High Court Further Erodes Free Speech

Attorney-General (SA) v Corporation of the City of Adelaide [2013] HCA 3.

Monis v The Queen [2013] HCA 4.

Wotton v Queensland [2012] HCA 2.

Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills (1992) 177 CLR 1 and Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth (1992) 177 CLR 106, as modified by Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1997) 189 CLR 520; and Coleman v Power (2004) 220 CLR 1.

Gelber Katharine , ‘Pedestrian Malls and Local Government Powers: Political Speech at Risk’ (2003) 5 UTS Law Review 48. See further Gelber , Speech Matters: Getting Free Speech Right (UQP, 2011).

Attorney-General (SA) v Corporation of the City of Adelaide [2013] HCA 3, [67] French CJ ).

Ibid [64].

Ibid [218] (Crennan and Kiefel JJ).

For example, McGinty v Western Australia (1996) 186 CLR 140; Levy v Victoria (1997) 198 CLR 579.

Attorney-General (SA) v Corporation of the City of Adelaide [2013] HCA 3, [220] (Crennan and Kiefel JJ).

(1996) 186 CLR 140, where it was unsuccessfully argued that electoral boundaries in Western Australia infringed on a guarantee of voter equality.

Attorney-General for the State of South Australia v The Corporation of the City of Adelaide [2012] HCATrans 233.

Gelber (2003), above n 5.

Ibid 55.

Ibid 55.

Coleman v Sellars (2001) 181 ALR 120, 120–121.

Gelber , above n 5, citing Coleman v Sellars (2001) 181 ALR 120, at 121 and 124.

Coleman v Sellars & Anor B14/2001 (26 June 2002) High Court of Australia Transcript.

Chesterman John , ‘The “delicate plant” of free speech needs water: Coleman v Australia’ (2006) 32(1) Alternative Law Journal 4; Coleman v Australia, HRC, Communication No 1157/2003, UN Doc CCPR/C/87/D/1157/2003 (10 August 2006) <http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/bb31fe728f09bc5dc12571cd0048757c?Opendocument> at 17 April 2013

Attorney-General (SA) v Corporation of the City of Adelaide [2013] HCA 3, [26].

Harrison Dan , ‘High Court to preach to the converted’ The Age (online) 2 October 2012 <http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/high-court-to-preach-to-the-converted-20121002-26wdm.html>.

Monis v The Queen [2013] HCA 4.

[2013] HCA 4, [324].

Ibid [67] French CJ ).

Ibid [251] ( Heydon J ).

Ibid [251].

(2004) 220 CLR 1.

Monis v The Queen; Droudis v The Queen [2012] HCATrans 238.

Monis v The Queen; Droudis v The Queen [2012] HCATrans 241.

Coleman v Power (2004) 220 CLR 1.

Chesterman John , ‘What “Right” to Free Speech?’ (2004) 29 Alternative Law Journal 255; Arcioni Elisa , ‘Developments in Free Speech Law in Australia: Coleman and Mulholland’ (2005) 33 Federal Law Review 1–22.

Monis v The Queen [2013] HCA 4, [88] ( Hayne J ).

Ibid [106].

Ibid [196]–[202].

Ibid [339].

Ibid [333].

Ibid [291].

Ibid [310].

Ibid [310].

Ibid [311].

Hume David , ‘Wotton v Queensland – ‘Islands of Power’ and Political Speech on Palm Island’ [2012] UNSWLRS 39; Wicks Alisa , ‘Due process and parole in Queensland: The case of Lex Wotton’ (2010) 7(20) Indigenous Law Bulletin 13.

On 26 November 2004, about 400 Aboriginal residents of Palm Island stormed the island's police station. It was a week after Doomadgee, a 36-year-old worker and father, was found dead in a police cell, just an hour after he had been locked up, unlawfully, for the minor offence of ‘causing a public nuisance’. The protest was triggered by the belated release of an autopsy report indicating Doomadgee had died of internal bleeding after his liver was torn in half, his spleen ruptured and four ribs broken by a heavy blow. See Wicks, above n 41, and Hooper Chloe , The Tall Man (Penguin, 2009).

Wotton v Queensland [2012] HCA 2

Ibid [58]–[65].

Ibid [31] ( French CJ Gummow Hayne Crennan Bell JJ ).

Ibid [14].

Ibid [25]–[32], [89].

Ibid [31]–[32].

Ibid [30], citing a distinction drawn in Hogan v Hinch (2011) 243 CLR 506 at 555–556.

Ibid [90] ( Kiefel J ).

Ibid [40] ( Heydon J ).

Ibid [58]–[65].

Caruana Patrick , ‘Palm Island rioter in new media ban appeal,’ BrisbaneTimes (online) 1 March 2012 <http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/palmisland-rioter-in-new-media-ban-appeal-20120301-1u5ko.html>.

Wicks , above n 41, 16.

Gelber , above n 5, citing Kirby Michael , ‘Freedom of Expression: Some Recent Developments’ (1993) 19(4) Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 1178–1781.

Gelber , above n 5, citing McDonald Leighton , ‘The Denizens of Democracy: The High Court and the “Free Speech” Cases’ (1994) 5 Public Law Review 160–198.

Stone Adrienne , ‘Lange, Levy and the Direction of the Freedom of Political Communication under the Australian Constitution’ (1998) 21 UNSW Law Journal, 117–134, 117.

(1994) 1982 CLR 104.

(1994) 182 CLR 211. The WA Constitution was also held to contain the same inherent need for freedom of political communication as the Commonwealth's.

See now also Banerji v Bowles [2013] FCCA 1052, where it was held that a federal public servant is not protected from dismissal for criticising, even anonymously, government refugee policies.

Williams George , Human Rights under the Australian Constitution (OUP, 2002) 168.

(1997) 198 CLR 579.

Head Michael , ‘Detention Without Trial – A Threat to Democratic Rights’ (2005) 9(1) UWS Law Review 33.

Head Michael , ‘Global Governance Implications of Terrorism: Using UN Resolutions to Justify Abuse of Basic Rights’ in Head Mann Kozlina (eds), Transnational Governance: Emerging Models of Global Legal Regulation (Ashgate, 2012) 179–209.