A vital protection against abuses in detention is regular independent monitoring. But in Australia we have seen international detention monitoring bodies prevented from visiting detention facilities, and we have seen the refusal in some jurisdictions to fully implement a United Nations treaty ratified by Australia aimed at ensuring we have a comprehensive network of detention monitoring bodies. What is happening to our engagement with human rights at the international level?

This article argues that legal education must reclaim its public role through critical and transformative pedagogy. Drawing on interviews with animal law educators from five Australian universities, it examines the disconnect between how educators describe their teaching – often in neutral terms – and the reality of their classroom practices, which reflect critical and transformative approaches. These practices foster ethical reflection, emotional engagement and justice-oriented learning. The article calls for greater recognition and support of such pedagogies as essential to preparing students to question legal norms and challenge injustice within and beyond the law.

This article considers the new provisions to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (‘ FLA ’) that came into effect in June 2025, which recognise ‘companion animals’ as a category of property to be dealt with upon a relationship breakdown. Animals have not been included in the FLA previously; the new provisions are significant as they now recognise the importance animals have in Australian households. This article explores how the family law courts dealt with pets prior to the recent amendments and provides an overview of the new provisions to the FLA . Discussion of the limitations to these provisions will highlight the ways in which the amendments may fall short of community expectations.

Pro bono legal services among commercial lawyers have become a significant part of the legal profession in Australia. While pro bono work has experienced steady growth, there have been insufficient studies on the challenges and solutions to increasing pro bono legal services among commercial lawyers. To this end, the article examines the challenges and potential solutions to expanding pro bono services. The author ultimately contends that a more robust legal education on the importance of pro bono work and its opportunities is a key step in bolstering proactive pro bono efforts.

The failure of the Voice Referendum in October 2023 cannot be seen in isolation; its roots lie in the policies of the Howard government nearly three decades earlier. From the undermining of native title to the abolition of ATSIC and resistance to reconciliation, Howard’s systematic dismantling of the modest reforms initiated under Hawke and Keating set the stage for the rejection of the Voice. Beyond the referendum itself, the continued denial of self-determination is evident in the unfulfilled recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the stalled progress of Closing the Gap, leaving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples facing a bleak status quo.

In this article, I propose a return to the High Court in the wake of the failure of the Voice referendum. This would enable a critical review of the common law’s treatment of First Nations’ sovereignties. I argue that, as with Mabo in 1992 regarding native title, recognition of prior First Nations’ sovereignties is available within existing common law. While case law appears unpromising, I critique judicial reasoning, identify crevices in judgments and mount an argument for pleading a justiciable case before the High Court. This proposal provides for a potential improvement in justice for First Nations Australians by recognising their sovereignties.