The Victorian government has not decided how it will respond to a constitutional challenge brought in the High Court against the state’s COVID-19 lockdown measures, and has been given just four more days to make its move.
A Sorrento bar owner backed by two high profile barristers is taking the Andrews government to the High Court claiming Victoria’s lockdown is an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of movement of the state’s 6.6 million residents.
Qantas has praised a Federal Court judgment ruling that the airline had no “genuine choice” other than standing down its workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the judgment was a “victory for common sense”.
The judge overseeing a challenge to Victoria’s recently lifted COVID-19 curfew has dismissed the state’s government bid to have the court split the hearing and first determine whether restaurant owner Michelle Loielo had standing to bring the case.
The health official behind Victoria’s now repealed curfew is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought against her challenging the directive on human rights grounds, claiming that the declarations sought would have “no foreseeable consequences” on the Liberal Party member who filed the case.
A case by restaurant owner and Liberal Party member Michelle Loielo challenging Victoria’s COVID-19 curfew is continuing despite an announcement by the Andrews government scrapping the curfew on Sunday night.
COVID-19 was clearly excluded from the business interruption insurance policy taken out by The Star, and a lawsuit seeking coverage for economic loss resulting from the pandemic was “misconceived”, a group of insurers has said.
The public health official responsible for Victoria’s controversial curfew has had her credibility attacked in court, with a judge hearing suggestions that she may have been “coached and assisted” by the state government.
The Federal Court has provided clarification as to how the Morrison government’s JobKeeper scheme operates, in a ruling against Qantas Airways that found the airline had incorrectly applied the scheme and underpaid its staff.
A judge has ordered the Victorian government to hand over legal documents it weighed before implementing its COVID-19 curfew, in a suit brought by a Liberal Party member that says the curfew was unlawful.