Kevin James Andrews is an Australian former politician and member of the Liberal Party of Australia. He was the Member of House of Representatives for the seat of Menzies from a by-election in 1991 until the 2022 Australian federal election. Andrews is a conservative and a Catholic.
George Henry Brandis is an Australian former politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. He was later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2022.
William Daniel Heffernan, is an Australian former politician who was a Liberal Party member of the Senate representing the state of New South Wales from September 1996 to May 2016.
Mark Alfred Dreyfus is an Australian politician and lawyer who has been attorney-general of Australia and cabinet secretary since June 2022, having held both roles previously in 2013 and from 2010 to 2013 respectively. Dreyfus is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and has been the MP for Isaacs since the 2007 election.
Myriad Genetics, Inc. is an American genetic testing and precision medicine company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic basis of human disease and the role that genes play in the onset, progression and treatment of disease. This information is used to guide the development of new products that assess an individual's risk for developing disease later in life, identify a patient's likelihood of responding to a particular drug therapy, assess a patient's risk of disease progression and disease recurrence, and measure disease activity.
Melissa Parke is a former Australian Labor Party politician and UN human rights lawyer, who served as Member for the federal electoral Division of Fremantle in the Australian House of Representatives from 2007 to 2016. In 2013 Parke was appointed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as Minister for International Development and served in that capacity until Labor lost government later that year.
Clayton Utz is an independent Australian law firm headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Established in 1833, it is generally considered a leading law firm, and has been known as one of the "Big Six" Australian law firms. The firm is recognised for its litigation practice, government clients, pro bono services and high-profile alumni. In 2013, the firm had an annual revenue of $436 million. As of 2021 it had 179 partners and 1,600 personnel in six offices.
George Newhouse is an Australian human rights lawyer and a former local councillor. He is the principal solicitor of the National Justice Project, a human rights and social justice legal service, and currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Macquarie University. and at the University of Technology Sydney.
Josh Bornstein is an Australian lawyer specialising in employment and labour relations law who has acted in several high profile legal matters. He is a member of the Board of economic think tank, Per Capita and the Advisory Board of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law at the University of Melbourne. He is also head of Industrial Relations at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, is deputy Chair of the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board. He is President of Tzedek.org, an advocacy organisation for victims of child sexual abuse within the Jewish community in Australia. Bornstein regularly represents women who have been subject to bullying or sexual harassment in the workplace. In 2021, Bornstein ran for preselection to represent the Australian Labor Party, following the retirement of Senator Kim Carr. Bornstein withdrew from the nomination following an article by The Australian, after it was revealed he had referred to Chris Bowen as a "muppet". Bornstein is said to be considering a second attempt at running for the senate.
Mohamed Haneef is an Indian born doctor who was falsely accused of aiding terrorists, and left Australia upon cancellation of his visa amid great political controversy. His visa was later reinstated and he was given some compensation.
The Hon. Honorary Air Commodore Terence (Terry) John Higgins is an Australian-born judge of the National and Supreme Courts of Papua New Guinea, and a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory.
Charles Christian Porter is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Division of Pearce from 2013 to 2022 and a member of the Liberal Party of Australia. Porter also served as Leader of the House and Minister for Industrial Relations from 2019 to 2021, and Minister for Industry, Science and Technology in 2021 following his resignation as attorney-general.
On 29 March 2010, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York found several of the patent claims on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes held by Myriad Genetics to be invalid. The patents were initially issued on the basis that the genes were isolated and purified to a non-naturally occurring state, however the court found, amongst other things, that the purification was not markedly different from a product of nature and thus was not patentable. The ruling may have implications for holders of other gene patents and the patentability of other naturally occurring substances. It has the potential to directly affect the operation of the healthcare and medical research industries, particularly with regards to cancer treatment and prevention, and may alter the accessibility of such therapies to patients.
A biological patent is a patent on an invention in the field of biology that by law allows the patent holder to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the protected invention for a limited period of time. The scope and reach of biological patents vary among jurisdictions, and may include biological technology and products, genetically modified organisms and genetic material. The applicability of patents to substances and processes wholly or partially natural in origin is a subject of debate.
Terri Megan Butler is an Australian former politician and a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Butler formerly represented the Division of Griffith in the House of Representatives from the 2014 by-election to the 2022 federal election. She worked as an industrial lawyer prior to entering parliament.
Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013), was a Supreme Court case that challenged the validity of gene patents in the United States, specifically questioning certain claims in issued patents owned or controlled by Myriad Genetics that cover isolated DNA sequences, methods to diagnose propensity to cancer by looking for mutated DNA sequences, and methods to identify drugs using isolated DNA sequences. Prior to the case, the U.S. Patent Office accepted patents on isolated DNA sequences as a composition of matter. Diagnostic claims were already under question through the Supreme Court's prior holdings in Bilski v. Kappos and Mayo v. Prometheus. Drug screening claims were not seriously questioned prior to this case.
Jordan Shanks-Markovina, known online as friendlyjordies, is an Australian political commentator, journalist, stand-up comedian and YouTuber. His content often discusses contemporary Australian cultural and political issues, involving self-described "lowbrow humour" style. Shanks' YouTube channel, created in February 2013, has over a million subscribers as of March 2023. He has interviewed politicians including Jodi McKay, Tanya Plibersek, Kristina Keneally, Bill Shorten, Helen Dalton, and former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
Bernard Michael Murphy is a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. He was appointed to the Federal Court in 2011 and was the first solicitor from Victoria to be appointed directly to the Federal Court bench.
In February and March 2021, a number of allegations involving rape and other sexual misconduct against women involving the Australian Parliament and federal politicians were raised, causing controversy especially for the federal Liberal-National Morrison government.
Justice Michael Bryan Joshua Lee is a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia located in the Sydney Registry. He is a National Coordinating Judge in both the Commercial and Corporations National Practice Area and the Defamation sub-area in the Other Federal Jurisdiction National Practice Area.
