Both the plaintiffs were diagnosed with schizophrenia and were ordered to undergo compulsory electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). The case arose from the plaintiffs’ appeal of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s (VCAT) order that they are administered ECT. VCAT made this decision pursuant to its findings that both individual plaintiffs lacked the capacity to give informed …Read more

This case addresses whether a protective visa under Australia’s Migration Act should be granted when appellant fears for her safety on return to her country because of domestic violence at the hands of her husband. A 54-year-old Vietnamese woman (appellant) was detained for being an unlawful non-citizen in Australia in 2014. She had remained in …Read more

An Australian border protection vessel intercepted an Indian flagged vessel carrying the plaintiff and 156 other passengers in the Indian Ocean about 16 nautical miles from the Australian territory of Christmas Island. The plaintiff was a Sri Lankan national of Tamil ethnicity who claimed to have a well-founded fear of persecution in Sri Lanka on …Read more

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995 (the “Act”) empowered the Registrar to register a change of sex of a person upon that person’s request. Norrie applied to the Registrar to record her sex as non-specific as she had undergone a sex affirmation procedure but her gender ambiguity remained unresolved. Norrie did not identify …Read more

The claimants, who were serving life imprisonment sentences, claimed that the state of Australia had violated articles 7, 10, 15 and 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“Covenant”), particularly the right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, and/or degrading treatment. The claimants were jointly tried for the murder, abduction, and …Read more

XX, a mental health patient, had been detained and treated against her will at a treatment center under an Involuntary Treatment Order (“ITO”) in August 2013. The ITO was revoked by the Mental Health Review Board (“Board”). Following XX’s return to the ward, conversations with staff and an assessment by a psychiatric nurse, WW recommended …Read more

The plaintiff, XX, suffered from bipolar effective disorder and carried a history of self-harm. On August 19, 2012, an involuntary treatment order (hereinafter “the ITO”) was made pursuant to the Mental Health Act 1986(hereinafter “the Act”) requiring her to be detained and to receive involuntary psychiatric treatment at Monash Medical Centre. The plaintiff appealed against …Read more

Appellant doctor Reeves, a gynecologist, saw CDW, his patient, for treatment of a pre-cancerous lesion on her left labia minora. Reeves performed a “simple vulvectomy” which entailed the removal of CDW’s entire vulva, including her labia and clitoris. CDW filed suit, and provided evidence that she had only agreed to removal of a small flap …Read more

The authors, 37 Sri Lankan citizens held in Australian immigration detention facilities, alleged that the actions of the Australian government regarding their detention violated Articles 7, 9, 10, 17, 23, and 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the “Covenant”).   At the time of the submission, all of the authors were …Read more

The authors, nine persons held in Australian immigration detention facilities, alleged violations of various articles (named below) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the “Covenant”). The authors had different backgrounds. Two were Myanmarese citizens, six were Sri Lankan citizens, and one was a Kuwaiti citizen. They all entered Australian territorial waters on …Read more

The appellant was an Indigenous resident of Palm Island in Queensland who was charged with possession of more than a prescribed quantity of liquor in a restricted area on Palm Island contrary to section 168B of the Liquor Act 1992 (Q) (“Liquor Act”). Palm Island was a “community government area” within the meaning of the …Read more

Mr. Slattery brought this action in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) alleging that the City Council of Manningham (“the Council”) had unfairly discriminated against him based on his disability. Slattery suffered from a series of mental impairments including bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, he acquired a …Read more

Mr. Taha was arrested for failing to pay outstanding traffic fines and was sentenced to imprisonment by a magistrate after a hearing. Mr. Taha was intellectually disabled and had been certified as such and placed on a Justice Plan. Neither his legal representative nor the magistrate were aware of this, but if they were they …Read more

Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 (“TPP Act”) imposed restrictions on the color, shape and finish of retail packaging for tobacco products. It prohibited the use of trade marks on such packaging other than the use of a brand, business or company name for the relevant tobacco product. Preexisting regulatory requirements for health messages and …Read more

An inmate in a correction centre (the “patient”) had end-stage lung cancer with, at best, weeks to live. The patient was incompetent to give consent or refuse any medical treatment and had no guardian who could provide substituted consent. The unanimous medical opinion was that further active treatment would be futile, and additional medical opinion …Read more

Jocelyn and Mark Edwards were happily married and intended to have a child. They encountered some difficulties in conceiving and consulted a fertility clinic. Both subsequently agreed to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. Mark had earlier expressed the importance to him of Jocelyn having their child before he was “unable” to, which was positively supported …Read more

In 2006, police found over 700 grams of methylamphetamine in Momcilovic’s apartment. Forensic evidence linked the drugs to her partner, but not to Momcilovic. She denied knowing that the drugs were in her apartment or that her partner was involved in trafficking. Her partner admitted at Momcilovic’s trial that the drugs were in his possession …Read more

The plaintiff in this case was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was transferred to the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) to serve his sentence. His concern with the centre was three fold. First he wanted an order preventing two officers at the AMC from dealing with him as their treatment (usage of …Read more

The respondent plaintiff (continuing proceedings on behalf of her late husband) sued the appellant for negligently manufacturing and supplying tobacco products, which her husband smoked. She was also suing as a dependent widow. She further contended in support of her aggravated damages claim that the appellant company had a policy of destroying documents, which might …Read more

Zeljka Antunovic, 35 years of age, suffered from a mental illness for which she was treated involuntarily under a community treatment order issued pursuant to the Mental Health Act of 1986. She lived at the Northfolk Terrace Community Center Unit for some time before deciding she wished to return home to live with her mother. …Read more

Warren Bazley provided a semen sample (the semen) to the Wesley Monash IVF clinic (IVF Clinic), prior to undergoing chemotherapy, so that his wife (Kate) might conceive their child. Unfortunately, Warren passed away before his wife became pregnant. Following Warren’s death, in response to Kate’s request to continue storing the semen, the IVF Clinic responded …Read more

The applicant Mr.Kuoth was sentenced by the County Court of Victoria on two counts, which were related to the same victim and the same evening, but were separated in time. He was sentenced to punishment for his reckless conduct endangering persons under s.23 of the Crimes Act 1958, where he had unprotected sex with the …Read more

In this matter two police officers and the State of Victoria were being sued by Tania Kirkland-Veenstra, the spouse of a man who committed suicide. The claim was a breach of their statutory duty of care to both herself and the deceased. The two police officers found Mr. Veenstra in a park, where he was …Read more

Wong and Selim were “vocationally registered general practitioner(s)” within s 3F of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (Cth) (the Act). Both were found to have engaged in “inappropriate practice” by a Professional Services Review Committee (the Committee) established under Pt VAA (ss 80-106ZR) of the Act. The effect of the Committee’s findings was to require …Read more

The petitioner, Kracke, was mentally ill and was being subjected to medical treatment without his consent. He was required to take drugs with adverse side effects and had been trying unsuccessfully to convince the medical authorities to let him stop taking them. The drugs were being administered under treatment orders issued pursuant to the Mental …Read more

The appellant, Mr. Parenzee, had filed an application seeking permission to appeal against the decision of the trial Judge before the Full Bench of the Supreme Court of South Australia. The ground for the appeal as put by the appellant was a miscarriage of justice caused by the absence of a piece of evidence at …Read more

In January 2000, Mrs. X went to the Royal Women’s Hospital (“the Hospital”). She was 32 weeks pregnant, and, after a multiple ultrasounds, it was confirmed that her baby had skeletal dysplasia (“dwarfism”). In February, a fetal reduction procedure was done and the baby was born by stillbirth. After termination, the fetus was found to …Read more

The applicant was an underage Aboriginal Australian who alleged violation of Articles 7 (freedom from torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment), 10 (guaranteed dignity of detained persons) and 24 (child’s right to freedom from discrimination) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) when he was placed under incarceration …Read more

AB’s husband passed away from a motor vehicle accident in the state of Victoria. The couple usually resided in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment was available in the ACT, but s 43 of the Infertility Treatment Act 1995 (IT Act) prohibited the use of a dead man’s sperm for a …Read more

Mr. Behrooz  (“the Appellant”) arrived in Australia without a visa and was taken into immigration detention at the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (“Woomera”) in accordance with the Migration Act 1958 (“the Act”).  The Appellant later escaped Woomera before being taken back into custody and charged with an offence under s. 197A of the …Read more