Examining Justice as a Prerequisite for Security in Australian Law

This essay delves into the crucial relationship between justice and security within the Australian legal system. It begins by outlining the structure of the Australian legal system, highlighting its roots in both English and US legal traditions, and the roles of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The main body of the essay emphasizes the role of law in maintaining order, regulating societal activities, and providing individuals with rights and obligations. It then focuses on the judiciary's function in interpreting laws and administering justice, arguing that a fair and trustworthy judiciary is essential for public confidence and security. The essay discusses various facets of justice, including social, environmental, restorative, retributive, and procedural justice, underscoring their importance in a just society. It provides real-world examples, such as the Golding v Sippel and The Laundry Chute Pty Ltd [2021] case, and discusses the evolution of rights for marginalized groups like aboriginal people and transgender individuals, to illustrate how justice enhances security. The conclusion reiterates the importance of a fair and ethical judiciary in maintaining societal trust and security.

Justice is a prerequisite
of security

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The legal system in every country is different from each other in some way or the other. The
legal system of Australia have a territorial structure and it combination of both the English legal
system i.e. of United Kingdom (UK) and also the legal system of the United States (US). The
laws in Australia are made after the discussion in the assembly and then they are passed. The
executive branch is responsible for the enforcement of laws in Australia which is commonly
known as the Government (Loeffler and Bovaird, 2020). The laws so enforced by the
government are to be interpreted by the judiciary. The laws once are interpreted by the judges of
the courts, if any individual is found to violate those rules or laws then the interpretation of such
laws help judiciary to determine to punishments. The aim of this essay is to discuss on “judiciary
is a prerequisite of security.”
MAIN BODY
Laws are mainly the rules and regulations that are imposed so that the functions and the
activities of the country are run in a smooth and effective manner. Laws helps in the regulations
of the people, country, business activities, government, etc. there are various kinds of laws that
are made to deal with different situations that may arise or take place in the country. The
government of Australia has also similarly enforced many such laws that helps in the governance
of the country in a better way. Laws do not only help in the governance but it also provides with
the rights and obligations of the people towards society, country, government, or any other
person or legal entity. Law are very important as without them, there will be in balance and
people will just do what they feel is right, even if that right is to kill someone innocent.
The Judiciary under the legal system have been given powers that relates to the
administration of Justice. In the exercise of this powers, Judiciary firstly, interpret the laws made
by the government and then accordingly decide the case and impose punishment to the offenders
as per the laws made and interpretation done by them. It is the duty of judiciary to provide fair
and just decision so that the people believe in judiciary and rely upon the decisions. This help in
providing mental security to the people to approach to the court (Holifield, Chakraborty and
Walker, 2017). People ought to have faith and trust on the legal Justice system to approach the
courts if any dispute or illegal activities are bothering them. There are many cases in which the
judges were found to be involved in illegal acts like taking bribes from the parties to let them win

the cases. This unethical practices of the judges disturbed the trust people had on the justice
system.
There are several individuals for whom the word justice is only limited to the word honesty
and for some it means fairness. The word has various different meanings for various different
people. For example, the word social justice relates to the belief that, every individual, regardless
of the race, case, sex, colour, etc. are similar and equal (French, 2018). The fair and equal
distribution of all the goods in a society is referred to as a justice which is distributive in nature.
Environmental justice on the other hand refers to, how all the individuals of the country are
treated equally in terms of the cost of the environmental and in terms of benefits. Similarly,
restorative justice which can also be termed as corrective justice, majorly aims to make the
people or individual of the country that have been wronged whole. Retributive justice majorly
aims to discipline all the wrongdoers in a just and an impartial manner with those of the other
wrongdoers. The procedural justice on the other hand refers to the application of rulings that are
related to judiciary in a just and a manner which is not partial at all in any way. In the realms of
law and politics, one of the most essential universal ideals is justice. Law and order are ideal, but
both of these can never be achieved without the Justice.
The justice system shall be fair and just for all the people of the country as it helps in
providing people with the rights to which they were deprived off or such a right was taken away
by them (Molla, 2020). Laws definitely helps in providing with the security of the people but if
there are cases where the people who are authorised to provide security to the public or the
society are involved in unethical or legal acts then, this would shake the trust of people. Justice
helps in providing security to people. It helps people in believing that their rights are being
looked after by and they are safe in the country they are living in. Justice is considered as one of
the most important prerequisite of the security to people, to the nation or the society at large.
Security to the people can only be provided by any country if they have strong justice
system. If the justice providing authorities failed at their duties then the security of the people
and the country will be at stake (Egan, 2018). No individual will be able to trust the laws and its
executioners or administrators. Individual will become more aggressive and will start doing
things that will adversely affect the country. For example: in Australia there are several number
or aboriginal people. These people, initially were not given with the rights and were not treated
equally with that of others. Many illegal activities were done by these people as there were no

laws to monitor them and there was no justice being provided to them. But once the laws in the
matter of aboriginal people were recognised and strict actions were taken by the government in
that matter, the people felt security and then they country again started to function in the way as
it was before.
Treating every individual of the country equally by the law is the fundamental right which
every citizen deserves in Australia. Once the rights are provided to every individual without any
discrimination being done by them then the individual feels secure in their country (Rothwell,
2021). But if the justice do not go hand in hand with the rights of the people and justice do not
respect the rights of the people, they starts to lose confidence in justice and thus become violent
and aggressive for equal rights which also results in riots and fights. Therefore, to provide
security to every individual of the country, it is the duty of the system of justice to act fairly and
honestly so that individuals do not lose hope and trust which they have on the legal justice
system.
In the case of Golding v Sippel and The Laundry Chute Pty Ltd [2021], the lady was
sexually harassed by her boss at her workplace. In this case, the justice system of the Australia
held the boss liable with punishment and also imposed the fine as a compensation to the lady.
The said case provided people with the sense of security that there rights are safe and in case any
of their right is infringed, justice will be provided to them by the judiciary.
In the case above, if justice was denied and no punishment or fine was imposed upon the
boss for sexual harassment at workplace then, this would have been against the laws made by the
government and also the unethical practice of the justice system would have come forward. The
security people had upon the justice system would have been shaken and the trust would have
been lost from the legal system of the Australia. Therefore, it is very important that the laws are
interpreted by the judiciary in an effective manner so as to provide with justice to the victim and
punishment to the offender of crime. This will provide trust and security to the people.
In Australia, there were initially a lot of discrimination between the woman and man,
transgender were not given with equal rights in the societies, etc. (Chesterman, 2021). With time
and the new development in the laws with the help of both the government and the judiciary
(with the help on them interpreting the law in right sense) provided equal rights to transgender
and the women. Initially when there were no specific laws for them, they did not approach the

judiciary for justice but now when they have got those rights, they feel secure in making an
approach to the judiciary for justice (Kluttz and Walter, 2018).
One recent case was of the transgender where she was refused to use the women toilet at the
store. In this case, she was not allowed by the staff and the store manager to use the toilet. And
also various comments were made on her. When the case was registered against the store, the
transgender women received $3500 as compensation and also the court ordered the store to
change and implement the policies they had of the store.
There are various ways in which the justice is being provided to the people. Justice has
provided with the security in the mind of people and it has created a trust that if anything wrong
happens then they can always approach court and ask for the justice for themselves. Justice is
definitely a prerequisite of the security. Justice denied will automatically leads to the shaken
security of the people from that of the law, justice and the legal system as a whole. Therefore, the
practices of the judiciary must always be ethical especially when it comes to delivering of the
justice to the victim and providing punishments, sentences to the offenders. Justice is made for
the people and therefore, it must always be fair and just so that it provides security to the people.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above discussion that, individuals have sense of security, belief,
trust, etc. on the judiciary only with the vber6y important condition is being fulfilled by them and
that is “Justice”. If at any point judiciary failed in providing justice to the people of the country,
the country may lose the hope, tryst and security they feel being party of the country. It is
important that judiciary carry out its activities ethically and follow the laws and interpret them in
such a manner that they are just and fair. No individual shall be deprived of any of the right that
is provided by the law.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chesterman, J., 2021. Settling on a national Indigenous Australian ‘voice’. Australian Journal of
Public Administration.
Egan, T., 2018. Justice All Their Own: The Caledon Bay and Woodah Island killings, 1932–
1933. Melbourne Univ. Publishing.
French, R., 2018. United states influence on the Australian legal system. UW Austl. L. Rev., 43,
p.11.
Holifield, R., Chakraborty, J. and Walker, G. eds., 2017. The Routledge handbook of
environmental justice. Routledge.
Kluttz, J. and Walter, P., 2018. Conceptualizing learning in the climate justice movement. Adult
education quarterly, 68(2), pp.91-107.
Loeffler, E. and Bovaird, T., 2020. Assessing the impact of co-production on pathways to
outcomes in public services: the case of policing and criminal justice. International
Public Management Journal, 23(2), pp.205-223.
Molla, T., 2020. Refugees and equity policy in Australian higher education. Policy Reviews in
Higher Education, pp.1-23.
Rothwell, D.R., 2021. Australian Year Book of International Law. In Netherlands Yearbook of
International Law 2019 (pp. 75-84). TMC Asser Press, The Hague.