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The idea that north Queensland should be a separate State was strongly argued in the Queensland eolonial parliament and during the course of the Constitutional Conventions of the 1890s. Post federation, there have been several petitions calling for areas of existing States, and for the Northern Territory (NT), to become a new State in the federation. One of the issues that has surfaced repeatedly, in the call for creation of new State from an existing State, is what the Constitutional requirements arc for the creation of a new State, and then flowing from that, what process needs to be followed for the change to occur. This paper identifies the Constitutional provisions relevant to the creation of a new State in the Australian federation, and then examines the key issue of the locus of power to 'initiate' the creation of a new State by separation of territory from an existing State. The paper then reviews the history of the failed referenda held in New South Wales (NSW) and the NT for the creation of a new State, and, in light of the those experiences, sketches a possible political and legislative pathway towards the establishment of a new State of North Queensland. Finally, two key points in favour of separation arc argued: (i) that North Queensland has been particularly disenfranchised since federation through centralist power shifting at both the State and Federal levels; and (ii) a failed commitment to the North for it to have its own senators as evidenced in s.7 of the Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of new amendments to the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld), this paper reviews the conceptual framework within which this Act delivers consumer protection within the free market. It compares the equivalent protection provisions of the Retail Shop Leases Act 1994 (Qld) and assesses whether 'conscience' can provide a mediating factor between consumer protection and contract law, or whether these measures effectively remove these contracts from common law contract into their own discrete field. It concludes that implicit reliance on conscience without clearly articulating a standard of conscience leaves these contracts without a clear place within common law doctrine of unconscionability or an effective consumer protection foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publicity given to the request by a Western Australian man with quadriplegia to have artificial nutrition and hydration withdrawn so he could end his life, highlights the moral and legal dilemmas inherent in end-of-life decision making. In ruling that the withdrawal of the life-sustaining measures by the health provider would be lawful, the Supreme Court of Western Australia carefully analysed the potential application of the Criminal Code 1913 (WA). The relevant provisions include recent amendments aimed at addressing the question of a medical professional's criminal responsibility for withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. To date the Queensland legislature has not followed the Western Australian lead, despite suggestions by the Queensland Guardianship and Administration Tribunal that the intersection between the criminal law and the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 (Qld) requires clarification. This paper considers whether, pursuant to Queensland criminal law, health professionals could be held criminally responsible for complying with a patient's request to withdraw life-sustaining measures, and accordingly whether amendments should be made to the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exemption from compliance with the provisions that regulate incorporated legal practices in the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) by incorporated community legal services and incorporated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services may have had good intentions, but the reality is that it has created a two tier quality control system for clients of legal service providers in Queensland. Clients of private incorporated firms have the benefit of a responsive regulatory system, whereas clients of publically funded incorporated legal services are excluded and operate within a complaintsdriven model with all its inherent weakness. This paper considers whether the exemption granted to incorporated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services creates an inequality in standards and risk protection available for clients of private law firms and those who use publicly funded legal services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, Queensland has introduced legislative measures that fundamentally affect the application of contract law to residential land and retail shop lease contracts. This article examines whether the scheme of consumer protection under these Acts, consisting of warning statements, disclosure statements, advice certificates, and cooling off periods, addresses fundamental bargaining inequality through creation of a new order within these markets. It proposes that the framework of the Acts differs from the traditional principle/counter-principle dichotomy of classical contract law, whereby the norm of the contract is supported by exceptions that reinforce the same paradigm. In doing so, this paper critically examines the formalism and objectivism of classical contract theory using the framework of the critical legal studies movement (CLS) and seeks to assess whether the consumer protection regime under these Acts answers the CLS critique of common law contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public outcry with the outcome of R v Carroll' has induced the revision of the double jeopardy rule in NSW and Queensland. In particular, NSW has put forward the Criminal Appeal Amendment (Double Jeopardy) Bill 2003 (NSW) and Queensland has a discussion paper that was drafted by the Model Criminal Code Officers' Committee. The construction of these two documents is similar, but neither of them addresses the public's dissatisfaction because they would not remedy the Carroll case, nor cases where there are advances in DNA technology after a person is acquitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]