Chief Justice Debra Mortimer

The Full Federal Court has dismissed an appeal by human rights group Save the Children, which sought to bring home Australians stuck in Syrian camps, rejecting as “mere conjecture” claims that Home Affairs had a repatriation arrangement with an authority in Syria.

An appeals court has dismissed an environmental advocacy group’s challenge to the extension of two Mach Energy and Whitehaven Coal mega coal mines in NSW, saying the current environmental laws are “ill-suited” to dealing with the global threat of climate change. 

Group members in a class action against Nine over its coverage of litigation related to the 2004 Palm Island riots will receive between $2,000 to $5,200 as part of a settlement reached to resolve the case.

The Full Federal Court has found a native title tribunal failed to consider climate change when making a finding in relation to four new petroleum production leases for Santos’ Narrabri gas project in New South Wales.

Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek wrongly focused on the net effect of approving an application by MACH Energy and Whitehaven Coal to extend two mega coal mines in New South Wales, an advocacy group has told an appeals court.

Judges were not afraid to vent their spleen in 2023, but lawyers were not the only object of judicial scorn last year, as judges waded into public discourse and sounded off over issues including complex legislation, media reports, famous social media commentators, and the involvement of government departments in legal proceedings. 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has lost its bid to pursue a disciplinary case against former Grant Thornton director Bradley Taylor over his 2018 audit of fintech firm iSignThis while criminal proceedings are ongoing.

A retiring Federal Court judge who served on the bench for almost two decades has railed against court fees “that no ordinary person can afford” and overly complex legislation, including the Corporations Act, which he called a “blight on our community”.

A group of former Jewish and Israeli students at Brighton Secondary College have won hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation and an apology from the Victorian government after a judge found the school principal failed to address racially-charged bullying and hundreds of cases of swastika graffiti.

The Full Court has rejected class action claims that the age pension discriminates against Indigenous Australians because of differences in life expectancy.