Speaker: Professor Elise Bant, University of Western Australia
Commentator: The Hon Catherine Holmes AC
Chair: The Hon Chief Justice Helen Bowskill (Supreme Court of Queensland)
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Recent decades have seen a surge of interest in holistic models of corporate responsibility. These conceptualise how blame might fall upon an entity on its own account, distinct from the fault of its natural agents and employees.
My theory of ‘Systems Intentionality’ makes a doctrinal contribution to this movement. Recently endorsed in the High Court of Australia, it provides a principled and practical means to establish corporate ‘state of mind’ elements in common law, equitable and statutory rules and principles.
Building on this work, this paper asks what insights Systems Intentionality offers for public ‘juristic persons’, such as the Commonwealth of Australia and its associated agencies and entities.
Australia’s ‘Robodebt’ and the UK’s ‘Post Office Horizon’ scandals suggest this question is pressing. In a world of complex bureaucracies, increasing outsourcing and automation of public services, individualistic inquiries into ministers’, officials’ or senior officers’ purposes, knowledge and good faith may fail to identify critical questions of organisational fault. It is time to reconsider questions of public responsibility from a holistic perspective.
About Current Legal Issues Seminar Series 2026
Current Legal Issues seminars feature leading legal scholars, practitioners, and judges. Delivered in partnership with the Bar Association of Queensland and the Supreme Court Library Queensland, the series offers expert presentations, commentary, and discussion on contemporary legal topics.
Seminars are held at the Banco Court in Brisbane and are accredited for CPD.