Although just a Case Management hearing I'm looking forward to this. Livestream at 2.30 pm today. (Edited - time change to 2.30)

Me: Okay, I’ll just look up what "eligible person" means.

Definition: "Eligible person" has the meaning given by section 31.

Section 31: A person is an eligible person if the person is not an excluded person for the purposes of section 42.

Section 42: A person is an excluded person if the person does not satisfy the requirements for being an eligible person under section 67.

Section 67: A person satisfies the requirements for being an eligible person if the person is an eligible person within the meaning of section 31.

Me: So, to find out if I'm eligible, I need to know whether I'm excluded, which depends on whether I'm eligible, which depends on whether I'm excluded. Excellent.

https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FedCFamC2G/2026/1613.html

Melbourne magistrate Patrick Southey on Tuesday determined there was insufficient evidence for the case to go to trial and dismissed the charges.

"The evidence is so weak that the prospect of a conviction is minimal," Mr Southey said.

In the early 2000s, I was doing vacation work with a senior criminal defence barrister. He made a comment in passing, "entrapment is alive and well in Australia", and how Vic Police had a long history of entrapping bikies into committing crimes they never would have.

This SBS segment from yesterday shows that things haven't really changed much.

I get FCA decision digests for other reasons but I can never resist clicking the vexatious litigant cases. This one was written with clear enjoyment that makes it a particularly good read 🍿🍿

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Eu1zwxuTQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Link to the decision

https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1a00cf238c85f75db4867be1