Focus on key legal principles relevant to government practice and legislative process with this practical and insightful session for anyone working with or within government. Examine how Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) and Public Interest Immunity (PII) operate in litigation, how laws can be changed without infringing vested rights, and how legislation is developed from policy to enactment.
Tuesday, 25 November 2025
Description
Attend and earn 3 CPD units including:
1 unit in Ethics and Professional Responsibility
2 units in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Professional Skills
11.15am to 12.15pm Navigating the Law-Making Process
- The nature of the law-making process
- Constitutional, legal and policy considerations
- Policy-making and the Cabinet process
- Primary and subordinate legislation
- Non-government legislation
- Fundamental legislative principles/human rights
- The drafting process
- The parliamentary process, committee review and bill amendments
- Assent, commencement and publication
Presented by Tony Keyes, Parliamentary Counsel, Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
9.00am to 10.00am Confidentiality of Government Information: PII and LPP
Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) and Public Interest Immunity (PII) are of ongoing interest and concern to government as outcomes in litigation are often driven by the results of interlocutory battles in relation to accessing material. This session will focus on asserting privilege in litigation based on LPP and PII
- A review of the specific mechanisms to bring a privilege claim
- A refresher on the principles of LPP and how it is established in Court
- An introduction to PII and the balancing exercise that it involves
- A brief discussion as to the extent that LPP and PII can overlap and interact
Presented by Michael Rennie, Barrister, St James Hall
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Break
Professional Skills
10.00am to 11.00am Managing Vested Rights and Retrospectivity: The Mechanics of Changing Laws
- Section 7 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) and the common law position
- Recent High Court appeal in Khalil v Minister for Immigration and what has been clarified since Esber v Cth (1992) 174 CLR 430
- The difficult distinction between the exercise of discretions and the exercise of rights
- The differences in criminal and civil contexts
Presented by Rachel Francois, Barrister, St James’ Hall
Presenters
Rachel Francois, Barrister, St James’ HallRachel Francois is a barrister practising in NSW with over 20 years' experience in government and administrative law as well as in human rights, consumer protection and commercial law. Rachel regularly appears in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Federal Court and on appeal in migration matters. Rachel is also involved in significant High Court administrative law cases including SZBEL (procedural fairness), SZMTA (materiality of jurisdictional error) and Viane (reliance on personal knowledge and unreasonableness).
Tony Keyes, Parliamentary Counsel, Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel
Tony Keyes has been the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel since 2018. He holds degrees in arts and law. He has worked as a solicitor and as a barrister in private, community and government sectors. As Parliamentary Counsel, Tony is responsible under the Legislative Standards Act 1992 (Qld) for the drafting of Queensland legislation; advising the Government and private members on alternative ways of achieving policy objectives and the application of fundamental legislative principles; preparing reprints of legislation and legislative information; and publishing Bills, Queensland legislation and legislative information. Before his appointment as Parliamentary Counsel, Tony was the Senior Deputy Crown Solicitor (Constitutional and Administrative Law) with Crown Law (Qld). In that capacity he advised and represented all levels of the Queensland Government and its agencies. He has appeared as counsel in all Queensland courts, and with the Solicitor-General in constitutional litigation in the High Court of Australia.
Michael Rennie, Barrister, St James Hall
Michael Rennie is a barrister at 6 St James Hall Chambers, and commenced practice at the bar in May 2011. Before joining the bar, Michael had over ten years of experience as a solicitor at the Australian Government Solicitor. From 2007 Michael was the principal solicitor with the carriage of the PII concerns for the Attorney-General, ASIO and the AFP in the R v Elomar & Ors [2010] NSWSC 10 terrorism prosecution. Since 2011 Michael has appeared for both the NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police in relation to public interest immunity claims in criminal prosecutions.
