Benjamin Hayward

Pro-Arbitration Policy in the Australian Courts - The End of Eisenwerk?

International arbitration is an important area of federal jurisdiction and federal legislative competence, and has attracted significant policy attention in Australia. This paper undertakes a study of pro-arbitration judicial policy in recent arbitration-related Australian case law which touches upon the continuing applicability of the controversial 1999 Eisenwerk decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal. Against this pro-arbitration judicial policy context, this paper reviews five Eisenwerk-related cases handed down between 2010 and 2012. It concludes that despite pro-arbitration judicial policy being embedded as a requirement of reasoning in decisions under the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth), there is mixed evidence of such policy in the cases surveyed. This paper concludes that the extent to which this policy is evidenced largely corresponds with the degree to which contemporary decisions have departed from Eisenwerk.

Criminal Priors & the Right to Be Elected - The Salutary Tale of Ronald 'Bunna' Walsh

There is a valuable contribution to public life that can be made by those who have a criminal record. This issue is of contemporary relevance because most Australian jurisdictions still provide for some form of parliamentary disqualification based on a persons criminal history. This article surveys the various provisions that apply in several Australian jurisdictions and argues specifically that the Victorian and Western Australian parliamentary disqualification provisions are draconian and in breach of fundamental human rights. In those two jurisdictions, in particular, there is urgent need for legislative reform.