Big climate litigation news: The Full Federal Court will deliver its decision in the federal Environment Minister's appeal in the Sharma matter on Tuesday at 1015am. Last year, Bromberg J had found the Minister owed the teenager plaintiffs a duty of care to prevent climate harm. The appeal was argued over three days in October. The Minister argued that climate action is inherently political and the courts should avoid the issue. I disagree, for reasons set out here theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Thread: I have never been so upset, angry and disappointed in my country and our politics as I was while writing this story for @GuardianAus. I want to talk about why... theguardian.com/australia-news… Ali grew up in a small village in Afghanistan, outside Kabul. The Hazara are an ethnic minority that have long been persecuted by the Taliban. When Ali was a teenager, while rising through the ranks as a professional wrestler, his brother was tortured and murdered by the Taliban.

Judgement now online in Sharma v Minister judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judg…

https://twitter.com/KieranPender/status/1397701101592346627

'By reference to contemporary social conditions and community standards, a reasonable Minister for the Environment ought to have the Children in contemplation when facilitating the emission of 100 Mt of CO2 into the Earth’s atmosphere.'

A Sunday night thread about sexual harassment litigation, costs & the Morrison Government's unacceptable failure to accept key recommendations from @Kate_Jenkins_'s R@W report (brought about because I'm preparing my slides for a lecture to @Dr_FaithG's @ANU_Law class this week).. The law of costs is boring in theory but SUPREMELY IMPORTANT in practice. Let me give an example: Rebecca Richardson was sexually harassed while working at Oracle in 2008. She sued, and won, and was awarded 18k in general damages.

Thread: Tomorrow, the @HighCourtofAus will deliver judgment in Comcare v Banerji (@LaLegale). It is one of the most important free speech (implied freedom of political communication) cases to be determined in recent years. Here's a short recap. In 2011, someone began tweeting under the pseudonym @LaLegale. The tweeter was critical, inter alia, of the government's border protection policy and relevant ministers and public officials. The Department of Immigration discovered that @LaLegale was in fact one of its employees.

Thread: On Wednesday, the @HighCourtofAus hears @comcare_gov_au v Banerji (@LaLegale), one of the most important free speech/freedom of political communication cases in years. At issue is whether the govt can legally terminate an APS employee for their political communication. The respondent was a Department of Immigration employee in the early 2010s, tweeting criticism of government border protection policy via a pseudonym. One of her colleagues suspected the tweets came from her; the Dept investigated and proposed to terminate Banerji's employment.