place on Mabo Day, 3 June each year, with an address given by an invited speaker. Speakers have included: 2004: Frank Brennan 2005: Hugh Mackay 2006: Larissa Behrendt 2008: Jenny Macklin 2009: Ross Garnaut 2010: Chris Sarra 2011: Mick Gooda 2012: Henry Reynolds 2013: Bryan Keon-Cohen QC 2014: Shannan Dodson, Digital Campaign Manager of Recognise Australia 2016: N. M. Nakata, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Indigenous Education and Strategy, JCU 2017: Megan Davis 2022: Stan Grant, who spoke about the Mabo case on the 30th anniversary of the decision Controversies Peter Ridd sacking In November 2017, marine physicist Peter Ridd commenced proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court against the university alleging that by censuring and eventually dismissing him from his employment, JCU had breached the intellectual freedom provision in its enterprise agreement, in violation of the Fair Work Act. Ridd was a long-term professor who had been the head of the physics department from 2009 to 2016, and head of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at JCU for 15 years. He had been critical of the accuracy of studies by the JCU marine studies centre. JCU maintained that "it had never sought to silence Ridd, and his sacking was due to 'serious misconduct' and breaches of the university's code". Following a hearing, the Federal Circuit Court found that the university's actions were unlawful, and in September 2019 ordered JCU to pay $1.2 million in compensation to Ridd. The Court found that JCU had failed to respect the rights to intellectual freedom under its enterprise agreement. In July 2020, a Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia overturned the Federal Circuit Court's decision, finding that JCU's actions did not breach the Fair Work Act and that the enterprise agreement did not give Ridd an “untrammelled right” to express professional opinions beyond the standards imposed by the university's code of conduct. In February 2021, the High Court of Australia granted special leave to Ridd to appeal the decision. The High Court heard the matter in June 2021. On October 13, 2021, the High Court unanimously dismissed the appeal brought by Ridd. Although the Court found that some of the university's censures of Ridd were in breach of its enterprise agreement, Ridd ran his case on an "all or nothing" basis, and the High Court found that the termination of his employment was ultimately justified in relying on 18 findings of serious misconduct which were