Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

A Victorian forensic psychiatrist, Bob Myers, founded the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL) in 1978. He served as president until 1987. ANZAPPL initially held dinner meetings in Melbourne for small groups of lawyers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others interested in interdisciplinary issues relating to forensic mental health. By 1980, ANZAPPL commenced annual congresses on various topics in relation to mental health and the law. It published the proceedings of its congresses from 1985.

Attendance at its gatherings grew through the 1980s. In the mid-1990s, under the presidency of a barrister, Ian Freckelton, ANZAPPL became genuinely transnational and altered its constitutional configuration. It commenced holding its congresses in major cities throughout Australia and New Zealand on a rotational basis, starting in Fremantle, ...