Category: Australia
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Madeline Gleeson & Theodore Konstadinides: The UK’s Rwanda policy and Lessons from Australia
In November 2023, the Supreme Court of the UK dealt a critical blow to the government’s proposal to send certain asylum seekers to the Republic of Rwanda. In AAA and Others v the Home Secretary, the Court ruled that removal to Rwanda would be unlawful because that country was not, at the time, a ‘safe country’. The government…
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Conor Crummey: Mr Djokovic Has No Challenges Remaining
The Novak Djokovic saga, which eventually resulted in the world number one male tennis player’s deportation from Australia, became a matter of possible electoral significance in Australia and led to protests on the streets of Belgrade. After successfully challenging the Australian Border Force’s original decision to cancel his visa (Djokovic v Minister for Home Affairs),…
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Jeremy Ogilvie-Harris: A Comparative Perspective on the Constitutionality of Clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill
Introduction The Nationality and Borders Bill (NABB) proposes controversial amendments to the UK’s citizenship deprivation power under s. 40 British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA). The Home Secretary seeks a power to dispense with the requirement to give notice of deprivation decisions to those affected, in an act of “striking back” (Harlow and Rawlings at Chamberlain J’s…
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Jelena Gligorijević: Game, Set and Match for the Rule of Law
Many diverse issues have been raised, and diverse perspectives aired, in the Australian and international public square, over the past week about the events concerning the cancellation of Novak Djoković’s visa by the Australian (federal) executive government (see here, here, here, here, here, and here). I will focus on an issue and a principle that sits comfortably above, and has always…
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Guy Baldwin: Banning Public Worship during the Pandemic?
As the coronavirus pandemic stretches into its second year, the tension between freedom of religion and public health measures has become increasingly acute. In Scotland, the issue has come to the fore with the decision of the Outer House of the Court of Session in Philip. In that case, Lord Braid found that Scottish regulations…
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Julian R Murphy: The Palace Letters Case: Constitutional Conventions and the Confidentiality of Royal Correspondence in the Commonwealth Realms
A century ago, Dicey distinguished between laws and conventions of the constitution on the basis that the latter were ‘not enforced or recognised by the courts’. Today, only the first aspect of Dicey’s observation remains true; while courts generally do not enforce constitutional conventions they are increasingly called upon to recognise conventions for particular purposes.…
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Lorne Neudorf: Scrutinising Legislative Reform Orders: The Case of the Horserace Betting Levy
On Wednesday, 21 November, the House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee (the ‘Lords Committee’) held a unique concurrent meeting with the House of Commons Regulatory Reform Committee (the ‘Commons Committee’) to take evidence as part of its scrutiny of a draft Legislative Reform Order (‘LRO’) entitled the Legislative Reform (Horserace Betting Levy)…
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Chris Piggott-McKellar: Digging for Trouble? The Attempt to Enshrine a Fracking Ban in the Constitution of the Australian State of Victoria
Australia’s readiness to change Prime Ministers is not matched by its readiness to change the Australian Constitution. While the occupant of The Lodge (Australia’s equivalent of Number 10) has changed seven times in the past 11 years, the federal constitution has only been changed eight times since 1901. This is because the rigid Australian Constitution…
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Sarah Keenan: The Blurring of Australian and Nauruan Jurisdiction
On Easter Sunday, it was revealed that Nauru had withdrawn from the bilateral treaty which gave Nauruan residents access of appeal to the High Court of Australia. The following day, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that Australia was notified of the withdrawal in December, meaning that pursuant to the treaty’s 90-day…
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Luke Beck: Australia’s Next King Could be Muslim or Catholic
Could Australia’s next king be a Muslim, a Catholic or some other non-Anglican? The answer according to the Australian Constitution is yes. It is well known that various religious tests govern succession to the Crown of the United Kingdom. Only Protestants may inherit the Crown. But the Australian Constitution expressly forbids religious tests for holding…