This brief jurisprudential note concerns the nature of legal positivism in the context of developments in Australian statutory and common law, and specifically in connection with the New South Wales state government's response to the "Covid19 pandemic" through the then Health Minister, Brad Hazzard MLA. The author critically analyses the government's approach which is demonstrated to encroach upon principled of human rights law as settled in various instruments of international law. The author concludes that the problems identified during this period could partly be resoled through the legislation of statutory guarantees for religious liberties.
Richard Kouchoo is a Sydney based legal practitioner admitted at the Supreme Court of New South Wales, who has also been involved in various local Catholic initiatives.
Athavle v State of New South Wales [2021] FCA 1075
Kassam v Hazzard; Henry v Hazzard [2021] NSWCA 299
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Kassam & Ors v Hazzard & Ors [2022] HCATrans 131
Korte v. Sebelius 735 F.3d 654 (7th Cir. 2013)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Office of the High Commissioner, United Nations Human Rights, 16 December 1966), Article 18
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International Commission of Jurists, Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (American International Commission of Jurists, 1985)
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