies always lay bare the ambiguities present wi thin existing framework s of legal regulation. The use of artificial intelligence ( AI ) and automation in public-sect...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Reflections from Alexandra Sinclair on Yee-Fui Ng’s book ‘Combatting the Code: Regulating Automated Government Decision-Making in Comparative Context’: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/11...

Reason-Giving Without Reasoners? Confronting Generative AI Use in Administrative Processes - Combatting the Code book forum — Australian Public Law Frank Pasquale In her Combatting the Code: Regulating Automated Government Decision-Making in Comparative Context , Y ee-Fui Ng examines many instances of predictive AI use that raise serious co...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Reflections from Frank Pasquale (@frankpasquale.bsky.social) on Yee-Fui Ng’s book ‘Combatting the Code: Regulating Automated Government Decision-Making in Comparative Context’: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/11...

Regulating Automated Government Decision-Making: An Australian Perspective - Combatting the Code book forum — Australian Public Law Anna Huggins Associate Professor Yee-Fui Ng’s new book, Combatting the Code , makes an important and timely contribution to debates about regulating automated government decision-making. Her in-...

This week on AUSPUBLAW we have a special book forum on Yee-Fui Ng’s new book ‘Combatting the Code: Regulating Automated Government Decision-Making in Comparative Context’. To kick us off, we’ve got a post by Anna Huggins - out now! www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/11...

Our November events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for November and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

SunshineLoans Pty Ltd v ASIC: A Constitutional Dimension to Apprehended Bias? — Australian Public Law Jerry Leung and Seung Chan Rhee Where a judge makes adverse credibility findings against a witness in the liability stage of a trial and that same witness is required to give evidence at the relief s...

On the eve of SunshineLoans Pty Ltd v ASIC, Jerry Leung and Seung Chan Rhee consider the constitutional dimensions of apprehended bias and how this could be relevant to the proceedings. Check it out - and stay tuned for the High Court hearing tomorrow! www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/10...

Our October events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for October and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

‘Climate Overloading’ and Separation of Powers Arguments: Reflections on Pabai v Commonwealth of Australia — Australian Public Law Liz Hicks The recent Federal Court decision of Pabai v Commonwealth (No 2 ) [2025 ] FCA 796 considered wheth er the Commonwealth owed two duties of care to the Torres Strait Islander peopl...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: @lizhicks.bsky.social analyses the Federal Court’s reliance on the concept of ‘core policy’ in determining Commonwealth duties of care in relation to climate change in Pabai v Commonwealth: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/09...

Public Meaning and Private Communications: A Sidebar to Ravbar — Australian Public Law Julian R Murphy The High Court’s decision in Ravbar v Commonwealth [2025] HCA 25 raises a number very large questions, including as to proportionality testing in different fields of constitutiona...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Julian R Murphy unpacks what Ravbar tells us about the ways in which private communications might be relevant to the interpretation, and judicial review, of legislation: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/08...

Our August events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for August and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

Back at the Border: When Protection Ends at Departure — Lessons from Plaintiff S15/2025 — Australian Public Law Jason Donnelly and Chris Honnery Plaintiff S15/2025 concerned an appl ication in the High Court’s original jurisdiction brought on behalf of a Syrian refugee who was refused a resident return visa...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Jason Donnelly and Chris Honnery unpack the central issues in Plaintiff S15/2025, including the scope of Australia’s non-refoulement obligations, and outline lessons for practitioners: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/07...

Could For Women Scotland Impact How Australian Courts Understand What ‘Women’ Means? — Australian Public Law Nina Dillon Britton On 16 April 2025, in a unanimous decision, the UK Supreme Court found that, for the purposes of the  Equality Act  2010   (UK), ‘sex’ means one’s biological s...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Nina Dillon Britton explores whether the UK Supreme Court's decision on the meaning of 'women' under the Equality Act 2010 (UK) could influence Australian courts in interpreting the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth): www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/07...

Our July events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for July and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

Lawmaking by a First Peoples’ Representative Body: Delegated Legislation or Incorporation by Reference? — Australian Public Law Harry Hobbs and Lorne Neudorf Much of the political momentum surrounding Indigenous rights quickly dissipated following the defeat of the Voice referendum in October 2023. Newly elected governments i...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: As negotiations to form a treaty with First Peoples continue in Victoria, Harry Hobbs and Lorne Neudorf explore how a First Peoples’ representative body might be given effective legislative authority: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/6/...

Beyond the Border: CZA19 Across The Indian Ocean — Australian Public Law Douglas McDonald-Norman In its recent judgment in  CZA19 v Commonwealth; DBD24 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs  [2025] HCA 8 ( CZA19 ), the High Court has confirmed ...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Douglas McDonald-Norman looks at how the High Court's judgment in CZA19 v Commonwealth; DBD24 v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs could inform constitutional debates in India: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/05...

Parliamentary Privilege and Integrity Commission Findings in Sofronoff v ACT Integrity Commission — Australian Public Law Dane Luo In Sofronoff v ACT Integrity Commission , a former Queensland judge, Walter Sofronoff KC, is seeking judicial review of findings made by the Australian Capital Territory ( ACT ) Integri...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Dane Luo critically evaluates the arguments around parliamentary privilege raised in Sofronoff v ACT Integrity Commission: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/05...

Our May events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for May and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

Our April events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for April and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

Terrorism and Parole in the High Court — Australian Public Law Cherry Tang and Eden Blair In June 2024, the High Court handed down its decision in R v Hatahet [2 024] HCA 23 ( HCA Judgment ) on appeal from the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal ( CCA ...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Cherry Tang and Eden Blair take a look at the High Court's 2024 judgment in R v Hatahet and whether the likelihood of parole can be taken into account in sentencing: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/3/...

Our March events roundup is live! There's a range of interesting events and opportunities scheduled for March and beyond: www.auspublaw.org/events

DPP v Smith: A Fresh Appetite To Consider Section 32(1) Of The Charter? — Australian Public Law Kent Blore The High Court handed down Momcilovic v The Queen [2011] HCA 34 ; ( 2011) 245 CLR 1 ( Momcilovic ) well over a decade now. That means it has been more than a decade since the High Co...

New today on AUSPUBLAW: Kent Blore looks at what the High Court’s decision in DPP v Smith tells us about how s 32(1) of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights might be used in statutory interpretation down the road: www.auspublaw.org/blog/2025/02...