A committee report recommending passage of the Morrison government’s controversial class action reform bill was tabled in federal parliament Monday, with the committee’s chair touting the proposed legislation as putting an end to funders’ “windfall” profits and Labor panning the bill as a study in “Orwellian gaslighting”.
Changes negotiated to the Andrews government’s controversial pandemic bill fall short of protecting the rule of law, Victorian Bar head Róisín Annesley QC said Tuesday.
The Attorney General’s Department has been hammered with questions over an opinion by the former Solicitor-General that casts doubt on the constitutionality of the controversial class action bill before federal parliament.
A judge has made the “regrettable” call to postpone the trial in a case brought by workers challenging the Victorian government’s COVID-19 health directions until after they expire, blaming the workers for creating a series of “fruitless” delays.
A court has struck down a bid by unvaccinated nurses to restrain Monash Health from terminating their employment in accordance with the Victorian COVID-19 public health directions requiring them to be vaccinated, saying their case is “at best, weak”.
If enacted, the latest class action reform bill before federal parliament will significantly alter the conduct and the outcomes of group litigation across all courts of Australia, and affect access to justice by creating a risk that worthy class actions won’t run, say Law Council of Australia class action committee members Lachlan Armstrong QC and Dr Peter Cashman.
Thirteen Victorian silks have expressed “deep concern” over a bill proposed by the Andrews government giving the health minister power to make “pandemic orders”.
The Queensland Supreme Court has ruled it does not have the power to make declarations regarding the validity of COVID-19 vaccination mandates for Queensland health workers and police officers.
Legislation capping litigation funder returns in class actions to 30 per cent and requiring group members to sign up to funding schemes has been introduced to federal parliament despite widespread criticism.
The president of the peak body for barristers in Victorian has slammed the Andrews government’s proposed pandemic laws as “appalling”, and says claims that the bar association was consulted were not true.