Dr Diana Eades

Biography

Dr Diana Eades specialises in critical sociolinguistics, language in the legal process, and intercultural communication, particularly involving Australian Aboriginal people who speak varieties of English. She has more than 40 years experience in research, teaching and practical applications of her scholarly work.

Her previous positions include lecturer and senior lecturer at UNE, and associate professor at the University of Hawai'i. Diana has an extensive publications list, which includes the 2023 co-authored monograph Forensic Linguistics in Australia (Cambridge University Press), the 2016 co-edited book Discursive Constructions of Consent in the Legal Process (Oxford University Press), the 2013 book Aboriginal Ways of Using English (Aboriginal Studies Press), the 2010 textbook Sociolinguistics and the Legal Process (Multilingual Matters), the 2008 book Courtroom Talk and Neocolonial Control Mouton de Gruyter), the 1995 edited book Language in Evidence (New South Wales University Press), and the 1992 lawyers' handbook Aboriginal English and the Law (Queensland Law Society).

She has provided expert linguistic evidence in the following tribunals and courts (in criminal and civil matters): Federal Court of Australia; Supreme Courts of Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory; District Court of New South Wales; Magistrate’s Court of Western Australia; Queensland Court of Appeal; Administrative Appeal Tribunal; Criminal Justice Commission Queensland. Cases with far-reaching consequences include:

• Western Australia v Gibson 2014 WASC 240, which led to an investigation by the Western Australia Corruption and Crime Commission and ongoing changes in police interviews of Aboriginal people;
• Wootton & Ors v Queensland & Anor[2016] FCA 1457, aka ‘Palm Island Racial Discrimination Case’, Australia’s largest racial discrimination case;
• Pearson v Queensland [2020] No 2, FCA 619 aka ‘Queensland Stolen Wages Case’, Australia’s largest human rights case;
• (ASIC) Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Select AFSL Pty Ltd (No 2) [2022] FCA 786, which recognised for the first time in civil law the Aboriginal use of gratuitous concurrence and the importance of contextual factors in interviews which can lead to interviewees giving minimal answers of apparent agreement that are not consent.

Dr Eades has been President, Vice-President and Secretary of the International Association of Forensic Linguists, and Vice-President of the Australian Linguistics Society. From 2008-2014 she was co-editor of The International Journal of Speech Language and the Law, and is on the Editorial Boards of several journals. She was appointed by the Chief Justice of Hawai'i to the state Supreme Court Committee on Equality and Access to the Courts (1999-2002, 2002-2005). In 2010 she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Dr Eades is a popular speaker to a diverse range of professional groups on aspects of intercultural communication with Aboriginal people, and communication practices within the legal process. While this includes educational, health and welfare groups, her work is of particular interest to the legal profession. Her list of invited presentations over 4 decades includes:

judicial organisations in 4 states and the Northern Territory, as well as the national level:

Australian Institute of Judicial Administration national conference; Australian Migration and Refugee Review Tribunal; Federal Court of Australia Judges Education Day; Judicial Commission of New South Wales, National Council of Australasian Tribunals conference, National Judicial College of Australia’s Solution-Focused Judging Program, Witness Assessment Programs and Judging in Remote Locations Program; National Native Title Tribunal; New South Wales Magistrates Court annual conference; New South Wales Magistrates Court regional conferences; New South Wales Supreme Court annual conference; Northern Territory Supreme Court Language and Law conferences; Queensland Magistrates Court annual conference; Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court; South Australian Courts Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Seminar; Western Australia Chief Justice Judicial Program for Cultural Diversity

Lawyers in 3 states:  at annual conferences, Continuing Professional Developments seminars and similar

Legal Aid New South Wales; New South Wales Aboriginal Legal Services; New South Wales Bar Association; New South Wales Community Legal Centres; New South Wales Crown Solicitors Office; New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services Legal Conference; New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions; New South Wales Law Society; Queensland Bar Association; Queensland Legal Aid; The Piddington Society; Western Australia Aboriginal Legal Services; Western Australia Legal Aid

Dr Eades is also co-convenor of the Communication of Rights Group. In November 2015 the Communication of Rights Group release Guidelines for Communicating Rights to Non-Native Speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales and the USA. These guidelines can be found HERE.