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Law Report

ABC Australia

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.

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  • 249 episodes
  • Updated July 28

Episodes249

Newest first
  • Aug 29, 2023 · 28 min

    New legal service for whistleblowers and Australia’s worst case of malicious prosecution 

    If you knew that something illegal, dangerous, negligent or corrupt was happening in your workplace – what would you do? Who would you turn to for advice?  A new report from the Human Rights Law Centre has found that there has not been a successful case brought by a whistleblower under the federal laws designed to protect employees speaking out about wrongdoing. They’ve now launched a new legal service to give  whistleblowers the support they need to navigate these laws. This week, we also loo

  • Aug 22, 2023 · 28 min

    ACT leads the way in assisting vulnerable people in court

    In recent years, a number of jurisdictions around Australia have introduced Vulnerable Witness Intermediary Services. These services assist complainants such as children and those with intellectual and cognitive disabilities to give evidence in court or answer questions in police interviews.  While this service in Australia is currently only offered to complainants, the ACT will follow in the steps of Northern Ireland and extend its Vulnerable Witness Intermediary Service to defendants.  

  • Aug 1, 2023 · 28 min

    02/ Justice, but not in my language

    Hundreds of thousands of Australian residents, a figure now approaching one million, don't speak English well, or at all. The growing demand for interpreters and the shortfall in those who are suitably qualified to work in the legal sector is putting severe pressure on Australia's busiest courts. 

  • Jul 25, 2023 · 48 min

    01/ Justice, but not in my language

    Lawyers in the Northern Territory say the shortage in Indigenous interpreters has become so critical that it's contributing to the vast over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the criminal justice system.

  • Jul 18, 2023 · 28 min

    Singing to the sea

    This episode revisits the historic Federal Court decision to confirm native title over more than 40,000 square kilometres of sea country in the Torres Strait region last year. For the first time the claim brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to achieve joint native title outcomes. Traditional singing provided crucial evidence in the proceedings. Damien Carrick travelled to Waibene, or Thursday Island, to attend the outdoor sitting and to speak with traditional owner

  • Jul 11, 2023 · 28 min

    'Tsunami of suffering': Robodebt royal commission findings explained

    The Robodebt royal commission has made damning findings about government ministers and public servants who created and administered the automated debt recovery scheme from Centrelink recipients. And why is the technology company that created ChatGPT being sued in US courts? 

  • Jun 27, 2023 · 28 min

    Kids' book points refugee mums to legal help

    When refugees arrive in Australia, they face huge challenges. So, how do they access the support they need? Perhaps counterintuitively, a newly launched children's book is designed to help refugees get legal assistance.

  • Jun 20, 2023 · 28 min

    Does Australia need a Criminal Cases Review Commission?

    Why did it take the justice system 20 years to work out that Kathleen Folbigg was wrongly convicted over the deaths of her four infant children? Does Australia need a better way to investigate possible miscarriages of justice?

  • Jun 6, 2023 · 28 min

    Ben Roberts Smith loses defamation case, Kathleen Folbigg released from prison

    A judge has thrown out the defamation action brought by Ben Roberts Smith one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers against three newspapers. The judge was satisfied, to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, that allegations Mr Roberts-Smith was involved or complicit in unlawful killings in Afghanistan were substantially true.  Also, convicted serial killer Kathleen Folbigg has been pardoned and released from jail after 20 years behind bars. New scientific knowledge around the ca

  • May 30, 2023 · 28 min

    PwC tax leaks scandal; overcoming obstacles for deaf & blind jurors

    The deepening crisis engulfing accounting giant PwC – is this a case of a few bad apples or is there a deeper structural problem? And the Victorian Law Reform Commission is proposing legislative changes to enable deaf and blind people to serve on juries.

  • May 16, 2023 · 28 min

    'Green transition', mining & Indigenous rights

    In the race to decarbonise the economy, is there a risk of undermining the rights of Indigenous people? Mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP are proposing to develop north America’s largest copper mine on land considered sacred to the local Apache people.

  • May 2, 2023 · 28 min

    'Sovereign citizens' in the courts

    We've all heard of 'sovereign citizens', a term referring to people who don't believe the law applies to them. But how much do we know about this group and its impact on the courts?