2nd October 2026 marks the 13th International Wrongful Conviction Day. The Day raises awareness of the causes of wrongful convictions and the reforms needed to prevent them. It also highlights the work of numerous organisations who address the causes of wrongful conviction.
Along this vein, Terry O’Gorman announced the creation of a new wrongful conviction campaign organisation called ‘Miscarriages of Justice Australia’ (MOJA). The organisation derives from the longstanding Griffith University Innocence Project. The Project runs a series of Wrongful Conviction conferences by its director, Dr Robyn Blewer.
Mr O’Gorman, as inaugural Chair of MOJA, joins forces with prominent lawyers, academics, exonerees and forensic medicine specialists. Among these founding members is Professor Stephen Cordner, founding Director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, holding that position for 27 years. He is now Emeritus Professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University. Professor Cordner recently launched his book in Melbourne entitled “Wrongful Convictions in Australia: Addressing issues in the criminal justice system”.
Mr O’Gorman commented that “MOJA’s primary focus will be to push for the establishment of a Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in Australia similar to what has operated in the UK for 30 years. Criminal Cases Review Commissions have more recently been established in New Zealand and Canada”.
The role of CCRCs is to investigate claims of miscarriages of justice and, in appropriate cases, refer matters to the Court of Appeal for a ruling as to whether a particular conviction for a criminal offence is a wrongful conviction.
Currently, Mr O’Gorman says that “[t]he 7 Australian States and Territories and the Australian federal criminal jurisdiction have a mishmash of unsatisfactory mechanisms for addressing miscarriages of justice”. He further observes that a number of high-profile miscarriage of justice cases over the last 50 years in Australia could have been resolved promptly and saved wrongfully convicted defendants very long periods of imprisonment before their wrongful convictions were acknowledged. These cases range from the Lindy Chamberlain fiasco in the early 1980s to the more recent Kathleen Folbigg exoneration.
British barrister Chris Henley KC said the following in a recent review as to the ongoing effectiveness of the UK CCRC after 30 years of its operation: “I think there is a fundamental problem in relation to our system generally. It just won’t face up to the fact that mistakes can be made. It stubbornly wants to stick to the original flawed conviction.”
Mr O’Gorman echoed these sentiments, saying that “[t]his comment is equally applicable to the Australian criminal justice system”.