DownUnderAllOver is a round-up of legal news from both State and federal jurisdictions, and contains topical articles and short pieces from Alternative Law Journal committees around the country.
Privacy and surveillance has been grabbing headlines in the past nine months with the ongoing revelations flowing from the documents provided by Edward Snowden. In Australia, the government last year announced a Senate Inquiry concerning a comprehensive revision of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. The Committee is due to report at the end of June 2014.
When the Abbott government assumed office in September 2013, it appeared that its Labor predecessor had already implemented key aspects of the Coalition’s asylum seeker policy. Asylum seekers were being detained in Nauru and Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) as they had been under the Howard government’s Pacific Solution. The detention facility built at great expense by the Howard government in the remote territory of Christmas Island had become established as a key site for processing those who seek Australia’s protection as refugees. The Gillard government had even completed the process of effectively excising mainland Australia from the migration zone, a step which the Howard government attempted unsuccessfully (and amidst great controversy) in 2006. In light of the stark similarities between the two major parties’ policies, it might appear that little would have changed under the new Abbott administration.
It started as a summer of love. On 7 December 2013 in Canberra marriages between people of the same sex were solemnised in Australia for the first time. The marriages were performed and authorized in accordance with the Australian Capital Territory’s Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013. This Act commenced operation on 7 November 2013, it having been passed by the ACT parliament on 22 October 2013. On the day it commenced couples from around the country began registering their intention to marry after the mandated 30 day wait.
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