Law Report
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- Último episodio
- 20 Oct 2026
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From courtroom dramas to miscarriages of justice, to how the law affects you — and so much more. The Law Report is your accessible guide to the big legal stories unfolding in Australia and across the world.
Episodios 250
High Court says Qld prisoner can have eggs frozen
A High Court decision raises important questions about access to healthcare for prisoners after it ruled that a Queensland woman serving a 10-year sentence is entitled to have her eggs frozen.Queensland …
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A High Court decision raises important questions about access to healthcare for prisoners after it ruled that a Queensland woman serving a 10-year sentence is entitled to have her eggs frozen.
Queensland Corrective Services had unsuccessfully argued that egg freezing is a form of assisted reproductive technology which, under state law, is not available to prisoners.
The Law Report explores whether prisoners receive the same range and quality of health services as the general population. And if not, what are the policy reasons and practical obstacles?
Democracy in the misinformation age
What impact does 'fake news' have on public discourse, democracy and the justice system? And how can governments and journalists meet the challenge?A former judge, a journalist turned researcher and a political …
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What impact does 'fake news' have on public discourse, democracy and the justice system? And how can governments and journalists meet the challenge?
A former judge, a journalist turned researcher and a political strategist shine a light on democracy in the age of misinformation and disinformation.
Listen to a panel discussion moderated by the Law Report's Damien Carrick in Melbourne this month, organised by Liberty Victoria and ABC Friends.
Rogue OpenAI agents hacked into Medicare — is it a crime?
When OpenAI agents gained unauthorised access to the Medicare data portal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was extremely concerned about the privacy breach. But are there any legal consequences? Could …
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When OpenAI agents gained unauthorised access to the Medicare data portal, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was extremely concerned about the privacy breach.
But are there any legal consequences? Could OpenAI be prosecuted for the hack? Could it be liable in a civil action?
As the technology develops at breakneck speed, the Law Report discusses what guardrails are necessary to keep people and data safe in the age of AI and social media.
Should smart glasses be banned in public places?
Concerns over privacy breaches linked to smart glasses are seeing authorities around Australia move to restrict where they can be used.Western Australia has announced a complete ban in public schools, which …
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Concerns over privacy breaches linked to smart glasses are seeing authorities around Australia move to restrict where they can be used.
Western Australia has announced a complete ban in public schools, which takes effect next month.
Local councils are also taking action, with the City of Randwick in Sydney investigating whether it can prohibit smart glasses at public beaches.
And the Federal Government is considering restriction in Commonwealth workplaces.
But how effective is regulation at this level and do we need a different type of legal response?
Also in this episode: if you don't pay your gambling debts to an unlicensed bookie, can they take you to court to recover the money?
Is influencing someone to end their life a crime in Australia?
The Victorian government has pledged to implement a raft of reforms around domestic and family violence if it is re-elected in November.One promise is to introduce a new manslaughter offence in cases where a …
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The Victorian government has pledged to implement a raft of reforms around domestic and family violence if it is re-elected in November.
One promise is to introduce a new manslaughter offence in cases where a person is found to have taken their own life due to family violence.
So, is it currently possible to convict a person of murder or manslaughter if they goad or encourage their partner to die by suicide?
This has happened in Britain and the United States.
And right now, Adelaide woman Jacinta Ann Drust is facing charges of murder and unlawful killing over the death of her boyfriend Antonio Cavaiuolo.
Ms Drust has pleaded not guilty to the charges. She denies the allegations and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
The rapid rise of AI use in employment law disputes
A Sydney computing academic made headlines when he won a landmark case at the Fair Work Commission by relying entirely on artificial intelligence.The Law Report explores concerns over the rapid rise in the use …
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A Sydney computing academic made headlines when he won a landmark case at the Fair Work Commission by relying entirely on artificial intelligence.
The Law Report explores concerns over the rapid rise in the use of AI by self-represented litigants in employment law disputes.
01 | Can a stranger inherit everything you own?
An elderly man goes into respite care and meets a nurse he's never known before. Within days she's bought him a will kit and had a document drawn up that leaves everything to her. He dies weeks later. Was that …
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An elderly man goes into respite care and meets a nurse he's never known before.
Within days she's bought him a will kit and had a document drawn up that leaves everything to her.
He dies weeks later. Was that his clear settled wish, or something else entirely? Proving the difference is where it gets hard. And messy.
When it comes to wills, how big an issue are fraud and undue influence? And what sorts of questions arise over how a will is made?
Melbourne lawyer and elder financial abuse specialist James Dimond takes us inside these disputes, from a will signed by pressured witnesses to a father who cut out his son after his daughter convinced him her brother was a dangerous criminal, and the legal idea courts call "poisoning of the mind".
The Law Report's special series Over My Dead Body explores what happens when wills go wrong.
A reminder, this conversation does not represent or replace legal advice.
02 | The will written on a frozen fish packet
A frozen fish packet. An unsent text. A tractor fender. Courts have accepted all of these as valid wills.You want to write a will and make sure that your assets go to those who you think deserve your …
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A frozen fish packet. An unsent text. A tractor fender. Courts have accepted all of these as valid wills.
You want to write a will and make sure that your assets go to those who you think deserve your generosity.
So, how can you make sure the will is binding? Does it need to be a formal document, printed out and signed with a pen? Or can a valid will be a word document, an email or text message? Can it be written on a frozen fish packet or the wall in your home?
Wills expert Professor Pru Vines of UNSW walks through the strangest cases courts have accepted, including a British man who left his entire estate to charity on fish and mince pie packaging, a dying Canadian farmer who scratched his wishes into a tractor after it rolled on him, an unsent phone text upheld in Queensland, and a woman who recorded her will on a smartphone while chastising her children.
The Law Report's special series Over My Dead Body looks at how courts decide whether an unconventional or irregular will is or isn't valid.
A warning, this conversation makes multiple references to suicide, so take care when listening.
It also does not represent or replace legal advice.
03 | He worked the farm for decades and got nothing
You work the family farm your whole life, then it's left to someone else.When drafting a will, the law says you don't have to be fair or equal in deciding who will receive your estate.So, after you pass away …
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You work the family farm your whole life, then it's left to someone else.
When drafting a will, the law says you don't have to be fair or equal in deciding who will receive your estate.
So, after you pass away, can disgruntled family members or friends challenge your will in the courts? Conflicts over inheritance arise in many families but are particularly fraught and complex in farming families.
Andrew Lawson of the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law at the University of New England explains why the farm behaves almost like a third party in the family, and how the courts weigh need over fairness.
He unpacks a $20 million farm fight where two siblings sued the estate and only one won, and the High Court case of a share farmer who toiled for decades on the promise the land would be his, only to see it left to someone else.
The Law Report's special series Over My Dead Body looks at farming family fallouts over inheritance and the unique challenges they create around succession.
This conversation does not represent or replace legal advice.
04 | Asked to be an executor? What you're really signing up for
If a relative asks you to be the executor of their will, should you accept? What can go wrong and what do you need to know before you agree to take on the role? When disputes arise, executors are the ones left …
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If a relative asks you to be the executor of their will, should you accept? What can go wrong and what do you need to know before you agree to take on the role? When disputes arise, executors are the ones left to clean up the mess, often navigating difficult family dynamics. And saying yes to being an executor can make you personally liable for someone else's debts. Sydney lawyer Donal Griffin explains what the job involves, from settling the deceased's tax and debts to the risk of being held personally liable if you distribute too soon and a claim lands months later. He also covers the conflicts that arise when the executor is also a beneficiary, and the odd habit of people naming politicians and public figures they've never met to run their affairs. The Law Report's special series Over My Dead Body explores the challenges faced by executors when finalising and distributing an estate. This conversation does not represent or replace legal advice.
Alan Jones on trial
The criminal trial of former radio broadcaster Alan Jones has begun in the Local Court in Sydney.
How should the law respond to cults and groups that coerce and control?
The Victorian parliament has published a groundbreaking inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups.Among the inquiry's recommendations are world-first laws to …
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The Victorian parliament has published a groundbreaking inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups.
Among the inquiry's recommendations are world-first laws to criminalise coercive control behaviours by groups.
The legacy of William Ah Ket, Australia's first lawyer of Chinese descent
It's 150 years since the birth of William Ah Ket, Australia's first lawyer of Chinese descent.He was involved in two significant legal victories that kicked back against laws that discriminated against Asian …
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It's 150 years since the birth of William Ah Ket, Australia's first lawyer of Chinese descent.
He was involved in two significant legal victories that kicked back against laws that discriminated against Asian Australians in the early 20th century.
The Law Report explores the life and career of this remarkable Australian, his achievements and how his legacy resonates today.
Fifty years of 'no-fault' divorce in Australia
This year marks 50 years of the Family Law Act – legislation that revolutionised the way Australians divorce. Two former family law judges sit down with Damien Carrick to revisit a time before no-fault divorce …
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This year marks 50 years of the Family Law Act – legislation that revolutionised the way Australians divorce. Two former family law judges sit down with Damien Carrick to revisit a time before no-fault divorce, when unhappy spouses often employed private detectives to prove adultery.
The dilemmas of parole board decision making
What is it like to have the responsibility of deciding if a violent offender should be released from prison and allowed back into the community?
New employment law pathway to hear sexual harassment complaints
In a legal first, the Federal Court has handed down a sexual harassment decision under protections recently introduced to the Fair Work Act.
Who should pay when prison guards or police officers cause injury?
If a child is injured by tear gas in a youth detention centre, are the authorities liable? And can a protester injured by police during a demonstration seek damages?
Why a UK court upheld the Palestine Action terror ban
The Court of Appeal in London ruled that it was open to Britain's home secretary to designate the Palestine Action protest group as a terrorist organisation.
Should a complainant's counselling records be used in a sexual assault trial?
The Law Report looks at the Victorian government plans to ensure health and counselling information is not used in court without the consent of victim survivors, who will also be given the choice to pre-record …
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The Law Report looks at the Victorian government plans to ensure health and counselling information is not used in court without the consent of victim survivors, who will also be given the choice to pre-record their evidence ahead of trial.
Is there a place for AI in boardrooms and the courts?
Artificial intelligence is revolutionising all parts of the economy and our institutions — corporate boardrooms and the courts are not immune.
A bushfire starts on your property and spreads to your neighbours - are you liable for their losses?
A court has found that a South Australian farmer was responsible for setting fire to a pile of vegetation that was left smouldering and reignited six months later, causing a devastating bushfire.
Trump's war on journalists: libel or lawfare?
There's been a wave of defamation suits from within the Trump administration targeting the US news media. Is it legitimate litigation or lawfare?
America's Erin Patterson? The Kouri Richins poisoning case
In a case that's transfixed the US, a woman who wrote a children's book about grief following her husband's death has been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.
Does EMDR therapy taint a witness's recollection?
Imagine you are a victim of crime and need therapy to help deal with a traumatic memory. Would you go ahead if it meant that your case might not be prosecuted because the treatment could deem your evidence …
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Imagine you are a victim of crime and need therapy to help deal with a traumatic memory. Would you go ahead if it meant that your case might not be prosecuted because the treatment could deem your evidence unreliable or inadmissible in court?
What does an election look like when there are no financial ground rules?
There are no political donation laws in Victoria following a High Court decision that overturned legislation in place for nearly a decade.
Scam victims want compensation as HSBC settles ASIC action
The Law Report speaks to victims who are calling for the banking giant to compensate them, and asks, how effective are Australian laws in dealing with sophisticated scams?
Why was Ben Roberts-Smith granted bail on war crimes charges?
Australia's most decorated living soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail after being charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. Why was he granted bail? And why did the judge find there were …
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Australia's most decorated living soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail after being charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. Why was he granted bail? And why did the judge find there were exceptional circumstances and bail did not impose any unacceptable risks?
Euthanasia: How Australia's approach compares to other countries
In countries where voluntary assisted dying is allowed, there are very different legal frameworks. A high-profile case in Spain raises questions of whether the procedure should only be allowed if there is a …
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In countries where voluntary assisted dying is allowed, there are very different legal frameworks. A high-profile case in Spain raises questions of whether the procedure should only be allowed if there is a terminal illness. Should the medical criteria also include mental distress? And how does mental illness impact on the idea of agency and choice?
A cultural approach to reducing Indigenous reoffending
Indigenous incarceration rates are off the scale in Australia. For the last four years, the District Court of New South Wales has been trialling the Walama sentencing list, a program aimed at reducing recidivism.
How accurate is facial recognition software?
The Law Report is asking some big picture questions about the pros and cons of facial recognition software use by police and retailers.
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