In our first segment, Frank Hicks SC and Richard Cheney SC discuss the High Court decision of Stubbings v Jams 2 concerning unconscionable conduct, the Full Federal Court decision in Minister for the Environment v Sharma about the common law duty of care on the Minister in the context of climate change, and Palmer v Premiair Aviation Maintenance a case in which Clive Palmer was ordered to pay costs on an indemnity basis.

In our second segment, Frank is joined by Ingmar Taylor SC and Lucy Saunders to discuss the recent High Court decisions concerning the question of independent contractor v employee – CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting and ZG Operations v Jamsek.

Medium neutral citations of the cases discussed are:

• Stubbings v Jams 2 Pty Ltd [2022] HCA 6
• Minister for the Environment v Sharma [2022] FCAFC 35
• Palmer v Premiair Aviation Maintenance [2022] FCA 185
• CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting [2022] HCA 1
• ZG Operations Australia Pty Ltd v Jamsek [2022] HCA 2

In this episode of Law Talking, Ian Roberts and Frank Hicks look at recent High Court and NSW Court of Appeal decisions on varied topics such as Clive Palmer, academic freedom, casual workers, vaccination orders, and repudiation and causation in damages claims.

Leah Reid joins Frank to discuss vaccination issues in the context of family law and the many questions that can arise involving children and parenting.

Lastly, we revisit a seminar that was delivered earlier this year on how to plead a claim for breach of the statutory duty under s.37 of the Design Building Practitioners Act 2020, following the decision in Strata Plan 87060 v Loulach Developments.

In this episode, Frank Hicks looks at two recent UK decisions concerning liquidated damages and delay. What is the accrued right to liquidated damages when works are terminated before completion and can a clause which is invalid as a penalty still be operable as a cap?

In our second segment, Frank is joined by Richard Cheney and Adele Carr to discuss two important High Court decisions of recent times. Price v Spoor considers the statutory limitations on liability and agreements which may make those provisions unenforceable. Libertyworks Inc v The Commonwealth of Australia concerns the implied right of political communication and the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (Cth) ("the FITS Act"), which seeks to ensure greater transparency with respect to potential foreign influence in the effective functioning and accountability of Australian government institutions.

Lastly, our Front of House team discusses life in Chambers in these strangest of times!

Intro and end music: This Right Here by Till

Transition sounds: The Improv and Extraordinaire by DJ Quads

Produced by Greenway Chambers