Turning Base Metal Into Gold - Ronpibon Tin Revisited

Extract]This article is the result of a light hearted after-dinner speech I gave at the Sixth Owen Dixon Dinner at Bond University in which I suggested, tongue in cheek, that the thousands of judges magistrates, Law Reform Commissioners, barristers, solicitors and – dare I say it – Law Professors – junketing to places like Florence, Dublin Paris and New York might derive little comfort from the decision of the High Court in Ronpibon Tin1 if they claim all their expenses as outgoings incurred in achieving ‘professional development’. And this was before Queensland Magistrates decided to close their courts for three days for their annual ‘professional development’ conference, coincidentally taking place at the same time as the State of Origin rugby league match in Brisbane. Jim Corkery, rarely missing an opportunity, quickly challenged me to write an article on Ronpibon Tin. So here it is!