Case In Point

You'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

With 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.

In 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 detainees

When 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 School

Every 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 Windholz

Who 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.

This case has been described as one of the most bizarre cases in recent Australian legal history, with a climax mirroring one of Agatha Christie’s most famous novels.Today we ask: is it legally possible to murder a dead body?Guest: Dr Natalia Antolak-Saper, criminal law scholar, Monash UniversityCase: R v Darrington [2016] VSC 60Further Reading: Man jailed for eight years for attempting to murder a corpse (The Age, 29 February 2026)

What happens when an athlete is punished for doping, but the athlete has no idea how the drugs entered their system?In 2019 the Australian swimming world was rocked by news that champion swimmer Shayna Jack had returned a positive test for a banned performance enhancing drug.The ensuing legal battle, including the penalties awarded against Jack, has exposed the challenges athletes face under current global anti-doping rules.Guests:Paul Horvath, Principal at SportsLawyer. Lawyer for Shayna JackAssociate Professor Catherine Ordway, Sport Integrity Research Lead, University of CanberraCase: Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) v. Shayna Jack & Swimming Australia, CAS 2021/A/7579 & 7580, 16 September 2021Further Reading:Tennis is facing an existential crisis over doping. How will it respond? by Catherine Ordway (The Conversation, January 2025)The US has exposed the World Anti-Doping Agency’s precarious funding model by Catherine Ordway (The Conversation, January 2025)Paul Horvath speaks on ABC Sport Podcast about the Jannik Sinner doping case (ABC Sport, February 2025)Doping to Win: The Risks for Feeder Clubs and Their Athletes by Alexandria Anthony (SportsLawyer blog, February 2025)Australia Anti-Doping Processes: Balancing a Level Playing Field Against Unintentional Offences by Paul Horvath (SportsLawyer, December 2024)Ethics in Sports: Mitigating Risk for Sports Organisations by Paul Horvath (SportsLawyer, October 2024)