This week, on The ABR Podcast, we feature a commentary by Florence Honybun on a ‘distinct trend’ towards progressive legalism in the Australian High Court. While Australians often look to US legal institutions to gauge the health of democracy, Honybun identifies a quieter ‘changing of the guard’ at home, and with it, ‘a shift in the jurisprudence informing its decisions’. In a suite of recent migration cases, the Court curtailed executive power over stateless migrants, signalling a more liberal, humanitarian turn. As migration pressures intensify, Honybun argues, Australians must become more alert to the consequential role of Australia’s highest court. 

Florence Honybun is a recent alumnus of Monash University and a former intern at ABR. She is currently a graduate at law at a national Australian law firm. Here is Florence Honybun with ‘Progressive legalism in Australia’s High Court: How migration, aliens, and punishment cases reveal a distinct trend’, published in the April issue of ABR.