(b) That's not right. Although cases that are decided by courts in other jurisdictions do not create binding precedents, they may well be 'persuasive'. 'Persuasive' means that a court is inclined to accept that the non-binding precedent is correct in principle and that it should therefore be followed.

Australian courts often treat the decisions of courts outside of their own court hierarchy as persuasive. In particular, intermediate appeal courts and trial judges in one jurisdiction will follow the decisions of intermediate appellate courts in other Australian jusisdictions on the interpretation of Commonwealth legislation and uniform national legislation unless convinced that the interpretation is plainly wrong. In other circumstances, the persuasive authority of cases decided in other Australian jurisdictions may be less strong.

The persuasive authority of previous decisions is not restricted to Australian cases. Because of the close ties between English and Australian law, Australian courts also often choose to follow the persuasive precedents set by English courts.