AUSPUBLAW Editorial Team

Dane Luo

In early January, the world watched in disbelief as the US House of Representatives went through vote after vote to elect a Speaker. The chaos stemmed from 19 Republican Representatives (joined later by one more) who rebelled against the House Republican Conference’s pick of Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. Four days and 15 votes later, at the stroke of midnight, McCarthy was elected Speaker.

It begs the question: would such a messy, protracted political battle for the position of Speaker happen in Australia? In short, the answer is no. To demonstrate why, this article will compare and contrast the role, powers, and method of electing the Speaker in these two countries.

Sana Nakata

Robert French

William Isdale and Nicholas Simoes da Silva

In this piece, we build upon a recent post on legislative complexity by Crawford, Akand, Contractor and Sisson to reveal just how big a problem legislative complexity actually is. In doing so, we will explain how a recently launched ALRC initiative — the DataHub — can deliver new insights for scholars interested in probing these issues further. We will also outline some additional answers to a question posed by Crawford and colleagues: “how do we actually simplify legislation?”, drawing on the ALRC’s latest research.

Henry Palmerlee

Justice Gageler’s dissenting judgement in the recent case of Farm Transparency International Ltd v New South Wales [2022] HCA 23 includes an insightful explanation of why video-based political communication has attracted consistent judicial interest. His Honour argued that two unique characteristics of visual imagery – its persuasiveness and inherent veracity – make it a potent medium for political communication in the modern age.

In this piece, I consider Gageler J’s reasoning in the context of recent advances in video manipulation through artificial intelligence, specifically deepfakes.

Somali Cerise and Prabha Nandagopal

On 28 November 2022, the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022 was passed by Federal Parliament, heralding a new era for gender equality and the prevention of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. The key reform introduced by the bill is the highly anticipated positive duty for employers to eliminate discriminatory conduct under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (Sex Discrimination Act). The positive duty was the cornerstone recommendation in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work Report and will shift the burden away from individuals taking remedial action, instead putting the onus on employers to prioritise early intervention and prevention.

Paul Kildea

In early December 2022 the Albanese government took another important step towards the referendum to constitutionally enshrine a First Nations Voice. It introduced into the House of Representatives the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022. The Bill proposes numerous changes to referendum process, including new arrangements for public education and campaign finance.

Referendum process usually takes a backseat to substantive debates on constitutional change. That is understandable, but process matters now deserve a place in the spotlight. How Parliament approaches these machinery changes will influence how the public debate and campaign over the Voice unfolds. Getting the process right is essential if the Voice vote is to be fair and informed.

Welcome to the February edition of the AUSPUBLAW Australian Public Law Events Roundup.