Lizzie O’Shea explains that Australia was considered by the first fleet to be terra nullius. Essentially, that means nobody had claimed ownership of the land. But of course people had been living in Australia for thousands of years. She introduces the Mabo case, and its key players. Lizzie talks with Bryan Keon-Cohen QC, who worked on the Mabo case which progressed slowly through the courts for ten years. One of the many problems that the team had...

Lizzie O’Shea points out that trials are uncertain events and even those with a big chance of winning can lose. She introduces the idea of mediation, where the focus is on settling out of court. Professional mediator, Tim McFarlane, talks about how verdicts don’t always go the way of the client. Sometimes the courts do not deliver fairness, or justice. He talks about why the clients should choose to compromise instead, by choosing mediation. Mediation...

Lizzie O’Shea talks about Klaus Rabenalt, who worked in an asbestos mine. Years later, after he moved to Melbourne, he was diagnosed with a dust disease.. Solicitor Peter Gordon worked on the asbestos cases involving CSR and James Hardie. He explains how the Klaus Rabenalt trial progressed, and that it was the first time they managed to win an asbestos dust disease case. He explains that civil cases are not just about cash payouts, they are also...

Lizzie O’Shea reveals that we do not have a right to free speech in Australia. Neil Young QC explains that we don’t have a bill of rights in Australia that entrenches a right to free speech. It is mostly an implied idea in our common law.. Lizzie O’Shea explains that our speech is limited by various laws, such as the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA). She introduces a case where the journalist Andrew Bolt was taken to court by Aboriginal activist...

Lizzie O’Shea introduces the constitution and its separation of powers: parliament, executive and judiciary. She explains that in 1975 the biggest crisis in our constitution took place when the Governor General dismissed the Prime Minister, and his elected government.. Professor Cheryl Saunders explains that, under the constitution, it is unclear if the Governor-General had the power to dismiss the government. She talks about the constitution as...

Ecuador was shaken in 1981 by the suspicious death of President Jaime Roldós and his wife. The film examines the conspiracy generated by his human rights advocacy, and the drama of his three children, faced with the manipulated image of their parents by a populist party created by their own family.. Winner of Best Documentary at the Havana Film Festival.. “...integral to the success of Ecuadorian cinema on a local and international scale.” –...

The fourth episode in this series looks at John Wilkes, a comparatively little-known figure today, but in mid- to late-18th century he was at the epicentre of events which shook the British Establishment and helped prepare the ground for modern civil liberties.

What is the impact on freedom of speech and the press when a big corporation attempts to suppress criticism and manipulate the media?. Documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten found out when he debuted his previous film, BANANAS!, which portrays the struggle of 12 Nicaraguan plantation workers who brought a lawsuit challenging fruit giant Dole Food’s use of a banned pesticide. Shortly after BANANAS! was selected to premiere at the Los Angeles Film...

Tears for April: Beyond the Blue Lens' follows the sad and tragic April Reoch from her arrival in the DTES at age seventeen, and her one-way journey into the depraved world of drug addiction. Three other subjects are profiled: Randy, a promising young athlete who made a series of near-deadly choices; Dan, who was April’s boyfriend; and April’s son Daniel, who laments his mother's demise.. Facilitators may present this highly-impacting film; the...

Simultaneously a murder-mystery and an exposè of endemic corruption today, GIVE UP TOMORROW looks intimately at the case of Paco Larrañaga, a student accused of killing two sisters on the provincial island of Cebu. In a way that is both specific to the country and disquietingly universal, the film exposes a Kafkaesque extravaganza populated by flamboyantly crooked public officials, cops on the take, and a frenzied legal and media circus.. GIVE UP...