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Kent Blore

Crown Counsel

As Crown Counsel, Kent is an in-house barrister at Crown Law, providing support and assistance to the Solicitor-General. His primary areas of expertise are constitutional law and human rights. Kent regularly appears as counsel for the State and the Attorney-General in superior courts, including the High Court of Australia, often as junior counsel to the Solicitor-General.

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 and human rights law.

Since joining Crown Law in 2015, Kent has undertaken two secondments to Strategic Policy within the Department of Justice, as well as two secondments to assist independent reviews of the Criminal Organisation Act 2009 (Qld) and reporting under the Crime and Corruption Act 2001 (Qld).

Prior to Crown Law, Kent was a Senior Associate to Justice Bell of the Victorian Supreme Court and 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 currently serves as President of the Human Rights Law Association and a committee member of the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Association of Constitutional Law.

His experience includes appearing as counsel in:

  • Pearson v Commonwealth [2024] HCA 46 (constitutional validity of validation clauses, led by F Nagorcka)
  • BZN v Chief Executive, Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs [2023] QSC 266 (human rights challenge, unled)
  • R v Dobrenov [2023] QDC 258 (application to exclude evidence, unled)
  • Youth Empowered Towards Independence Inc v Commissioner of Queensland Police Service [2023] QSC 174 (habeas corpus application, led by GJD del Villar KC S with G Perry)
  • Athwal v Queensland [2023] QCA 156; (2023) 379 FLR 92 (s 10 of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) and s 109 of the Constitution, led by GJD del Villar KC SG and F Nagorcka)
  • Hornsby Shire Council v Commonwealth (2023) 276 CLR 645 (ss 96 and 114 of the Constitution and payment of GST by local governments, led by GJD del Villar KC SG)
  • Austin BMI Pty Ltd v Deputy Premier [2023] QSC 95 (human rights challenge to decision to call in planning application, led by N Kidson KC)
  • Attorney-General (Qld) v Grant [No 2] (2022) 12 QR 357 (interaction between Human Rights Act 2019 and Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003, led by GJD del Villar KC SG and M Maloney)
  • Wood v The King (2022) 12 QR 101 (referral to Supreme Court under 49 of the Human Rights Act 2019, led by P Clohessy)
  • SDCV v Director-General of Security (2022) 277 CLR 241 (Ch III of the Constitution and procedural fairness, led by GA Thompson QC SG and F Nagorcka)
  • Farm Transparency International Ltd v New South Wales (2022) 277 CLR 537 (implied freedom of political communication, led by GA Thompson QC SG and F Nagorcka)
  • SQH v Scott (2022) 10 QR 215 (human rights challenge to exercise of coercive questioning powers, led by GA Thompson QC SG)
  • TRKJ v Director of Public Prosecutions (Qld) (2021) 9 QR 472 (human rights compatibility of protected counselling records provisions, led by F Nagorcka)
  • Owen-D’Arcy v Chief Executive, Queensland Corrective Services (2021) 910 QR 250 (judicial review of a maximum-security order, raising human rights grounds, led by F Nagorcka)
  • Palmer v Western Australia (2021) 272 CLR 505 (Western Australia’s COVID-19 border restrictions, led by GA Thompson QC SG and F Nagorcka)
  • Innes v Electoral Commission of Queensland [No 2] (2020) 5 QR 623 (human rights challenge to local government election, led by KA McMillan QC)
  • RSA Express Pty Ltd v Guilfoyle [2020] FCA 1157 (strike out application, ss 109 and 117 of the Constitution, led by SJ Keim SC)
  • RSA Express Pty Ltd v Guilfoyle [2019] FCA 1605 (interim injunction based on claimed breach of s 92 of the Constitution, led by SJ Keim SC)
  • Vickers v Queensland Building and Construction Commission [2019] QCA 66 (extraterritoriality, led by PJ Dunning QC SG)

Kent’s experience also includes 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) 268 CLR 355, and Vella v Commissioner of Police (NSW) (2019) 269 CLR 219.

Kent has published several academic articles in law journals. His notable articles include:

  • K Blore, ‘The First “Caretaker” Government’ (2024) 39(2) Australasian Parliamentary Review 150
  • K Blore and F Nagorcka, ‘Human rights and trust in the time of COVID-19 – lockdowns, prison conditions and vaccine mandates’ (2024) 110 AIAL Forum 21
  • K Blore, ‘Six unexplored aspects of proportionality under human rights legislation in Australia’ (2022) 105 AIAL Forum 42
  • K Blore, ‘Proportionality under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld): When Are the Factors in s 13(2) Necessary and Sufficient, and When Are They Not?’ (2022) 45(2) Melbourne University Law Review 419
  • K Blore and B Booth-Marxson, ‘Breathing Life into the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld): The Ethical Duties of Public Servants and Lawyers Acting for Government’ (2022) 41(1) University of Queensland Law Journal 1
  • K Blore and N Nibbs, ‘A Theory of the Right to Property under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)’ (2022) 30 Australian Property Law Journal 1
  • K Blore, ‘The riddle of s 5(2)(a) of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld): When are courts and tribunals required to apply human rights directly?’ (2021) 102 AIAL Forum 71.