This month on The Wigs - a discussion of a brand new provision in the NSW Bail Act 2013, section 22B. This provision came into effect in late June and provides that people who have pleaded guilty or have been found guilty by a court of a crime should be remanded in custody immediately if they "will" ultimately receive a jail term when they are sentenced unless there are special or exceptional circumstances justifying bail continuing.

Secondly, a new High Court case has reaffirmed the fundamental structural separation in the Australian Constitution between judicial and executive power. In Alexander v Minister for Home Affairs, the High Court struck down section 36B of the Australian Citizenship Act on the basis that citizenship stripping as a punishment for misconduct could not be done by a minister and could only occur as criminal punishment following a conviction by a court. Wig Stephen Lawrence was one of the barristers who appeared for the applicant and he provides some interesting insights into the course of the litigation.

Lastly the Wigs look at a new decision of Justice Hamill in DPP v Peckham where a decision of a magistrate was quashed on the basis that the case proceeded in the absence of the prosecutor and on the basis of no charge or evidence. This amounted to a fundamental breach of procedural fairness and proper process. The case took only three minutes to be heard in the Dubbo Local Court!