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Julian Burnside

Watching Out: Reflections on justice and injustice by Julian Burnside

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November 2017, no. 396
John Eldridge reviews 'Watching Out: Reflections on justice and injustice' by Julian Burnside

Watching Out belongs to a rare class of book. Written by a lawyer, concerned largely with law, and touching upon such legal esoterica as interim injunctions, it defies all odds in still being eminently accessible to a lay audience. It has, predictably, set off a frisson of excitement in legal Australia, where each new Burnside title ...

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Michael Kirby: Paradoxes, Principles by A.J. Brown

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October 2011, no. 335
Julian Burnside reviews 'Michael Kirby: Paradoxes, Principles' by A.J. Brown

There are only seven High Court judges. Since Federation there have been just fifty-six of them (or fifty-five if we discount Justice Piddington, who never sat during his four weeks on the court). High Court judges are rare creatures, and as a rule they are publicly noticed far less than the importance of their work might suggest.

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Wolfgang Sievers by Helen Ennis

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September 2011, no. 334
Julian Burnside reviews 'Wolfgang Sievers' by Helen Ennis

Wolfgang Sievers was a complex person with a clear vision. The major dimensions of his life included photography and an abiding sense of the dignity of man. Helen Ennis, one of the foremost authorities on Sievers, has produced a book that is at once satisfying and teasing.

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'Tampa' by Julian Burnside

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October 2001, no. 235

The episode of the refugees on the MV Tampa raised two separate problems, one moral, the other legal. To see both issues in perspective, it is useful to recall the facts that precipitated this unlikely crisis.

The refugees, most of them claiming to be from Afghanistan, embarked on a boat in Indonesia and headed for Australia. It began to sink. The master of the Tampa, quite properly, rescued them. He was about to take them to Indonesia when some of them threatened to commit suicide if they were not taken to Australia. He considered that many were in need of urgent medical help. He sailed towards Christmas Island and radioed for help, but none was given. He was asked to turn away, but considered the risks to life too great. Thus it was that 450 refugees found themselves in Australian territorial waters.

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