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Key decisions

  • Kathleen Clubb v Alyce Edwards; John Graham Preston v Elizabeth Avery [2019] HCA 11 (10 April 2019)
  • Tjungarrayi v Western Australia; KN (deceased) and Others (Tjiwarl and Tjiwarl #2) v Western Australia [2019] HCA 12

Constitutional law

Implied freedom of political communication

Kathleen Clubb v Alyce Edwards; John Graham Preston v Elizabeth Avery [2019] HCA 11 (10 April 2019) concerned the validity of Victorian and Tasmanian laws prohibiting communications and protests near abortion clinics. 

Kathleen Clubb was convicted of an offence under s 185D of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic), which prohibits a person from communicating in relation to abortions to persons accessing or attempting to access premises where abortions are provided, if the communication is reasonably likely to cause distress or anxiety. John Preston was convicted of an offence under s 9 of the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Act 2013 (Tas), which prohibits protests in relation to terminations that are able to be seen or heard by a person accessing, or attempting to access, premises at which terminations are provided. 

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