Date & time
Venue
Kambri Cinema Kambri precinct Acton, ACT 2600
Contact
Event description
Join the Law Reform and Social Justice Program (LRSJ) for a screening of The Castle in collaboration with the ANU Film Group as the film marks 25 years since its release.
The classic film has had a huge impact not only on Australian culture and society, but it has also resonated within the legal landscape. By spotlighting the Constitution, the film brought issues of justice and injustice to the fore. To this day, The Castle still poses questions about access to justice and what the law does for us.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Professor Asmi Wood, Kieran Pender and Emerita Professor Fiona Wheeler FAAL, and moderated by Isabella Keith..
Speakers
Asmi Wood’s current research and publications have centred around two main topics: Constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia and Indigenous Participation in Higher Education.
The Australian Parliament, both Committees and individuals, Government agencies, community organisations, schools and Indigenous groups have all used Asmi’s research to clarify key issues among staff, invited Asmi to speak at their public events and make contributions to their literature. His research has included policy papers, law reform submissions and articles or chapters in journals and books.
Kieran Pender is a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, specialising in democratic freedoms and whistleblower protections. He is also an accomplished writer, with his works appearing in multiple law journals, the Guardian, the Saturday Paper and the Monthly. He was recently named the ACT Law Society's Young Lawyer of the year.
Kieran's article about the Castle has appeared in The Guardian here
Fiona Wheeler is an Emerita Professor in the ANU College of Law, ANU. Prior to her appointment to ANU she was an Associate to Justice Mary Gaudron, High Court of Australia (1989-1990). Fiona is a scholar of the Australian Constitution and has researched and published on public law issues for over two decades. She has a particular interest in courts and the judicial system and the history of the High Court of Australia.
Fiona’s recent research explores evolving conceptions of judicial independence, combining perspectives from law, politics and history to chart the sometimes uncertain boundaries between the ‘legal’ and ‘political’ domains inhabited by Australia's judges. This work has included a study, based on personal papers, of Sir John Latham’s extra-judicial advising; analyses of the wartime work undertaken by High Court judges in the executive branch; and an examination of the constitutionality, under contemporary doctrine, of state judges continuing to serve as Royal Commissioners and in other extra-judicial roles. In addition, Fiona continues to research and write on due process under the Australian Constitution.