Episodes

The relationship between law and policy has always been difficult.  Nowhere is this felt more deeply than at the interpretation stage, and particularly where an administrator is involved.  The key rules here are – (A) to apply the law not the policy¹, (B) to start and finish with the text, and (C) to apply purposive principles.  These simple …

One theme from Episode 2 is reflected in a recent paper from Helen Symon QC¹ – ‘One’s best guide is always the text of the provision in question.  One cannot return to the text often enough, asking “What does the section say?”  One may travel through context, purpose, extrinsic materials or legislative history.  However, it is always necessary to …

iNOW! has business line input these days, which is already making the product better – thanks everyone.  As new High Court judge Michelle Gordon and ex-High Court judge Ken Hayne put it, ‘the proper construction and application of statutes always has been, but now more than ever is, an essential legal skill’ – we agree.  The theme we want …

Gordon has passed me the pen for Episode 3 (Rebecca Smith next month).  One point resonating from Episode 2 is that interpretation usually involves selecting the best answer from among ‘constructional choices’.  Computers cannot do that, nor can mathematical algorithms – not yet anyway.On the production front, we now have business line input on tone and content.  One thing we …

Thanks for all the positive feedback on Episode 1 – we may have hit a nerve!  One point I often make in presentations is that, as we all get better at statutory interpretation, so our technical decision-making will improve also – it’s unavoidable.  Interpretation, however, almost invariably does not involve some singular bright shining answer just awaiting our discovery¹…

interpretation NOW! is a reinvention initiative to drive awareness on what is happening on the statutory interpretation front. It responds to a one-ATO need to have sharp tools ready at all times when working with tax legislation. As French CJ says in Pearce & Geddes – ‘The centrality of statutory interpretation in our legal system must be reflected in legal …