2025 Seminar Series

Professor Richard Moorhead, University of Exeter  

As the Robodebt scandal has illustrated, lawyers’ ethics are important. This paper will show why it is not just bad apples or overweening clients that mean all lawyers are at risk of ethical blunders. Traditional notions of lawyers’ ethics  - ideas such as fearlessness, zeal and cab rank neutrality - will be examined, as will the human frailties that all humans, even (perhaps especially) lawyers face. We will consider how such ideas can drive lawyers towards disaster. Examples will be taken from the United Kingdom Post Office private prosecution scandal, but also elsewhere. I will suggest that traditional notions of ethics are flawed; that rather than protecting the rule of law, they render it vulnerable. 

The Honourable Justice Stephen Gageler will present his thoughts on contemporary challenges faced by the Australian Legal System. The floor will be open for questions and discussion.

This paper will present four arguments for the restoration of an elected second chamber in Queensland and propose four corresponding qualities that such a chamber should possess. These four arguments and four features concern: (1) better democratic representation, (2) enhanced public deliberation, (3) improved legislative procedures, and (4) increased scrutiny of government. In doing so, the paper will consider four key principles of constitutional design, namely democratic legitimacy, effective governance, the separation of powers, and government accountability. 

Professor Heather Douglas, The University of Melbourne

Her Honour Judge Deborah Richards, President, Children’s Court of Queensland

Over time, protections designed to minimise miscarriages of justice in sexual assault cases have been dismantled. Recent changes to the protected counselling regime have significantly denied defendants access to relevant information relating to the credibility of complainants. In September 2024, additional prosecution powers in sexual assault cases were introduced, commencing on 25th May 2025. In early February 2025, the Australian Law Reform Commission handed its Report on Justice Responses to Sexual Violence to the Federal Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus.  This paper addresses the current state of the law regarding the prosecution of sexual assault cases, asking the question whether the pendulum has swung too far in trying to balance the rights of complainants in sex cases with minimising (and hopefully preventing) miscarriages of justice for accused persons.