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14. #14 - The Rise of Sovereign Citizens and Pseudo-Law.
40:44||Season 3, Ep. 14You've probably seen sovereign citizen videos on social media. People reciting weird incantations to get out of traffic stops and court appearances, spouting words that sound like legalese but are actually nonsense. This stuff is darkly funny. But it's having real consequences for our legal system and for social cohesion.In Western Australia in 2022 a suburban Magistrate asked a simple question of a defendant: Are you this person? The interaction kicked off a legal drama that ended up in the Supreme Court. The decision could provide a solution to the growing problem of sovereign citizens and pseudolaw adherents.Case: KELLY v FIANDER [2023] WASC 187 Guest: Joe McIntyre, Associate Professor of Law, Adelaide UniversityHosts: Melissa Castan, Professor of Law, Monash UniversityJames PattisonFurther Reading:The Strawman Trap: Non-Appearance and the Pitfalls of Pseudolaw, Joe Mcintyre, Harry Hobbs, Stephen Young (2025) 99 ALJ 319
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13. #13 - Space: The Next Frontier for Court Cases.
32:22||Season 3, Ep. 13With Artemis II safely back on Earth, we turn our eyes to the skies above. What is the Moon Agreement? Did Sandra Bullock breach the law in the movie 'Gravity'? Who is legally responsible when someone is injured by a falling satellite?Guest: Professor Melissa de Zwart, Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, University of Adelaide.Hosts: Professor Melissa Castan, Monash University & James Pattison.12. #12 - What Happens When a Stateless Person is Also a Serious Offender?
29:22||Season 3, Ep. 12In 2023, the High Court told the Australian government it couldn't lock people up forever in immigration detention.This was a constitutional bombshell that led to political panic, and the fallout is ongoing.Guest: Professor Luke Beck, Monash University.CasesNZYQ v. Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor [2023] HCA 37Al-Kateb v Godwin [2004] HCA 37YBFZ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs [2024] HCA 40EGH19 v Commonwealth of Australia [2026] HCA 7Update: Australia’s high court orders ankle bracelets be removed and curfews end for 43 former immigration detainees11. #11 - Exposing One of the Biggest Corporate Cover-Ups of All Time.
45:14||Season 3, Ep. 11When English lawyer Richard Meeran uncovered mining company Cape PLC's internal documents in the 1990s, he found damning evidence of one of the biggest international corporate cover-ups in history.His friend, lawyer David Kinley, tells the story in "In a Rain of Dust", a real-life legal thriller.In this episode:How Meeran exposed the cover-upHow Cape PLC was prepared to fight dirty to keep it all suppressed, including targeting Meeran.The surreal story of finding smoking-gun documents in an abandoned mining officeIn a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit, and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos by David KinleyGuest: Professor David Kinley, Chair in Human Rights Law, University of Sydney Law School10. #10 - The Legal Loophole Football Leagues Use to Dodge Player Injuries.
33:41||Season 3, Ep. 10Every week, professional athletes break their bodies for our entertainment. So it will come as a huge shock to sports fans how poorly the law protects our sporting heroes.In this episode:How our sporting codes lobbied to carve athletes out of injury protection in the 1970sHow a Carlton player briefly cracked that system open in the 2000s before it slammed shut again, andWhy the concussion crisis gripping the AFL and NRL is forcing a reckoning today.If you're paid to play, and paid to get hurt, why aren't you protected when the damage is done?Guest: Associate Professor Eric Windholz, Monash University Law SchoolCase: Whitehead v Carlton Football Club Ltd [2005] VSC 257Further readingWhy sports stars get less support than other injured workers – and how we can fix it by Eric WindholzProfessional athletes and injury insurance: A better way forward by Eric WindholzNEW SEASON - Sovereign Citizens, Space Junk, Press Freedom Under Attack!
02:44||Season 3Who is to blame when one of Elon or Jeff's suspiciously shaped rockets crashes to Earth from space?What is pseudo-law, and where did all these goddam sovereign citizens come from?Why was the government forced to release over 100 serious criminals into the community?These cases and plenty more coming in this new (and 99.9% improved™) season of Case In Point.9. #9 - This Company Banned Its Employees From Taking the Contraceptive Pill (And Won).
31:16||Season 2, Ep. 9When the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of a company called Hobby Lobby in 2014, it was hailed by conservatives as a win for the religious freedom of business owners.Critics of the decision said it dealt a major blow to the rights of employees to access reproductive healthcare.But there's more to this case than meets the eye. Has the Hobby Lobby case rewritten the rules about what a corporation actually is?Guest: Associate Professor Steve Kourabas, Deputy Director, Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies, Monash UniversityCase: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 573 U.S. 682 (2014)