If the time should come to take action against dishonest politicians it would not be difficult to mount a case. In the world of business, deceptive and misleading conduct is prohibited by law. In personal dealings, honesty is held in the highest regard. Yet, politicians, the elected representatives of the public who are paid to represent public interests, are not held accountable to these same standards. Julian Burnside asks the question: should the courts decide whether a politician should be jailed for misleading the public?

Julian Burnside @JulianBurnside
Julian Burnside is a Melbourne based barrister specialising in commercial litigation. Throughout his career Julian has acted for a number of high profile clients, including the Ok Tedi natives against BHP, for Alan Bond in fraud trials, for Rose Porteous in numerous actions against Gina Rinehart, and for the Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 waterfront dispute against Patrick Stevedores. He was Senior Counsel assisting the Australian Broadcasting Authority in the “Cash for Comment” inquiry and was senior counsel for Liberty Victoria in the Tampa litigation.

Julian is the immediate past President of Liberty Victoria, and has acted pro bono in many human rights cases, in particular concerning the treatment of refugees. In 2004 he was elected as a Living National Treasure and in 2009 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Further Reading
Want to learn a little more before Julian’s talk? Julian has posted a collection of resources on human rights, asylum seekers and law on his website.