Events

The exiled founder of Russia’s only independent television news channel Mikhail Zygar discusses how the state weaponised the legal system and disinformation to criminalise acts of journalism. Sentenced to 8.5 years in prison in absentia, Zygar now lives in the US, where journalism is coming under sustained attack from the Trump administration. In this year’s A N Smith Lecture in Journalism, Zygar will discuss how these tools of disinformation are being exported and shared by autocrats, and how social media and YouTube can be used to counter these existential threats to journalism.

About the A N Smith Lecture

The A N Smith lecture has a unique place in Australia’s cultural history. It is the oldest journalism lecture series in Australia, having commenced in 1936 after a bequest to the University of Melbourne from the family of Arthur Norman Smith, who was a founder of the Australian Journalists’ Association. The lecture is presented each year by a leading authority on an important aspect of journalism. Over its 80-plus year history, the lecture has been presented by personalities including journalists, politicians and even a Vice-Chancellor. Some of the more noteworthy were Graham Perkin (1974), Michelle Grattan (1988), Rupert Murdoch (1972), Kevin Rudd (2021), and Walter Robinson (2018). The Centre for Advancing Journalism is currently working on locating and archiving all A N Smith lectures.

2025 Melbourne University Law Review Annual Lecture, hosted by Melbourne Law School

Changing Attitudes to Independence of Australian Tribunals

Under Australia’s separation of powers doctrine, administrative tribunals are part of the executive branch in Chapter II of the Constitution. They are statutory bodies whose independence can vary according to the Act establishing them. Today, the importance of independence for administrative tribunals is generally accepted by Australian legislatures. However, that was not always the case. There has been a gradual attitudinal change regarding the need for administrative tribunals to be, and be seen to be, independent. The establishment of the Administrative Review Tribunal on 14 October 2024 to replace the Administrative Appeals Tribunal provides an ideal opportunity to consider the evolution of administrative tribunals in Australia and how legislative and judicial attitudes concerning their independence have evolved with them.

Please join Melbourne Law School and Melbourne University Law Review from 5:30pm with welcome drinks and light refreshments provided in the Melbourne Law School Building Ground Floor Foyer. The lecture will start promptly at 6:00pm in the Ground Floor G08 Theatre.