The Rule of Law

Law as an Instrument of Justice and

a Tool of Oppression
Presented by Joe Harman at the Legal Studies Teachers
Conference 15 March, 2014

Introduction
Thank you for inviting me to attend today to speak.
Before beginning and especially as I will be discussing issues of justice and
the rule of law I would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the
traditional custodians of these lands upon which we meet, the Darug people.
I recognise their culture as the oldest living culture on this planet.
I acknowledge and offer apology for the great injustices that have been
inflicted upon the Darug people and all indigenous peoples throughout
Australia and around the world including through the passage, application and
enforcement of laws that were unjust, barbaric and genocidal.
The strength of Australias indigenous peoples has been shown through their
survival and maintenance of language, lore and culture.
These are and always will be aboriginal lands and that truth must be
acknowledged before reconciliation or justice can be truly achieved. However,
the survival of Australias first inhabitants and the strength and courage they
have shown in enduring injustice is a lesson to us all to reflect upon today and
every day.
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What are Laws?

The existence of laws is fundamental to a society governed by the rule of law.
However, the creation and enforcement of laws does not, of itself, constitute
or enable a society to be governed by the rule of law.
The important distinction must be drawn between a society governed by laws
and a society governed by the rule of law. A society governed by laws,
without consideration and embrace of the rule of law as a guiding and
underlying principle, has the potential to be a tyrannical or Police state.
There are a myriad of definitions of law and it is, perhaps, instructive to
consider a number of those definitions and statements made regarding them
before turning to consider how laws might be (or have been) used to achieve
justice or oppression and thus why the rule of law is fundamentally important
in achieving the former rather than latter outcome.
The Organisation of American States1 provides this useful definition:
The law is a set of rules for society, designed to protect basic rights and
freedoms, and to treat everyone fairly
The Legal Services Commission of South Australia provides the following
useful and interesting discussion (rather than definition) of laws2:
a law is the product of the social conditions at the time it is made. The
law is not static. Just as relationships between people or between
people and the Government are not fixed permanently, so the law
changes by responding to the current social and political values of the
dominant culture. As societies become more complex so too does the
law. It governs our private relationships through contract, tort, property,

1
2

https://www.oas.org/juridico/mla/en/can/en_can_mla_what.html
http://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch27s01.php

Page | 2

succession, trust and family law as well as our public relationships with
the State through criminal, constitutional and administrative law
The Canadian Department of Justice provides the following insight3:
Rules made by government are called "laws4." Laws are meant to
control or change our behaviour and, unlike rules of morality, they are
enforced by the courts Ever since people began to live together in
society laws have been necessary to hold that society together Even
in a well-ordered society, people have disagreements, and conflicts
arise; the law provides a way to resolve disputes peacefully Laws
help to ensure a safe and peaceful society in which people's rights are
respected
Whilst the above examples are illustrative they make clear that laws are
generally accepted as addressing fundamental purposes including:
Universality
Consistency
Regulation
Changeability and responsiveness
Protective of individual and collective rights
If one were to turn to utilitarian jurisprudential philosophers5 such as
Bentham, Milne and Paine it might be opined that a good law:
Protects individual freedom;
Ensures collective security (including through the individuals
responsibility to not infringe that security through the prudent exercise
of his/her freedom by reference to the freedom of others); and,
Acknowledges and protects fundamental rights.
3

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/just/02.html
This leaves aside that body of Judge made and interpretative law including common law
5
Utilitarian jurisprudence suggesting that laws are intended to and should achieve the greatest
happiness for the greatest number
4

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Yet clearly there are examples where laws have not met these purposes and
yet have been laws enacted by elected governments. Readily recognised
examples might include:
Jim Crow segregation laws in various of the United States of America
(whereby segregation was legally imposed or protected by separate
but equal laws) and enduring until the 1960s6
Similar Australian laws establishing the various officers of the Protector
of Aborigines7
Apartheid and Pass laws in pre 1994 South Africa8
Russia and Zimbabwes recent anti gay laws
The suggested Illegality of recent Crimean succession motions.
The importance of laws being uniform in their application is generally accepted
as fundamental to their doing justice. However, there are clear and obvious
examples when this has not been so even when suggested to be so or where
on the laws face it has appeared to be so. On such example is the 1776
American Declaration of Independence which contains the prosaic opening
passage:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Whilst few would cavil with these words it must be remembered that at the
time such freedom was declared as universal that:
Women were not legally recognised as equal nor permitted to vote (a
circumstance I have listed first amongst many injustices arising from the
Declaration as I prepare this speech on International Womens Day);

See for example 347 U.S. 483 (1954),

For excellent resources on the laws creating the office in various States and how they operated see
www.aiatsis.gov.au
8
For a summary see http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~rrothe/timeline.htm
7

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 The First Nations Peoples of the then United States were not treated
with such unanimity of equality9;
Slavery flourished10 (and including a number of the drafters and
signatories of the Declaration owning slaves).
The injustice of such anomalies (indeed hypocrisies) has been the subject of
substantial and significant comment by judicial officers and political and Civil
Rights leaders including:
Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes
among citizens.The law regards man as man, and takes no account
of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by
the supreme law of the land are involved
- Justice Harlan11
Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political
convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of
people and deny it to others.
- Coretta Scott King
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when
they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams
that block the flow of social progress.
- Martin Luther King Jnr
Laws are the means by which political will is given expression. Thus if the
political will is not just then nor will be the expression of that will. In this sense

American First Nations People are referred to in the Declaration as the merciless Indian Savages
See Thomas Days "Fragment of an original letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the year
1776" including If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing
resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his
affrighted slaves."
11
Plessy v. Ferguson 1896
10

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the absence of justice constitutes injustice and injustice oppresses. Similarly,

a law passed for an unjust purpose will oppress.
Martin Luther King Jnr had sagely opined that:
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when
they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams
that block the flow of social progress
Sadly time does not permit any detailed discussion of what might be meant by
justice

What is the Rule of Law?

Robin Speed, President of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia offers the
following as regards the rule of law:
The rule of law is an overarching principle which ensures that
Australians are governed by laws which their elected representatives
make and which reflect the rule of law. It requires that the laws are
administered justly and fairly.
The website of the Federal Attorney Generals office states12:
The rule of law underpins the way Australian society is governed
The website goes on to indicate that:
We uphold the rule of law through our daily work to ensure:

laws are clear, predictable and accessible

laws are publicly made and the community is able to participate in

the law-making process

12

http://www.ag.gov.au/About/Pages/Ruleoflaw.aspx

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laws are publicly adjudicated in courts that are independent from

the executive arm of government

dispute settlement is fair and efficient where parties cannot resolve

disputes themselves

These statements whilst accurate and appropriate assume a shared

understanding of what is meant by the rule of law and its importance to the
community. The difficulties with such definition are inherent in the following by
Geoffrey de Q. Walker in The rule of law: foundation of constitutional
democracy, (1st Ed., 1988)13:
There is no single agreed definition of the rule of law. However, there is
a basic core definition that has near universal acceptance. As Emeritus
Professor Geoffrey Walker, has written in his defining work on the rule
of law in Australia most of the content of the rule of law can be
summed up in two points: (1) that the people (including, one should
add, the government) should be ruled by the law and obey it and (2)
that the law should be such that people will be able (and, one should
add, willing) to be guided by it
With regards to disobedience of the law the 1946 Nuremberg War Trials (The
International Military Tribunal for Germany) had concluded:
individuals have international duties, which transcend the national
obligations of obedience imposed by the individual State. He who
violates the laws of war cannot obtain immunity while acting in
pursuance of the authority of the State, if the State in authorising action
moves outside its competence under international law.
That a soldier was ordered to kill or torture in violation of the
international law of war has never been recognised as a defence to
such acts of brutality, thoughthe order may be urged in mitigation of
13

Melbourne University Press, 1988

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the punishment. The true test, which is found in varying degrees in the
criminal law of most nations, is not the existence of the order, but
whether moral choice was in fact possible.
Such dicta would, in the case of unjust laws, such as might authorise
torture or extra judicial killing, be argued to apply.
Martin Luther King Jnr had expressed the domestic and generally Nuremberg
position succinctly as:
One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws.
Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws14
And Henry Thoreau had described the role of the citizen as regards unjust
laws:
If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to
be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law15
The World Justice Project16 (WJP) provides a more expansive definition of the
Rule of Law in the following terms:
The rule of law is a system of rules and rights that enables fair and
functioning societies...in which the following four universal principles are
upheld:
1) The government and its officials and agents as well as individuals
and private entities are accountable under the law;
2) The laws are clear, publicised, stable and just; are applied evenly;
and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and
property;

14

Letter from the Birmingham Jail August 1963

Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
16
The World Justice Project is an independent Multidisciplinary organisation established in 2006 as
an initiative of the American Bar Association. See their website www.worldjusticeproject.org
15

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3) The process by which laws are enacted, administered and

enforceable is accessible, fair and efficient;
4) Justice is delivered [in a] timely [fashion] by competent, ethical and
independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient
number, have adequate resources and reflect the makeup of the
communities they serve.
These 4 principles are then further developed by 9 factors by which the
extent to which the rule of law is experienced being:
Constraints on government powers (meaning that legislators are held
accountable)
Absence of corruption (such as use of public power for private gain)
Open Government (including transparency of decision making,
freedom to information and free and open reporting)
Fundamental Rights (such rights being clearly identified,
acknowledged, protected, universally applied and free from
infringement by legislation or application of decisions)
Order and Security (ensuring that individuals and society collectively
are protected from violence so that citizens feel secure)
Regulatory enforcement (ensuring that laws are openly, publically
and consistently applied and enforced)
Civil Justice (the availability of and free, unfettered and equal access
to a means of resolution of civil disputes between citizens)
Criminal Justice (a means of redressing grievances arising from
alleged offences against society)
Informal Justice (the acknowledgement of traditional, tribal, religious
and community based systems of law and dispute resolution).

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Based upon these factors the WJP maintains a world Rule of Law Index17
in which Australia ranks 8th18 of 99 countries ranked19.
There are a number of particular areas of Australias ranking that are less
favourable than others (both within Australias overall ranking and as
compared with comparable, western countries). It is these aspects of the
ranking which I wish to explore and discuss as illustrative of challenges
which the rule of law faces in the 21st Century and including:
No discrimination in Criminal Law (0.53/1)
No unreasonable delays in justice systems (score 0.6/1)
Effective Correctional System (0.64/1)
Access and affordability of Civil Justice (0.48/1)
Equal treatment before the law with no discrimination (0.65/1)
One aspect of the WJP Index which inherently impacts the last criteria
above (equal treatment before the laws) is the acceptance and
differentiation within the index that those members of society within a high
income group enjoy a far better experience of and express a far higher
confidence in the effective operation of the rule of law than those from
without that group.
One further observation which must be made and which is a great credit to
the Judiciary within Australia (of which I am part) is scoring with respect to
the issue How serious is the corruption of Judges and Judicial
Officers...they wont move the case unless the parties bribe them which
17

http://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/files/wjp_rule_of_law_index_2014_report.pdf
The top 8 Countries were ranked:
1. Denmark
2. Norway
3. Sweden
4. Finland
5. Netherlands
6. New Zealand
7. Austria
8. Australia
Canada ranked 11th, the United Kingdom 13th and USA 19th.
19
http://data.worldjusticeproject.org/#/index/AUS
18

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attracts a 0% response and which applies equally to both criminal and civil
Courts as well as the response to No corruption in the judiciary at 94%
(both responses demonstrating a substantial and appropriate public faith in
the independence and integrity of our judiciary).

No discrimination in Criminal Law

Criminal laws that are passed entirely without inclusion of discriminating
factors can, through the operation of that law, on its face of universal
application, create discrimination based on either non universal enforcement
or based on the existence within one group of behaviours or factors which
means the law is more likely to apply to persons from within that group.
Such matters can arise through non-uniform application of a law. This is an
issue raised by many commentators as regards US drug laws20 and London
and New York stop and frisk laws.21
It is clear that there is pronounced discrimination, in its broad sense, as
regards aboriginal Australians and the criminal justice system.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2013 produced the following as regards
aboriginal incarceration rates22:
The rate of imprisonment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
prisoners was15 times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous prisoners
at 30 June 2012, an increase in the ratio compared to 2011 (14 times
higher). The highest ratio of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander to nonIndigenous imprisonment rates in Australia was in Western Australia (20
times higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners).
20

For an excellent discussion see Michelle Alexanders The new Jim Crow
See for example http://www.nyclu.org/publications/report-nypd-stop-and-frisk-activity-2012-2013
and http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/sophie-lewis/unreformable-end-to-stop-and-frisk-innyc
22
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Products/BD0021D329F0464FCA257B3C000DCCE0?op
endocument
21

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Tasmania had the lowest ratio (four times higher for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander prisoners). (Table 4.2)

Between 2002 and 2012, imprisonment rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Australians increased from 1,262 to 1,914 Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander prisoners per 100,000 adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander population. In comparison, the rate for non-Indigenous prisoners
increased from 123 to 129 per 100,000 adult non-Indigenous population.
(Table 4.2)

This incarceration rates Australia wide represents the reality that an aboriginal
man is 15 times more likely that a non aboriginal man to be imprisoned.

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Aboriginal people represent only 3% of the total population, yet more than
28% of Australias prison population is Aboriginal.23 As such 30% of prisoners
incarcerated in Australia in 2014 (both male and female) are aboriginal. This
rises to 42% for juvenile prisoners.
Australia is heading towards one in two of the prison population comprised by
Aboriginal prisoners by 2020. In 1992, the ratio was one in seven.
The fastest growing portion of the prison population is aboriginal women.
Between 2000 and 2010 the rate at which aboriginal women were imprisoned
increased by 58.6%. Over that period the increase for non-aboriginal women
was 22.4%. The rate of increase of imprisonment for aboriginal men over the
same period was 35.2% (as opposed to 3.6% for non aboriginal men).
Re offending rates are similarly high and disproportionate.
Also of concern are statistics relating to aboriginal children involved in State
Care and Protection (Child Welfare) jurisdictions and a similarly alarming rate
of over representation.
In a 2013 statistical review by the Australian Institute of Family Studies24
(AIFS) it was observed that:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are over-represented in
the Australian out-of-home care system. In 2011-12, approximately 34%
of all children in out-of-home care were identified as Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander. Overall, rates of out-of-home care for both
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and non-Indigenous
children have continued to increase since 2000-01 (AIHW, 2013). The
number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home
care rose by 7% from 11,468 children in 2009-10 to 12,358 children
2010-11 (AIHW, 2012). These numbers continued to rise a further 7.6%
23

read more: http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-prisonrates#ixzz2vLVRAfbb

24
Child protection and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children Last updated June 2013

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in 2011-12 with 13,299 (55.1 per 1,000) placed into out-of-home care.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 10 times more likely
than non-Indigenous children to be placed in care nationally with rate
ratios ranging from 3.4 in Tasmania to 15.8 in Victoria.
In the 10 years from 1998 to 2008 there was a 258% increase in the number
of aboriginal children in NSW living in out of home care25 and such that the
rate of aboriginal children in out of home care (largely government arranged
care) is now higher than at any previous point in history including during the
periods when the Office of the Protector of Aborigines was in existence and
during the eras of the Stolen Generations. This is so at a time when adoption
is proposed as a preferable outcome to care proceedings.26
AIFS produce the following chart to demonstrate the stark disparities between
the rate of indigenous and non indigenous children living in out of home care:

Table 2: State and territory data comparing rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
children in out-of-home care compared to non-Indigenous children on 30 June 2012

Number of children

Rates per 1,000 children

Rate ratio*

Indigenous

Non
Indigenous

Indigenous

Non
Indigenous

NSW

5,991

11,177

83.4

7.1

11.7

VIC

1,028

5,106

66.4

4.2

15.8

QLD

3,041

4,919

42.2

4.9

8.7

WA

1,614

1,760

51.6

3.4

15.3

SA

706

1,828

55.0

5.4

10.2

TAS

212

789

25.1

7.4

3.4

ACT

134

421

68.0

5.3

12.8

NT

573

127

20.7

3.7

5.7

13,299

26,127

55.1

5.4

10.3

Australia

25

NSW Ombudsman Report Supporting the Carers of Aboriginal Children June 2008
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/key/Permanencyplanningandadopti
onofchildreninout-of-homecare
26

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There are many factors which might contribute to this chronic and
unacceptable over representation of aboriginal people in both criminal and
child welfare populations. In this brief time they cannot be properly or
accurately explored although the creative spirits website27, drawing on a
broad range of data and reports, offers the following contributing factors:

Stolen Generations. Those taken away from their families as a child

are twice as likely to be arrested than their peers.

Disconnection from land. When Aboriginal people are not able to live
on their traditional lands they are more likely to come into conflict with
the law.

Police behaviour. Police might act racist, violently or inappropriately.

Offence criminalisation. Aboriginal people are 15 times more likely to

be charged for swearing or offensive behaviour than the rest of the
community.

Social and economic situation. Poverty and unemployment,

particularly for young Aboriginal people or in rural and remote areas
(crimes of need).

Peoples attitude. Some police and community members have a law

and order attitude.

Lack of language skills. Some Aboriginal people are sentenced to jail

without them fully understanding the court process because English is
not their first language.

Foetal alcohol syndrome. Many children enter the justice system

because their mother drank too much alcohol during her pregnancy. Her

27

Ibid

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children are often unable to appreciate the consequences of their

actions.

Family breakdown due to various social factors.

Disintegration seems to manifest in deliberate attempts to strip away

Aboriginal culture in some communities.

Lack of accommodation. The Childrens Court is often being told

imprisonment was the only option.

Inflexible funding. Bureaucracy prohibits progress when programs

cannot go ahead due to red tape.

Reoffending. Across Australia about 70% of prisoners (Aboriginal or

non-Aboriginal) reoffend. 38% are back in prison 2 years after their
release.

Lack of community services. According to The Medical Journal of

Australia, there is increasing evidence that many people in prison are
there as a direct consequence of the shortfall in appropriate communitybased health and social services, most notably in the areas of housing,
mental health and well-being, substance use, disability and family
violence.

Other matters of a socio-economic or cultural nature are also opined as

impacting on arrest and incarceration rates including:
Did not receive court mail
Cant make it to court
Driving unlicensed
Disorderly conduct
Being selected by police

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There is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of

unequals

No unreasonable delays in justice systems

Delays arise in all processes including Court processes.
The Australian Federal Courts (High Court, Federal Court, Family Court and
Federal Circuit Court (FCC)) as well as the various Federal Tribunals28 have
all faced a number of operational challenges in recent times. Budgetary
efficiency dividends and lesser operating budgets are now realities as is the
joint administration of most aspects of the 2 mid tier Courts and the FCC (the
first instance Federal trial Court).
Beyond budgetary considerations which impact upon the service delivery of
Courts other matters, largely external to the Court, pose challenges. These
include:
Work loads
Put simply the work load of all Federal Courts is higher than it has ever
been. The resources of Courts have not necessarily kept pace with or
matched the growth rate of filings.
Limits on legal aid funding and representation.
The means and asset tests which are applied by State and Territory
legal aid commissions means that only the most socially and
economically disadvantaged qualify for such assistance. However, as
with many services, demand outstrips supply and thus even when all

28

The Refugee Review Tribunal, Migration Review Tribunal< social Security Appeals Tribunal,
Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal, Copyright Tribunal, Australian Competition Tribunal and
Administrative Appeals Tribunal

Page | 17

relevant tests to qualify for assistance are met such assistance may not
be available29.
In Victoria for example legal aid is now rarely available for the
representation of parties at trial and parties who have been and who
would remain eligible for legal aid assistance routinely represent
themselves. This increases obligations upon the Court30
Self Representation
In addition to the cohort of litigants who do not qualify for legal
representation there are many litigants who choose or who cannot
afford legal representation.
In Family Law matters self representation and legal representation is
reflected (for the FCC) in the following table:
Party representation

Number of applications Percentage

Both have legal representation

11,873

67.4

Neither have legal representation

1379

7.83

Only applicant has legal representation

3751

21.3

611

3.47

17,614

100%

Only respondent has legal representation

Total

The competence of legal representation

In matters where parties are represented the Court depends, to some
extent, upon legal representatives, as officers of the Court, to deal with
and address issues (such as disclosure, lawyer assisted negotiation
and resolution of minor disputes and prompt and timely preparation of
29

It should be made clear that this is not a slight of the Commission or the valuable work they perform.
From the 2012-13 annual report of NSW Legal Aid one can glean that 972,650 clients were assisted.
Funds as are available are used to best advantage including incredibly valuable services such as the
representation of children, the Early Intervention Unit, Court Duty solicitor services, DV out reach
services and training and up skilling of other community legal sector services
30
See for example Re F Litigant in person guidelines [2001] FamCA 348 to control and explain the
hearing process and requiring more time to hear proceedings.

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materials). This role of the legal profession in acting in aid of the Court,
to whom the primary obligation of lawyers is owed, for the efficient
administration of justice is long standing.
Changing legal training, non availability of work in some traditional
areas of practice, financial pressures and other factors (including
misunderstanding of the role and importance of the rules of evidence
arising since the introduction of Division 12A of Part VII of the FLA and
s.93 Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1987))
have all had an impact on the presentation of matters before the Court.
The changing dynamic of the Courts workload
One possibly unforseen consequence of the roll out and establishment
of community based Family Relationship Centres is the reality that the
matters which are litigated before the Court are now more complex and
increasingly involve allegations of family violence, drug and alcohol use,
mental illness, generational disadvantage, litigants from a NESB and
diverse cultural considerations, (the simple matters are settled).
This work load requires greater time, more court events, greater
forensic exploration and longer trials.
Increasing legislative obligations
What on their face present as relatively minor (and welcome) legislative
changes increase the Courts work load and the time taken to deal with
each matter. Two particular examples have arisen in recent years
being:
The June, 2013 changes to the family violence provisions of the
Family Law Act. These changes require that the Court enquire
into certain matters and list matters in short time frames and act

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protectively to ensure the safety of children and parents and

commence evidence gathering31;
Changes to the Migration Act that have significantly increased the
volume of migration matters that come before the FCC.
Many of the above matters also impact upon access to justice and these will
be dealt with separately.
Delays in Court proceedings are inevitable. However, the one maxim that is
well known in the community (and for good reason) is Justice delayed is
justice denied.
Delays impact on litigants, (and their children, businesses, etc) financially and
emotionally as is well recognised by the Court32. Delays also create resource
and forensic difficulties (e.g. reports require up dating, more interim issues
arise when there is delay with more applications to the Court and evidence
becomes harder to locate, present or test).
Some delay is deliberate and beneficial (e.g. to allow a parent to complete a
rehab program or parenting course that might assist in settlement of the
matter or parts of it or make arrangements work more effectively in the future).
However, delay remains a significant basis of community complaint about
Courts.
As I sit in the FCC I propose to deal with the workload of that Court as an
illustrative example of the work performed by Australian Federal Courts.
In the 2012-13 financial year the below table reflects the Courts work (by
matters filed)33:
Family law
Final orders

Total % of total
17,364

20

31

See especially s.67ZBA FLA

See for example Sali v SPC Ltd (1993) 67 ALJR 841
33
http://www.federalcircuitcourt.gov.au/pubs/html/AR1213P3.html
32

Page | 20

Family law

Total % of total

Interim orders

20,242

23

Divorce

43,288

48

1724

82,618

93

Other
Total family law
General federal law

Total % of total

Bankruptcy

3984

Migration

1981

Industrial

763

Other

253

6981

89,599

100%

Total general federal law

Grand Total

The breakup of applications filed in family law matters in the FCC is as

follows:
Application

Filed

Final orders applications 17,364

21

Interim applications

20,242

23

Divorce applications

43,288

54

1724

Other applications
Total

82,618 100%

Within the FCC uncontested Divorces are dealt with by a Registrar. Thus, if
the divorces are removed this leaves 39,330 applications to be dealt with by
approximately 54 FCC Judges (or over 720 applications each Judge each
year). Notwithstanding this 83 per cent of applications were completed within
six months and 94 per cent were completed within 12 months. 70 per cent of
matters filed were resolved without the need for judicial determination.
The gradual increase in filings (and disposals or pending matters) can be seen
from the diagrams below.

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Figure 3.2: Final order applications 200809 to 201213

Figure 3.3: Interim order applications 200809 to 201213

The increasing number of matters involving allegations of risk is shown in the

following diagram:

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Figure 3.5: Notice of Child Abuse, Family Violence, or Risk of Family Violence filed

The particularly significant increase in 2012-13 relates to:

A genuine increase in allegations;
The changed and expanded definition of both abuse and family
violence34
An increased insistence by the Court that a notice alerting the Court to
allegations of abuse and/or family violence be filed when such
allegations are raised35
The timely delivery of resolution or determination of disputes is fundamentally
important to community perceptions of justice and the health of society. As
was observed by Albert Einstein:
In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and
small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all
the same

34

See ss.4 and 4AB FLA respectively

The FLA imposes a mandatory obligation to file such a notice (see s.67Z) and specific pilots have
been commenced in SA requiring the filing of a notice in ever matter to trail a better regime of
compliance with the obligation.
35

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Effective Correctional System

Above I have discussed the statistical over representation of aboriginal
Australians in the criminal justice system and prison population.
A separate issue arises as to the effectiveness of the correctional system.
There have been many changes in the measures used to determine the
effectiveness of the correctional system. However, fundamental to the
measure of effectiveness based on the nomenclature used is the correction,
rehabilitation or reformation of the prison population and thus a low recidivism
or reoffending rate.
Based on research published by the Australian Bureau of Criminology36:
About 60 per cent of those in custody in Australia have been imprisoned
before. Reoffending behaviour or recidivism can be influenced by many
factors including poor education and employment histories, mental
illness and bad physical health, as well as drug and alcohol misuse
A 2010 report by the English Ministry of Justice37 commenced with a
statement which resonates for all western systems:
Despite record spending and the highest ever prison population we are
not delivering what really matters: improved public safety through more
effective punishments that reduce the prospect of criminals reoffending
time and time again
Research in all western countries including Australia has consistently urged:

36

http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_community/communitycrime/recidivism.html
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120119200607/http:/www.justice.gov.uk/consultations/d
ocs/breaking-the-cycle.pdf
37

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 Addressing and treating the problems which have given rise to offending
such as drug and alcohol use, poverty, poor education and vocational
skills and health (physical and mental).
To recognise that reoffending is often significantly impacted by not only
the failure to address the behaviour/s that caused offending but also the
fact that a conviction has then been recorded which excludes the
offender from many employments and programs upon release. Indeed,
in some States of the United States a felony conviction can bar an
offender from public housing, social welfare and voting for life.
Shorter sentences for less serious crimes (longer sentences only erode
already limited social skills and take resources from rehabilitative
programs) and, preferably, community based programs rather than
custodial sentences
Consideration of decriminalisation of offences with no discernible social
cost (e.g. personal possession of marijuana).
In Australia, the increase in the imprisonment rate generally has been
significant. At 30 June 2009, there were 29,300 prisoners in Australia. This is
equivalent to an imprisonment rate of 175 prisoners per 100,000 adults in
Australia.
Since 1989, the imprisonment rate has increased by around two-thirds. The
table below shows the increasing imprisonment rate trend38.

38

Source: Australian Prisoners: results of the National Prison Census, 30 June, Australian Institute of
Criminology; Prisoners in Australia, 2004 and 2009

Page | 25

Prisoners per 100,000 people aged 18 years and over. From 1989 to 1993 the
rate is for people aged 17 years and over.
Whilst the data is somewhat aged the following suggests a significant failure
of present correction policies to correct and avoid reoffending39 the ABS data
also suggesting:
During the 10 years after being released, men were more likely than
women to return to prison. Although this gap was quite small at the
beginning it increased with the passage of time. By the tenth year, 40%
of released men had been reimprisoned at least once, compared with
31% of released women.
PRISONERS RELEASED IN 1994-1997, CUMULATIVE
REIMPRISONMENT RATE, BY TIME TO FIRST REIMPRISONMENT

39

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features10Mar+2010

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ABS data also supports the proposition that juvenile detention significantly
increases the risk of adult detention:
Younger prisoners were more likely than older prisoners to be
reimprisoned following release. Within 10 years of being released, the
reimprisonment rate for the teenager group (those aged 17-19 years
when released) was 61%, compared with 23% for those aged 35 years
and over.
There are many bases which might be explored to explain these trends such
as:
Youthful behaviour and lack of emotional maturity (whether expressed
as aggression, naivety or ignorance;
Detention representing a school for crime and networks;
Interrupted education, peer groups or employment;
Homelessness, family break down and unemployment.
The most recent ABS statistics40 suggest a worsening of the situation:

40

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/4517.0main+features42013

Page | 27

At 30 June 2013, at least half of prisoners in all states and territories

were recorded as having had prior adult imprisonment under sentence.
Where prior imprisonment status was known, there was a higher
proportion of male prisoners compared to female prisoners with prior
imprisonment across all states and territories, except in the Australian
Capital Territory where females had higher prior imprisonment than
males (80% compared to 73%).
Similarly overall imprisonment rates continue to climb:
The imprisonment rate for males at 30 June 2013 was 322 prisoners
per 100,000 adult males, approximately 12 times the rate for females
(26 female prisoners per 100,000 adult females)41

Access and affordability of Civil Justice

A 2013 report by RMIT Centre for Innovative Justice42 opened with:
For a great many in the Australian population, the prospect of seeking
professional help to resolve a civil legal problem can be too costly to
contemplate. In fact, many people perceive professional assistance in
some areas of the law to be out of reach to all but those with either the
greatest, or the least, economic resources
This mirrors a survey conducted by The Australia Institute which found that:
83% of respondents believed that only the very wealthy can afford to
protect their legal rights, while only 43% said they could afford a good
lawyer if they had a serious legal issue43.
Such circumstances have been the subject of comment by Lawrence Lessig44:
41

ibid
Affordable Justice a pragmatic path to greater flexibility and access in the private legal services
market October, 2013
43
R Denniss, J Fear and E Millane, Justice for all: Giving Australians greater access to the legal
system, The Australia Institute, Institute Paper No. 8, March 2012, ISSN 1836-8948, p 22
42

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The legal system doesn't work. Or more accurately, it doesn't work for
anyone except those with the most resources. Not because the system
is corrupt. I don't think our legal system (at the federal level, at least) is
at all corrupt. I mean simply because the costs of our legal system are
so astonishingly high that justice can practically never be done
Many years earlier Frederick Douglas had commented:
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance
prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an
organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither
persons nor property will be safe
And Che Guevara45:
Justice remains the tool of a few powerful interests; legal interpretations
will continue to be made to suit the convenience of the oppressor
powers
Australia is not alone. In 2011 the UK Civil Justice Council wrote46:
It is a reality that those who cannot afford legal services and those for
whom the state will not provide legal aid comprise the larger part of the
population of England and WalesThe thing that keeps that reality
below the surface is simply the hope or belief on the part of most people
that they will not have a civil dispute
The RMIT report highlighted the following factors which possibly contributed to
costs of such nature and magnitude as to preclude access by citizens to or
use of legal services:

44

Free Culture (2004)

a speech delivered at the plenary session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development in Geneva, Switzerland (25 March 1964)
46
UK Civil Justice Council, Access to Justice for Litigants in Person (or self-represented litigants), A
Report and Series of
Recommendations to the Lord Chancellor and to the Lord Chief Justice, November 2011, p 8.
45

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 the labour intensive nature of much legal work due to the growing
complexity of the law
the inherently unpredictable nature of the litigation process and
common law system alike
an adversarial system that encourages a warrior mentality
the risk of adverse costs orders in litigation
a progressive move away from the more standard use of scales of
costs
Australias comparatively insular legal market
the lack of national uniformity
a comparative lack of awareness amongst individual or small
business clients
costing methods that continue to be based on rates x people x time
the culture around legal practice that presents exclusive offices and
expensive fees as commensurate to the expertise on offer
the costs that accumulate as a result of work duplicated by solicitors
and barristers
Equally, the tyranny of the billable hour has also long been
acknowledged, criticised by an increasing number within and outside
the profession as discouraging efficiency and collaboration; encouraging
procrastination and mediocrity; preventing any concerted investment in
other approaches; and demoralising legal practitioners
Many of the matters above are either not new (such as the unpredictable
nature of litigation) or are actively addressed by legislation and Court rules
(such as the shift of focus to resolution, Family Dispute Resolution and
mediation and mandated pre filing disclosure).
Legal consumers are significantly unsophisticated (ie they do not know
how to tell a good lawyer) and thus have traditionally been at a distinct

Page | 30

disadvantaged in a professional relationship with their lawyer. However,

this is slowly changing whilst lawyers costs are not.
There are certainly examples of extreme overcharging including, in more
recent years, a willingness by those overseeing the legal profession47, to
address excessive overcharging as professional misconduct and a
disciplinary offence leading to consequences including being struck off48.
Access to the law has traditionally been achieved through legal
representation. As cost becomes a barrier of such significance and the
rate of self representation rises Courts and community agencies endeavour
to assist through information kits, instructional videos (including on
YouTube) and by moulding and designing systems to be more flexible and
responsive to this new cohort of self represented litigants.
The absence of effective legal advice and representation raises questions
for the modern Court including the significant issue of affording the same
level of due process to both legally and self represented parties (and
avoiding perceptions of favouritism and bias in doing so) as well as
ensuring effective participation and evidence.
There have been recent and more radical calls for reform including a
movement to or inclusion of elements of an inquisitorial system of civil
justice rather than the strictly adversarial model presently enjoyed49.
Access to justice is profoundly important to our way of life and everything
underpinning our society and its institutions and as President John
Kennedy acknowledged:

47

In NSW the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner

For example see Legal Services Commissioner v Keddie [2012] NSWADT 106
49
Including by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales see
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Speeches/lcj-speech-reshaping-justice.pdf
and by the ACT Law Society see http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/129118/sub027access-justice.pdf
48

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...where legal remedies are not at hand. Redress is sought in the

streets50

Equal treatment before the law with no

discrimination
I have, early in this paper, referred to the words of US Supreme Court Judge
Felix Frankfurter that There is no greater inequality than the equal
treatment of unequals
The discussion of over representation of aboriginal people in gaol and care
populations might suggest one area of unequal treatment even if only on the
basis suggested by Judge Frankfurter.
Beyond the examples that are already offered there remains little time to
explore the possible bases upon which it might be suggested that a person or
group of persons might be treated differently or unequally before the law. As
justice cannot be done to a proper discussion of those hypotheses and to
avoid either needless controversy or blithe address of issues of significance I
will instead leave you to pose questions that might draw on the above matters
and form the basis for classroom discussion.
Finally, however, I would leave you (and your students) with the words of two
great philosophers, firstly, Edmund Burke and secondly the philosopher and
economist, Friedrich August:
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing.
From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat
them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and
that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat
50

Civil Rights Message June 11, 1963

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them differently. equality before the law and material equality are
therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we
can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time.
And
Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into
complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand
that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom

An Illustrative Example
Let us never forget that the elected government of Germany in 1933 was
established by law and that evil empire presided over the death of at least 20
million people by passing laws.
Law can, in the wrong hands and when used without the framework of the rule
of law, be an instrument of evil and oppression rather an instrument of justice.
The tool used by the tyrant to oppress is law. They are laws which bear none
of the hallmarks of a society governed by the rule of law. They are laws that
are arbitrary, unclear, unpredictable, applied unevenly and fail to protect
fundamental rights and/or discriminate in their application.
I wish to leave you with a clear example of such a law being Article 6.21 of the
Russian law banning and criminalising propaganda of non-traditional sexual
relations in which:
Propaganda is the act of distributing information among minors that
1.

is aimed at the creating non-traditional sexual attitudes,

2.

makes non-traditional sexual relations attractive,

3.

equates the social value of traditional and non-traditional sexual

relations, or
Page | 33

4.

creates an interest in non-traditional sexual relations

The legislation requires the interpretation in each case of each of the words
and phrases used within the article and which are not defined. This has called
a number of commentators to observe51:
The law passed by the Duma is so ambiguous for a reason. Without a
legal definition of propaganda or non-traditional sexual relations
key operative words in Article 6.21 we are not getting a clear picture
of how the authorities will use it
And to comment that the article contains:
a row of mistakes and judicial-technical inexactitudes52 [and]
contradicts article 29 of the Russian Constitution53
Many things, one would hope, have changed over time regarding traditional
sexual relationships and marriage including the imposition of or increase to
the age of consent and marriageable age, recognition of prohibited degrees of
consanguinity and, in many jurisdictions, the repeal of racial and ethnic
exclusions. Indeed, as regards traditional attitudes to sexual relationships
one would need to consider, within the context of such legislation, the place of
traditional attitudes towards misogyny, non-equality, sexism, harassment,
incest, adultery, rape, prostitution, violence, homosexuality and even
unprotected sex.
May you enjoy many interesting discussions with your students.

51

http://www.policymic.com/articles/58649/russia-s-anti-gay-law-spelled-out-in-plain-english
Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov
53 Article 29.1 Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of thought and speech
52

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