Legals: Constitutional Challenge & Oct 23 charges update

Recent developments People may know that that decision came down on 27 February. The decision was not the favourable decision for our case (found for the Council in that case). On the same day the High Court released its decision on another case, the "Monis" case, that also considered the extent of the right to freedom of political communication. The court was evenly split so the previous decision of the lower court was upheld, being that Monis' appeal was unsuccessful: Monis unsuccessfully appealed charges against him on the basis that the law under which he was charged was not compatible with the implied right to freedom of political communication. Essentially, the High Court decisions are not immediately helpful to our case as both decisions did not amount to an expanded view of the implied right to the freedom of political communication. However, there are also numerous parts of the decisions that the Judge in our case may accept as relevant and supportive to our case. People may be interested in these links to commentary on the two cases: - http://www.hrlc.org.au/high-court-decision-highlights-lack-of-protections-for-free-speech http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/freedom-of-speech-in-australia/4557962 - http://humanrights.gov.au/legal/publications/2013-casenote-freedom-expression.html Links to the full decisions: - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2013/3.html - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2013/4.html Developments with the OS case The Judge in the OS Fed Crt case, Katzmann J, invited the lawyers to make further submissions regarding our arguments in respect of the two High Court decisions. The lawyers have been working to make submissions to highlight the parts of the decisions that are helpful to our case, and to respond to parts of the decisions that may not be so helpful. The lawyers will make these submissions by today 15 March 2013. The Council will then respond by 29 March 2013. The Judge will consider the submissions and then hand down her decision at some point. Regarding the charges in the Local Court The Fed Crt case decision will not likely be before 4 APRIL 2013 when the 14 people with outstanding charges from OS will be back in the Downing Centre Local Court. If the decision is not handed down before 4 April 2013, as per before, unless anyone changes their mind about this strategy, the lawyers for the 14 people will ask for the matters to be postponed once more until after the decision comes out (as the Fed Crt decision will likely affect the charges in the Local Court). It is likely that the court and police will agree given that the Fed Crt decision should come out sooner rather than later, and given the numerous postponements to date. If the decision is made before 4 April 2013, Ramy, Eamonn and I will contact the 14 people regarding the decision and to discuss what people would like to do on 4 April. We offer our continuing commitment to offering and facilitating legal support and solidarity as best we can.
To contact the Occupy Sydney Legals team please email occupysydney@gmail.com for contact nos