The right to confront accusers. The High Court has added the right for those facing a serious criminal charge to have a lawyer provided by the State if they are unable to afford one. Perhaps in 40 years we will have a charter of fundamental rights included in our Constitution. This is not being soft on crime. It is defining the type of society we are and want to be.
Criminal law is the great centrepiece of any legal system.
It must change and adapt with changing social attitudes. It must pay regard to new problems, new technology and new social attitudes. In my professional lifetime, Australian criminal law has come from being a post-colonial backwater of the English legal system to a highly developed system of our own. Politicians and many citizens have contributed to this process. And the High Court has also played a crucial role.