Greg Barns
speaker
160 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Sep 2026
last heard 8 Sep
Greg Barns’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.
Appearances
No guest.
Uh on the phone from Hobart, dealing with technology.
Well, you know, I I it's like being out on the in the trenches, you know, you radio in and uh but
These cases are uh very difficult and tragic all round, but
Yeah, it's a good example of where the law and science, particularly in the area of neuropsych and psychiatry, and the issue of whether or not somebody has free agency or free will are in issue.
And I think
as we develop forensic medicine and as we develop a greater understanding of the impact of uh what is often called I think antenatal depression, we are, I hope, getting to the view that uh some otherwise really decent people do something that's terrible.
Well, it's the same with PTSD.
In the seventies and eighties and nineties, I don't think anyone had heard of PTSD, but of course it is now recognized as it should be, its impact on so many members of our community, particularly for example, the military who uh suffer on the battlefield, but also women who, you know, subject to terrible violence over the years.
And I I don't think anyone should downplay it because I you know, you and I have acted for and you would have seen from the bench
people whose lives are just broken as a result of uh PTSD.
Well, I I think it raises a broader issue, uh, the way the law treats, as I said, free will and agency.
Just to segue a little bit, I mean it's said as I understand it in the law that if you have a drug induced psychosis that, you know, it's no defence to say that you're acting in a way inconsistent with the free will.
But
And the more you know about uh and we know about neuropsychology and psychiatry, the more I think there is a need for the law to look at the issue of agency and free will.
Because of course it's based on a a rational actor theory.
It's a very, very complex issue and of course the law takes personal responsibility very seriously and I think is loath to diminish it without very, very good reason.
And we've seen that happen a bit with PTSD and we're seeing it hopefully happen in relation to not just this case, but other cases, tragic cases.
Yeah, I I did read I think in the New York Times over the weekend that there may be a deal done to so that people don't have to go through what has apparently been an extraordinarily traumatic trial.
So look, let's see what happens.
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