Kent Blore

Kent was admitted as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2011 and successfully completed the Bar Practice Course in 2018. He has a keen interest in the implied freedom of political communication, the Kable principle, s 4A of the Constitution of Queensland 2001, royal prerogatives and human rights law.

Kent appears in court as junior counsel in constitutional matters and instructs the Solicitor-General and in-house counsel in the High Court, Queensland Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Since joining Crown Law in 2015, Kent has undertaken three secondments to Strategic Policy within the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, which included:

• assisting in the review of the Criminal Organisation Act 2009 (Qld)
• exploring policy issues arising from Lee v The Queen (2014) 253 CLR 455 and  related cases
• assisting in the development the Human Rights Bill 2018.

Prior to Crown Law, Kent was a Senior Associate to Justice Bell of the Victorian Supreme Court who predominantly sat in the common law division hearing judicial review applications (including human rights cases), appeals and civil jury trials. Kent was also an Associate to Chief Judge Wolfe of the District Court of Queensland.

Other notable experience includes Kent’s work as an Intern with the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials from September to December 2010. During this time he worked in the Pre-Trial Chamber to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, established to try those most responsible for international and national crimes committed during 1975-79.

Kent has published a number of academic articles in law journals. His most recent article explores the nature of royal prerogatives and their transfer to Australia, by asking whether there is a royal prerogative to black swans:  K Blore, ‘A royal prerogative to black swans?’ (2019) 93(2) Australian Law Journal 104.

• Appearing as counsel in Palmer v Western Australia [2021] HCA 5 (Western Australia’s COVID-19 border restrictions, led by the Solicitor-General, with F Nagorcka).
• Appearing as counsel in Innes v Electoral Commission of Queensland [No 2] [2020] QSC 293 (challenge to local government election raising grounds under the Human Rights Act 2019, led by K A McMillan QC).
• Appearing as counsel in Owen-D’Arcy v Chief Executive, Queensland Corrective Services (QSC, 2020) (judicial review of a maximum-security order, raising grounds under the Human Rights Act 2019) (led by F Nagorcka).
• Appearing as counsel in Vickers v Queensland Building and Construction Commission [2019] QCA 66 (extraterritoriality, led by the Solicitor-General).
• Instructing the Solicitor‐General in major High Court litigation including McCloy v New South Wales (2015) 257 CLR 178, Brown v Tasmania (2017) 261 CLR 328, Unions NSW v New South Wales (2019) 264 CLR 595, Clubb v Edwards; Preston v Avery (2019) 267 CLR 171, Spence v Queensland [2019] HCA 15, and Vella v Commissioner of Police (NSW) [2019] HCA 38.
• Providing legal advice to government in the context of the development and implementation of human rights legislation.