Fighting a class action that claims the age pension discriminates against Indigenous Australians because of differences in life expectancy, the Commonwealth says the rate of welfare dependency among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders could impact the case.
The state of Queensland has brought a “hopeless” defence in a $2.5 million suit alleging a Federal Circuit judge unlawfully imprisoned a Queensland man for contempt after he failed to comply with an order for particulars, a court has heard.
A Federal Circuit Court judge has hit back at accusations he conducted “the grossest parody of a court hearing” when he unlawfully imprisoned a Queensland man for contempt of court, telling a trial “he is a human being [who] made a mistake”.
The federal government is seeking to avoid a representative proceeding brought on behalf of Indigenous men alleging its failure to “close the gap” in life expectancy necessitates a lower age eligibility for their fair and equal access to the age pension.