The Law

Victoria occupies a unique position in Australian civil litigation. It is said to be the only Australian jurisdiction that retains regular civil jury trials.[1] This procedural distinction has assumed particular significance in the context of institutional abuse claims, where, in late 2023, two Victorian Supreme Court juries returned what were regarded as the largest awards in this area: $5.94 million[2] and $3.3 million,[3] respectively. While both awards were later reduced

Richard Pusey’s conduct in the Eastern Freeway accident sparked public outrage. This led to the Victorian Parliament legislating the offence of grossly offensive public conduct. By analysing parliamentary rhetoric, existing legal alternatives and the provision's inherently vague drafting, this article argues how Parliament’s actions exemplify reactive law-making, driven by political exploitation, rather than principled legal reform. While this offence modernises legislation,

In the aftermath of the Lawyer X scandal, where barrister Nicola Gobbo’s role as a police informant with Victoria Police unjustly affected multiple convictions, the Victorian government recently passed the State Civil Liability (Police Informants) Act 2024 . The legislation was introduced amid Gobbo’s civil case against the State of Victoria, in which she alleges the government negligently used her as an informer [ 1 ]. The original bill aimed to limit Victoria’s liability by

Recently, my friend invited me to accompany her to an event hosted by the ANU. The event was called ‘First Nations Peace Poetics’. It wasn’t until we arrived at the event that she informed me it was a poetry reading. I leaned across my seat and asked her timidly if I was supposed to have researched the speakers. She shrugged, and told me I knew at least one of them – Ellen van Neerven had been prescribed in an English class we had taken together. I blushed, and admitted that