Episode 16: Hard cases make bad law

“There’s a saying in law that hard cases make bad law,” says Dr Colin Campbell. “Judges will sometimes do what they think is right in a particular case, but in doing that they will muck up the law." 

Numerous inquiries have uncovered widespread discrimination and exclusion against children at government schools around Australia. While state-run education departments are tasked with the responsibility of fixing this problem, there’s another institution in our society that has a major role to play: our courts. 

But the leading court case that dictates how the courts play this role - and which judges around Australia are obliged to follow - is seriously flawed.

SHOW NOTES

All music by Lee Rosevere
- 'Introducing the Pre-roll'
- '17 - Awkward Silences version b' 
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/

Storyteller
 - Dr Colin Campbell, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Hosts
 - Dr Melissa Castan & James Pattison

Further reading
- Purvis v New South Wales (Department of Education and Training) [2003] HCA 62: http://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2003/HCA/62- 

'Improving Educational Outcomes for Children with Disability in Victoria: Final Report' (June 2018), E Jenkin, C Spivakovsky, S Joseph, M Smith, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University: https://www.justcasespodcast.com/s/Castan-Centre-Improving-Educational-Outcomes-for-Students-with-Disability.pdf

Victorian students with disabilities turned away from schools, report finds (ABC News, 29 June 2018): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-29/students-with-disabilities-victorian-government-schools-report/9923274

- Campbell, Colin D, "A Hard Case Making Bad Law: Purvis v New South Wales and the Role of the Comparator Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)" [2007] FedLawRw 4; (2007) 35(1) Federal Law Review 111: http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedLawRw/2007/4.html

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