Adam McBeth

Adam practises primarily in public law, including judicial review, constitutional law, electoral law, environmental law, immigration, human rights and matters in VCAT and the ART, as well as appeals and commercial matters involving regulators or issues of statutory construction. He also practises broadly in tort and other civil litigation. He appears regularly in all jurisdictions and prepares written advice on matters in these fields.

Before coming to the Bar, Adam had a distinguished career in academia, as an Associate Professor at the Monash University Law Faculty and a Deputy Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law. He holds a PhD in law and has published widely, particularly in the areas of public international law and human rights law.

A small selection of Adam’s appearances include:

Constitutional law

• Re Canavan & ors, High Court of Australia (2017) 263 CLR 284 (the ‘dual citizenship case’, regarding ineligibility of various parliamentarians under s44 of the Constitution, led by B Walters QC, with E Bennett, for former Senators Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters).
• Galuak v Minister for Immigration, Full Federal Court (2024) 306 FCR 271 (provision stripping citizenship for crime committed as a child found unconstitutional, unled, with E Brumby, for the appellant)

Electoral law

• Adler v Ludlam and Waters, High Court of Australia [2018] HCATrans 133, 158 (unled for the defendants, successfully opposing applications under the Common Informers (Parliamentary Disqualifications) Act).
• Victorian Electoral Commission v Yildiz, VCAT (election found to be elected by fraud, unled, for one of the validly elected councillors)
• Torney v Victorian Electoral Commission, VCAT [2022] VCAT 1337 (successful challenge to VEC ruling against how to vote cards for ‘teal independents’, unled for applicants)

Migration

• Minister for Immigration v DUA16, High Court of Australia [2020] HCA 46 (bias and unreasonableness, led by G Costello QC for the respondents).
• ABT17 v Minister for Immigration, High Court of Australia [2020] HCA 34 (unreasonableness and the importance of demeanour, led by M Schilling for the appellant).
• BRF038 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, High Court of Australia [2017] HCA 44 (appeal from the Supreme Court of Nauru in a refugee case, led by G Costello for the appellant).
• Plaintiff M87/2023 v Minister for Immigration, High Court of Australia [2024] HCASJ (refugee claim for transgender refugee in High Court’s original jurisdiction, unled for applicant)
• MZAFZ v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (2016) 243 FCR 1 (established denial of procedural fairness for undisclosed s438 certificate, unled for the appellant).
• CZA19 v Federal Circuit Court [2021] FCAFC 57 (scope of judicial review of inferior court’s decision, unled for applicant).
• FHN18 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (urgent injunction removing a detainee from Nauru for medical treatment, led by L De Ferrari SC)
• Multiple matters run in Supreme Court of Nauru and Nauru Court of Appeal

Environmental law

• Bob Brown Foundation v Spicer, Supreme Court of Tasmania (challenge to Forest Practices Plan for native logging affecting threatened species, unled for applicant)
• Onus v Minister for Environment [2020] FCA 1807 (successful challenge to decision regarding road through significant area to Aboriginal people, unled for applicants).

Human rights matters

• Minister for Families and Children & Ors v Certain Children by their Litigation Guardian Sister Marie Brigid Arthur, Victorian Court of Appeal [2016] VSCA 343 (the ‘Barwon Prison case’, led by B Walters QC, with M Albert and S Fitzgerald, for the respondent children in the Court of Appeal. Also appeared in Certain Children (No 1) before Garde J and Certain Children (No 2) before Dixon J).
• DQL v Mental Health Tribunal & Bendigo Health, VCAT (successful challenge to order for electroconvulsive treatment, unled for applicant)

Child protection appeals and judicial review

• AA v Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Supreme Court of Victoria (2020) 61 VR 436 (procedural fairness, capacity of agencies to quash their own decisions, unled for the plaintiff, with M Stead).
• Harris v Secretary of Department of Families, Fairness and Health, Supreme Court of Victoria [2023] VSC 228 (denial of procedural fairness by Children’s Court, unled for one of the plaintiffs)

Other public law matters

• Jele Chemists v Australian Community Pharmacy Authority, Full Federal Court [2025] FCAFC 54 (rules for establishing new pharmacy, led by C Gunson SC for the appellant)
• Pilbrow v Director of Gaming Machines, Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (grant of poker machine licences to venues in Alice Springs, unled, with F Keppert, for the applicant)
• McGrath and Director-General, National Archives, AAT [2020] AATA 1790 (access to documents regarding negotiations over the Timor Gap, led by G Costello for the applicant).
• El Armaly and Secretary, Department of Social Services, AAT [2020] AATA 984 (successful challenge to Centrelink pension cancellation, unled for applicant).

Tort

• Russell v City of Melbourne [2023] VSCA 97 (successful appeal in negligence case, led by G Costello KC for the appellant)

Adam is an accomplished author, with three books to his credit, including Australia’s leading international human rights text, The International Law of Human Rights (with Justine Nolan and Simon Rice), as well as numerous book chapters and articles in scholarly journals. He has conducted training on international human rights law for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and for representatives of governments and civil society from Iraq and Indonesia. He has also conducted training for government on the Victorian Charter of Human Rights, and for business on corporate social responsibility and human rights litigation.

In 2019, Adam received the Victorian Bar Public Interest / Justice Innovation Award as part of the counsel team for the Barwon Prison youth detention matter.

Adam read with Fiona Forsyth KC. His senior mentor was Rowena Orr KC (now Orr JA of the Victorian Court of Appeal).