Law School’s High Court Blog Goes Live

Dean R. P. Edwards
Volume 4, Issue 2, (Originally Published on Monday 5th August 2013)
 
Melbourne Law School has launched its ‘Opinions on High’ blog, a convenient go-to website that tracks and provides commentary on the latest decisions coming from the High Court of Australia.
 
The blog web address is < http://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/opinionson-high/>. Along with research fellow and MLS graduate Martin Clark, MLS faculty members Katy Barnett, Jeremy Gans and Brad Jessup currently serve as the blog’s editors.
 
According to an MLS press release, the blog will feature commentary from academic staff, along “with students, alumni and experts from the profession”.
 
In addition to commenting on recent judgments, the blog will also feature up-to-date resource pages on pending decisions and feature articles.
 
MLS Associate Dean for Engagement Prof. Miranda Stewart said that the law school is “hopeful that the blog will fill a gap in the Australian legal education landscape”, as well as “the local legal blogging scene”.
 
The blog, which went live on 31 July 2013, already features an array of legal insight from MLS faculty, including a piece entitled ‘Turning Points in the High Court: Remembering the Koowarta and Tasmanian Dam Cases’ by Dr Ann Genovese, which analyses the 30th anniversaries of Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen (decided in 1982) and Commonwealth v Tasmania (1983), more commonly known as the Tasmanian Dam case.
 
In addition to other pieces, Clark has also contributed an entry on the Tasmanian Dam case, which includes audio and transcripts from interviews with Sir Anthony Mason and others involved in the historic case.
 
Recent HCA Developments
 
According to the latest post, the High Court has announced that it will hand down two judgments this Wednesday, 7 August 2013, in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd v Commonwealth and Akiba v Commonwealth.
 
Clark reports that Fortescue “promises to be a constitutional law blockbuster”, as the case concerns the Australian Government’s controversial minerals resource rent tax.
 
Clark also notes that some of the legal issues which the case raises “have not been entertained by the High Court in some time”.
 
In Akiba, the High Court will be delivering a pronouncement on native titles rights regarding commercial fishing in Queensland. According to Clark, the High Court will determine whether the Full Federal Court “correctly applied the principles” from noteworthy cases Yanner v Eaton and Harper v Minister for Sea Fisheries.
 
Dean R. P. Edwards