Retrospective Laws Return to Principles Retrospective laws are functional and operative in Australia despite their apparent inconsistency with the Rule of Law and their abrogation of human rights. The Australian Constitution does not prohibit State or Federal...
Is it possible to break a law that has not yet been made? In Australia the answer is yes. Both State and Federal Parliaments have the power to create retrospective legislation: laws that are made ex post facto – after the fact – so that they apply to events in the...
The recent High Court decision in Independent Commission Against Corruption v Cunneen [2015] HCA 14 has led to debate about the coercive powers of bodies such as ICAC and how best to proceed after the High Court clearly defined corrupt conduct in their judgement. NSW...
In the last days of the Parliament in 2013, Senator Nick Xenophon introduced a Private Members Bill to the Senate to make the “Harming Australians” offences in the Commonwealth Criminal Code retrospective. The Harming Australians Division of the Criminal...
Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Keating ([2013] HCA 20) Case Summary [2013] HCASum 19 (8 May 2013) Link to Decision Kelli Keating was charged with a number of offences relating to her alleged failure to inform Centrelink of variations in her income which...
