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Master of Public and International Law Chevron-right
Master of Public and International Law
#1law school in Australia
Sample course plan
Students must complete eight subjects in total.
Students who do not have a law degree from a common law jurisdiction must complete Fundamentals of the Common Law, as well as seven subjects from the prescribed lists. They are also recommended to undertake the subject International Law.
Students with a law degree from a common law jurisdiction must complete at least seven subjects from the prescribed lists and may choose an eighth subject from those available in the Melbourne Law Masters (excluding Fundamentals of the Common Law). They are also recommended to undertake the subject International Law if they have not previously studied international law.
Subject Timing and Format
The Melbourne Law Masters program has been designed around the busy schedules of working professionals. Subjects are offered from February to December each year.
Most subjects are taught intensively, giving you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the subject content. Intensive subjects are typically taught over five days, either from Monday–Friday or Wednesday–Tuesday, excluding the weekend. This intensive format enables students from interstate or overseas to fly to Melbourne to attend class. Semester-length subjects are generally taught for two hours in the evening each week during the semester.
Subjects are taught in an interactive seminar style and class sizes normally range from 20 to 30 students.
As a student, you will need to enrol in at least one subject per semester and will have a maximum of four years to complete the course, including any leave of absence.
View some sample course plans to help you select subjects that will meet the requirements for this degree.
Sample course plan - 1 year full time
Sample course plan - 2 years part time
General Government Law
Constitutional Rights and Freedoms12.5
Constitutional Rights and Freedoms
Constitutional government is limited government. Government is limited by the establishment of rules governing its institutions and by dividing power along federal lines. Equally important are those aspects of constitutions that identify specific limitations on government. These constitutional law provisions and judicially created doctrines are the focus of this course. Constitutional rights, freedoms and limitations have been the subject of many of the most important High Court cases of recent decades. The subject will provide a thematic and in-depth discussion of those cases, including cases on freedom of political communication, voting rights, separation of judicial power (and its effect on federal and state courts), intergovernmental immunities, freedom of interstate trade in a federation and the rule of law as a limitation on power.
This subject will therefore explain and critically analyse the key contemporary questions relating to these areas of constitutional law in the context of ongoing debates in comparable jurisdictions. It will help students understand the current complexity and anticipate future developments in the High Court.
Principal topics include:
The nature and extent of the 'express limitations on power in the Australian Constitution including:
The right of trial by jury
Freedom of interstate trade
The nature and extent of the separation of judicial powers in the Australian Constitution including the significance of the separation of judicial power for federal and state courts and for charters of rights (like the Victorian Charter of Rights and Responsibilities)
The implication protecting representative and responsible government including the significance of the implication for voting rights, the financing of political campaigns and rights of protest in Australia
Key methodological issues arising in the judicial interpretation of limitations on power including the role of proportionality analysis.
Corruption: A Global Approach12.5
Corruption: A Global Approach
From one of the earliest concerns of morality and political philosophy to the subject of the latest global treaty sponsored by the United Nations, corruption has had a fascinating role in human affairs. Corruption's importance as a matter of law and policy has grown in recent decades, thanks to an increasing awareness of its devastating effects on development efforts, human rights, democracies, economies, and environmental protection efforts. Responding to that growing importance, this subject provides an overview of domestic, regional, and global approaches to corruption.
The domestic approaches examined in this subject include those undertaken by a sample of Latin American and Asian countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The regional approaches targeted include those sponsored by the Organization of American States, the Asian Development Bank, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank. Finally, at the global level, this seminar covers the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
Entering into force in 2005 and obtaining 183 States Parties by 2017, the UNCAC has taken strides in implementing a comprehensive and partially binding global approach to corruption. This subject explores the five pillars of that approach—international cooperation, preventative measures, criminalization and law enforcement measures, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange—and their linkages to domestic and regional initiatives. A major question at this stage will be the UNCAC's ability (or potential) to supplement or improve upon those pre-existing initiatives.
At each of its three levels of legal inquiry (domestic, regional, and global), this seminar examines questions of substantive law (what conduct is targeted), procedure (how are suspected violations of the law exposed and addressed), institutions (how is each legal framework administered and modified), and effectiveness (under a number of metrics). Notably, this subject addresses the advantages and criticisms of anti-corruption law in its many forms.
Although this subject relies primarily on legal analysis, it also encompasses economics, history, and political science. That interdisciplinarity enables the consideration of the broader questions that inform anti-corruption law. Those questions include: How are definitions and patterns of corruption changing over time? What effects does corruption have on development, businesses, local economies, and global capitalism? What effects does it have on human rights, democratization, elections, and lawmaking? What lessons have been learned about the effectiveness of different legal approaches to corruption? How could domestic, regional, and international anti-corruption initiatives be improved?
What is corruption? How is corruption defined by different legal regimes?
How does corruption manifest in distinct environments, including campaign and party finance, elections, lawmaking, law enforcement, government procurement, business, international development efforts, and banking and finance? What are corruption's economic, political, and social effects?
What are the regulatory challenges involved in preventing, exposing, and punishing corruption in its distinct environments? To what extent have domestic, regional, and international legal regimes been successful in meeting those challenges?
How could those laws and institutions be improved? In particular, what are the main successes and shortcomings of the UN system for preventing and combatting corruption? What are its prospects for improvement?
What are the different roles that lawyers play in addressing corruption? What skill sets do they employ?
Current Issues in Administrative Law12.5
Current Issues in Administrative Law
This could not be a more interesting and important time to engage with some of the most challenging issues in administrative law. Australian administrative law has undergone rapid change in recent years. In significant respects it has diverged from the rest of the common law world, under the influence of the Australian Constitution. Some of the resulting doctrines are not yet in a settled state. At the same time, however, administrative law continues to play the critical role in mediating relations between people and the institutions of government that in Australia's case is heightened by the absence of systemic arrangements for the legal protection of individual rights. The two lecturers in the subject bring a combination of practical and scholarly perspectives to bear on the selected topics, all of which are chosen for their contemporary relevance.
The subject will focus on key themes in Australian administrative law, which are likely to include:
Jurisdictional error; the related notion of invalidity
Unreasonableness, irrationality and illogicality
Boundaries of judicial review
Constitutionalisation of administrative law.
Institutional Abuse and Legal Redress12.5
Institutional Abuse and Legal Redress
Following a five year inquiry and the 2017 release of the report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse after, the issue of child sexual abuse in institutional settings gained extensive attention from the public, political representatives and legal commentators. The inquiry contributed to new understandings of the incidence and extent of physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse in a range of institutional settings, including schools, hospitals, churches, sporting organisations, foster homes and other accommodation services. The debate on how the law may best respond to the abuse continues, with judicial attention to the current law, and political attention to law reform. There are many challenging issues associated with the legal redress of child abuse, including time limits for claims, liability for the criminal acts of others, the onus of proof, and the appropriate compensation regime.
This subject examines the background to and current understandings of child abuse in institutional settings, the relevant tort law in Australia (with international comparisons) and the challenges of its application to these situations, recent and proposed tort law reforms, and the new Australian 'Redress Scheme'.
Bill Madden is a lawyer specialising in injury compensation including intentional torts and the overlays provided by statutory reform and statutory schemes. He is a regular writer and presenter on tort law topics.
The challenges of historical abuse
Findings from the Royal Commission and other inquiries
Liability of the perpetrator – the legal framework
Liability of the institution – the onus of proof, criminal acts, vicarious liability and non-delegable duty
The significance of mandatory reporting of abuse
Tort law reforms – limitations, the onus of proof and legal structures
Redress schemes, framework, boundaries and fairness
Future reforms.
Money, Law and Politics12.5
Money, Law and Politics
Money in politics raises profound challenges for democracies across the world: billion-dollar American presidential elections have led United States being branded the 'best democracy money can buy'; in Indonesia, the tactics of 'money politics' are regularly decried; and in Australia, unregulated political spending in federal elections raise concerns about the fairness of such contests.
What should be the role of the law in regulating money in politics? What should be the principles to determine the content and the limits of such law? What should be the respective roles of the legislature, executive and the judiciary in shaping such laws? And what should be the institutional framework for ensuring compliance with legal obligations?
This subject will adopt a cross-national approach to examining these challenging questions. It will examine the experiences of a range of countries including those from the Commonwealth (eg Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom), Europe (eg France and Germany), South-East Asia (eg Indonesia) and the United States. Taught by two leading experts in this field, the subject will draw out the tensions and dilemmas in regulating money in politics.
Principal questions examined include:
What are the regulatory challenges of money in politics?
What standards and principles should apply to the regulation of such money? Do these standards and principles vary according to particular national contexts? Is it meaningful to speak of international standards or international 'best practice'?
How should political donations and campaign expenditure be regulated?
How should public funding of campaigns and political parties be provided?
What should be in the institutional framework governing the regulation of money in politics? Which branch of government should have the power to enact such laws? What institutions (eg electoral commissions; anti-corruption commissions) should be responsible for effectively enforcing such regulation?
Multiculturalism and the State12.5
Multiculturalism and the State
Religious minorities in Western democracies are seeking legal accommodations, especially the freedom of maintaining an autonomous judiciary to handle internal family law matters. Drawing on the rich experience of countries where such accommodations were granted, the subject will inquire into the legitimacy and problems associated with such accommodations. In doing so, the subject will draw on modern theories of multiculturalism.
This highly topical subject deals with some of the most significant, challenging and contested issues in the legal systems of the world in the 21st century. It is likely to be of considerable interest to students from a wide range of jurisdictions and backgrounds.
Liberal multiculturalism, theory and practice
Group accommodations in a democracy
A survey of religious groups and illiberal practices
Traditional schemes of religious accommodations, with special reference to the Ottoman millet system
The reality of religious accommodations in Western democracies
The reality of religious accommodations in the Middle East, with special reference to Israel.
Public Law and Private Law12.5
Public Law and Private Law
This topical subject deals with the interface between private law and public law in common law systems from the perspectives of history, doctrine, theory and practice. It will explore the traditional absence of such a division in the common law, and the reasons for this, as a basis for understanding the relevance of the distinction in the contemporary legal system. The subject will critically assess the distinction from a theoretical perspective, testing whether the idea of a distinction between public law and private law can withstand scrutiny. A range of cutting-edge doctrinal issues will be examined and placed in wider context. These include whether public law principles should extend to the activities of non-governmental entities such as private firms and charities; whether the law should recognise a special set of rules to regulate public contracts; whether public authorities should be governed by the ordinary law of tort or a set of special administrative liability principles; procedural divisions between public law and private law; the role of the public interest in private remedies and of private remedies in public law cases; and whether public law issues should be heard by specialist administrative courts. The subject should be of interest to lawyers working in any field in a common law legal system and to those trained in the different traditions of the civil law who are interested in better understanding the structures and assumptions of the common law.
Principal topics are likely to include:
History of the concept of public law in common law legal systems
Concepts of public and private
Implications of a distinction between public law and private law
Overview of current practice
Law applicable to non-governmental entities
Legal framework for public contracts
Liability of public authorities
Specialist or generalist courts.
Regulatory Policy and Practice12.5
Regulatory Policy and Practice
Regulation has become a permanent feature of the way in which contemporary democratic economies, including Australia, are governed. There are few spheres of economic activity that are not subject to some form of regulatory oversight and control. Daily news programs rarely pass without some mention of a significant regulatory decision, proposed regulatory reform or allegations of some regulatory failure or scandal. For lawyers, dealings with regulators and regulatory regimes have become part of the staple diet of their work. Yet the practice of regulation is far from straightforward. Regulatory policy and practice has evolved considerably from its traditional origins in the form of 'command and control', accompanied by the growth of specific terminology and concepts that are likely to be unfamiliar to those other than regulatory technocrats. This subject provides an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of, and critically to evaluate, the basic tools, techniques and decision-making methodologies that are employed in regulatory design and practice. It will be of interest to both private and public sector lawyers who practise in regulated sectors of the economy, enhancing their understanding of how regulators go about the business of regulatory decision-making.
Introduction: What is 'regulation' and 'governance'?; the regulatory agency: institutional features, strengths and shortcomings; the rise of the 'regulatory state'; regulatory regimes and the role of non-state actors
Tools, techniques and instruments of regulation: command—traditional legal prohibitions backed by sanctions; competition—market based approaches; communication—information disclosure and publicity-based approaches; consensus (including self-regulation); code architecture and the use of 'nudge' techniques
'New governance' approaches to regulation: choice of Instrument; 'hybrid' approaches to regulation; responsive regulation, 'smart regulation' and its variants (including meta-regulation); cost-benefit analysis and regulatory impact assessment and 'better regulation'
Enforcement and compliance: problems with rules; principles-based regulation; the role of the criminal and civil law; punitive civil sanctions (the Macrory Review); regulatory enforcement styles; national styles of regulation; private enforcement, third party monitoring and certification systems
Appraising Regulation: regulatory accountability; regulatory legitimacy: between democracy and expertise.
Separation of Powers12.5
In the absence of an Australian bill of rights, the separation of powers doctrine is one of the key foundations for the imposition of restrictions on legislative and executive power in Australia.
This subject examines recent developments in the constitutional implications that prevent the conferral of non-judicial functions on federal courts, the conferral of federal judicial power on anyone other than courts, and the related implications concerning the constitution and functions of state courts, including limitations on legislative or executive directions to those courts.
The issues of substantive constitutional law will be examined through the prism of the law and practice that governs constitutional litigation in the High Court. The subject is structured by reference to a hypothetical case study in which participants will be taught to: identify the substantive issues arising from the case study; draft the main kinds of initiating process in the High Court; consider the choices involved in various procedural steps in constitutional litigation; draft submissions addressing those steps; identify the facts necessary to advance the selected constitutional arguments; address in detail, in the course of drafting written submissions and preparing oral submissions, the substantive questions of law that arise from the case study; and write a judgment disposing of the case study.
The meaning of 'judicial power'
Aspects of the High Court's original and appellate jurisdictions
Separation of powers under the Commonwealth Constitution at the federal level
The protection of state courts under the Commonwealth Constitution – Kable and cases developing or reformulating the Kable principle; also, Kirk.
States: When, Why and How they Happen12.5
States: When, Why and How they Happen
States are important, as state-building exercises round the world indicate, yet there are regular suggestions that their significance is waning under pressure from globalisation externally and fragmentation internally. This subject examines this paradox from an internal perspective, addressing four main questions.
What do we mean by "state"?
Why do "states" arise (when they arise)?
How do they manage to establish themselves?
What problems do states face, and how do they try to overcome them?
To answer the questions, we have to consider political philosophy, history (including the meaning and purpose of history in state-making), the growth and operation of institutions, empires and decolonisation, the use of coercion in the functioning of states, the roles of constitutions, and the relationship between states on the international plane. We shall look at ideas of race and nation and their relationships to "state", and undertake a number of case-studies, touching on Middle Kingdom Egypt through classical Greece and Rome, England since the fourth century CE, Ireland, the USA, Australia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Students will be encouraged to bring their own experiences and insights to the classes to illuminate the discussion.
Ways of understanding the term "state": language, sociology, history, and the relevance of "nation" and "people"
Ways of legitimating state power: political theory and morality
Ways of holding society together: Bryce, Durkheim and Weber
Ways of establishing states: decolonisation, revolution, secession, international action
Histories, institutions, values, religions and constitutions.
Statutes in the 21st Century12.5
Statutes in the 21st Century
In the first half of the 20th century most civil actions were for causes of action not much affected by statute: trespass, negligence, libel and slander, breach of contract and the various forms of equitable suit. Most criminal prosecutions were for offences created by statute but whose elements were treated as identified largely by judge-made law. There were great codifying acts; intellectual property acts, facultative acts, and regulatory statutes, but judge-made law was of central and dominating importance. The second half of the 20th century saw the statutory cause of action emerge to prominence, the enactment of laws permitting modification of privately-made agreements, the creation of new rights and obligations and novel forms of criminal offence. Statute became the central and dominating form of regulation of rights and obligations. The proper construction and application of statutes always has been, but now more than ever is, an essential legal skill. This subject seeks to develop and refine those skills.
Construction—a text-based activity but involving more than a dictionary in one hand and the text in the other
The importance of the constitutional framework and other basic assumptions
The search for meaning and the metaphor of intention
The place of Interpretation legislation, including rights Acts
The canons of construction, their use and abuse ('canons to the right of them; canons to the left of them; on into the valley of death')
Ambiguity and its resolution, including the use of extrinsic materials
Inconsistencies, repeals, amendment, consolidation and retrospectivity
The legislative misfire
Special rules for special areas
Rules and regulations—power to make, construction and use in construing the legislation
Overarching theories and descriptions of the construction process.
The Law of Public Contracting12.5
The Law of Public Contracting
Contemporary governments use contracts as a key tool of governance. Outsourcing of public services is commonplace. But should we regulate the use of such tools by means of public administrative law, or through private law, or a mixture of both? Is there an accountability deficit? What are the advantages and risks of contracting out, and how can and should the law respond?
Professor Janet McLean brings both public law and private law perspectives to bear on the subject of public contracting drawing on Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom examples.
The distinctive normative bases of private and private law and their implications for government contracts
The decision to outsource
The reach of judicial review, freedom of information and human rights law, and financial reporting rules, into the realm of contract law
Implied terms, procedural requirements and interpretative methods in contract law
Procurement rules and other internal government guidance
Public private financing initiatives and other examples of government contracting
The auditor-general and the role of private auditors.
General Public International Law
Comparative Indigenous Rights12.5
Comparative Indigenous Rights
This highly topical subject analyses the rights of Indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, the United States and New Zealand. Topics discussed include Aboriginal title and the doctrine of discovery, treaties, land and resource rights, self-determination, and Indigenous families and justice. The subject will be taught from a critical perspective, comparing and assessing the treatment of Indigenous rights in the four jurisdictions. In exploring these issues, the subject will also examine aspects of legal pluralism, and assess a variety of normative and political justifications for Indigenous rights.
History of the concept of Aboriginal title and the doctrine of discovery
Concepts of sui generis agreement-making between Indigenous peoples and governments
Implications of distinctions between government obligations and Indigenous rights
Law applicable to Indigenous entities
Legal framework for Indigenous governance
Human rights and their influence on Indigenous rights
Remedies.
International Criminal Law12.5
Historical experience demonstrates that, without justice, it is exceedingly difficult to establish an inclusive and lasting peace. And yet, while States pay significant lip service to accountability, all too often it is the victim of real politik. This subject will explore why, how and when individuals can be held individually criminally responsible for serious international crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), other international mechanisms, and national jurisdictions.
In addition to considering the substantive rules of international criminal law, students will explore a range of legal policy issues relating to the prosecution of serious international crimes, including through case studies on Kenya, Palestine, Burundi, the Rohingya, ISIS and the crime of aggression.
Drawing on the lecturer's experience representing Australia in the ICC's Assembly of States Parties, and the insights of other senior practitioners, the subject is focused throughout on contemporary issues of international criminal law that are of real relevance to practitioners and scholars alike.
The nature of law, war and crime, and the relationship between peace and justice
The development of international criminal law, including the contribution of the ad hoc international and mixed criminal tribunals
The Rome Statute crimes (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression) and their relationship to customary international law
The modes of individual criminal responsibility and the defences recognised by international criminal law
The ICC's structure and personal and temporal jurisdiction
The proceedings and practice of the ICC
The stakeholders of international criminal law (including victims, witnesses, defendants, States, civil society, the United Nations and the ICC's Assembly of States Parties)
The role of the new ad hoc criminal mechanisms (the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria and the Investigative Team for ISIL in Iraq), as well as efforts to ensure accountability for the downing of flight MH17
The prosecution of international crimes in national jurisdictions, including on the basis of universal jurisdiction
International Humanitarian Law12.5
The implementation of the legal rules governing the conduct of military hostilities is literally a matter of life and death. This subject combines current international practice in the relevant law with acknowledged research and practical expertise. This subject briefly introduces the historical development of international humanitarian law and raises a series of questions around the effective implementation of the law.
What is an armed conflict and how do we determine the legal character of a conflict?
How do combatants distinguish between civilians and enemy combatants and how can protection for civilians in armed conflict—particularly women and children—be improved?
Who can lawfully be targeted and killed and who can be detained?
Which weapons are prohibited and which are permitted?
The historical development of international humanitarian law and its rationale in a broader context
The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977 and developments in customary international law
The unique role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in armed conflict
The relationship of international humanitarian law to other related areas of international law, such as arms control and disarmament, human rights, peacekeeping and international criminal law
Implementation of the law through case studies
Current issues for development of the law, such as emerging technologies, child soldiers, the protection of women in armed conflict and the law of occupation and terrorism.
International Law12.5
This subject is an introduction to the foundational principles and rules of the public international legal order. It is designed as an introduction to international law and, therefore, provides students with an understanding of the key concepts of international law, its history and contemporary relevance, sources of international law and the role of some key international institutions, such as the United Nations (UN). The subject is grounded in both theory and practice in order to consider how international law works in shaping and dealing with a range of issues such as dispute settlement, self-determination, decolonisation, diplomacy, international criminal law and human rights law. Contemporary examples will be used to enrich student learning. Students will be encouraged to critically evaluate the position and relevance of international law in international politics and society by addressing past and current developments through case studies. The members of the teaching team are scholars in international law who have developed specific areas of specialisation in international law.
The nature, purpose and language of international law
Sources of international law
International legal personality
Jurisdiction of states and jurisdictional immunities
The responsibility of states and individuals for violations of international law
The role of the UN and regional organisations
Peaceful settlement of disputes and the functions of the International Court of Justice
Regulation of the use of force in international relations
The relationship between international law and municipal law.
International Law and Development12.5
International Law and Development
The concept of development has been crucial to structuring international legal relations from the end of World War II to the present day. During that time, international law and institutions have taken on 'development' as a primary project. In both the public and economic domains, the vast majority of international institutions engage with the development project in some shape or form. This subject invites students to think about the nature and importance of development and its relation to international law. The history of development in relation to imperialism, decolonisation, the Cold War and globalisation means that this set of relations is complex and dynamic. Understanding it is crucial to understanding the place of international law, and the work development does in the contemporary world.
Law and development as a field
The 'development' concept and its precursors
The relationship between the concepts of 'law' and 'development'
The institutionalisation of development
Development, imperialism, decolonisation and the nation state
Permanent sovereignty over natural resources and the new international economic order
Debt crises and development(s) at the Bretton Wood institutions
Trade and development
Globalisation, governance and the rule of law
Sustainability, democracy and human rights
Resistance, alternatives and post-development
The future: development and security.
International Law and Relations12.5
International Law and Relations
This subject will place international law in the context of the practice of international relations and, in particular, international diplomacy. The subject will introduce students to leading accounts of international law's role in global political life while showing, too, how the international legal order intersects with and constitutes the practice of international diplomacy. It will be taught by Gerry Simpson, Chair of International Law at the London School of Economics, and Richard Rowe, a former senior official in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and a person with a life-time of extraordinary experience in the operation of international legal diplomacy.
Treaty design, negotiation and implementation
Use of international courts and organisations
Politics and international law
The history of international law in diplomatic practice
Techniques of diplomacy and law
Problems of diplomacy and law.
International Law and Politics12.5
International Law and Politics
The course will examine the ways in which 'political' arguments and considerations intrude in the various fields of public international law and are then translated into legal doctrines and principles in legal practice. It will thus offer a contextual reading of the role of international law – use of force, human rights, international criminal law, international economic law – in the struggle for the adoption of spiritual and material values in the world
A brief contextual history of the 'rise' of modern international law (1870-2000)
An analysis of the structure of international legal argument
A study of history and structure in the following fields:
International environmental law.
International Law and the Use of Force12.5
International Law and the Use of Force
The question of the use of force is one of the most controversial both in international law and international relations. Different states, civil society and international lawyers have held over time (wildly) diverse opinions about the legality and the legitimacy of events such as the bombing of Syria by the US/UK/France in early 2018, Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the exercise of the international community's 'responsibility to protect' in Libya in 2011 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as debates over the possibility of a 'pre-emptive strike' against North Korea or Iran. This subject provides a doctrinal, theoretical, and historical account of the relationship between international law and war that is centered on a wide range of case studies. On the one hand, we will focus on major contemporary debates about the regime established since 1945 and the promulgation of the UN Charter. Namely, we will examine the specific arguments states and international organisations (such as the UN, NATO or the African Union) have used in order to justify their resort to violence and the way other states, international organisations, courts or other groups (especially those at the receiving end of this violence) have responded to these arguments. For example, this module is structured around questions such as the legality of 'humanitarian intervention', the possibility of lawfully launching 'preemptive strikes' against a perceived threat, the question of whether a state can invoke its right to self-defence against non-state actors, the use of nuclear weapons, targeted killing and the authority of the UN Security Council to authorise violence. On the other hand, this subject invites students to think contextually, historically and critically about these legal debates. We will discuss both earlier legal regimes pertaining to war (for example, that of the League of Nations) as well as arguments about the radical transformation of the relevant law since 9/11. We will also ask broader questions about the ways in which legitimate violence is allocated between different actors by international law and how this allocation shapes international and domestic politics.
Principal topics will include:
The contemporary legal regime pertaining to the use of force;
The co-existence of the relevant provisions in the UN Charter with principoesl of customary international law, domestic law, other systems of legality;
Historical approaches to the legal regulation of the use of force;
The meaning of the term 'force' in international law, and its relationship with 'intervention', 'armed attack' or economic, political and other forms of coercion;
The UN Charter framework for collective security and the changing role of the UN Security Council;
The scope of the right of self-defence, including anticipatory and collective self-defence;
A range of case studies covering a wide range of historical, contemporary and regional contexts.
International Legal Internship12.5
International Legal Internship
International Legal Internship allows students to gain credit for undertaking advanced legal research and analysis on an approved international internship of at least eight weeks of full-time work in an approved international institution or organisation. This subject is focused on providing students with an opportunity to engage with legal and policy issues in contemporary society through work experience and further develop oral and written communication skills. Students are required to secure and fund their internships personally.
Students are encouraged to discuss their internship proposals with the subject coordinators. Students who successfully enrol in International Legal Internship must arrange a meeting with at least one of the subject coordinators both prior to their internship and upon completion, to develop a better understanding of research and the role of international institutions in international law and relations.
Law of International Organisations12.5
Law of International Organisations
The actions and activities of international organisations have been much scrutinised in recent years. This subject will focus on the law common to international (inter-governmental) organisations in order to understand the complex legal framework which governs their work. It will critically analyse the features of such organisations in light of recent practice and case law, with a particular emphasis on issues that have arisen in the major global inter-governmental institutions (for example, the United Nations) and regional organisations (for example, the European Union and ASEAN). The subject will highlight recent controversies in international organisations to illustrate the application of the law to complex factual situations.
This subject will be of interest to students with a desire to develop their understanding of the role of international organisations and the legal regimes which govern their work. Alison Duxbury is a Professor at the Melbourne Law School and an Associate Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law. Alison's major research interests are in the fields of international institutional law and human rights law.
Historical development of international organisations and theories concerning the place of international organisations in the international community
Legal status of international organisations in international and domestic law (including legal personality, privileges and immunities, and law-making function)
The United Nations and related agencies (structure, membership and participation, powers, efficacy, proposals for reform)
Regional organisations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region (for example, ASEAN), and their prospects for future development
The relationship between international organisations and other actors in the international community, including member states, non-member states and non-governmental organisations
The accountability and responsibility of international organisations for their actions.
Law of the Sea12.5
The law of the sea relates to the allocation of jurisdiction and peaceful uses of the seas and oceans, the equitable and efficient utilisation of marine resources, and the study, protection and preservation of the marine environment. Historically concerned with the 'freedom of the seas' for sovereign states, the law of the sea must also address contemporary and emerging challenges such as climate change, marine species preservation, pollution, overlapping territorial claims and national security. The overarching legal regime of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is supplemented by specific agreements as well as market techniques and supply chain oversight. This subject provides an overview and critique of the established and newly forming international regimes – and their interaction – and is informed by an institutional approach that acknowledges the influence of dispute settlement systems, non-state participation and transnational and administrative practices. The lecturers have published widely on fisheries law, trade law, the law of the sea and on the interaction between international legal regimes.
The Law of the Sea Convention and associated instruments governing the high seas, including the Fish Stocks Agreement
Divisions of jurisdiction within the Law of the Sea, including key notions of the territorial sea, exclusive economic zones (EEZ), areas beyond national jurisdiction (high seas) and the sea-bed area
Voluntary instruments of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, including the Compliance Agreement, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the Port State Measures Agreement, as well as emerging views on the ecosystem approach and marine protected areas
The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
World Trade Organization (WTO) rules relating to subsidies, labelling and restrictions on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs)
Marine pollution, including microplastics and greenhouse gas emissions from bunker fuels
Relevant dispute settlement bodies, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), arbitral bodies and the WTO.
Other topics may include:
Marine protected areas, including efforts to create a new legally binding international agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)
Freedoms of the seas in contested areas of jurisdiction (such as Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise)
Overlapping maritime claims such as the ruling on the South China Seas issued by an arbitral tribunal based at the Permanent Court of Arbitration
The role of indigenous rights, subsistence and artisanal practices
Selected regional approaches to fisheries management
The influence of legal approaches to climate change, especially with respect to low-lying island coastal states.
Law, Science and Technology12.5
Law, Science and Technology
Science and technology are at the heart of many of the most pressing legal and social problems of our day: disease prevention, bioethics, big data, state and corporate surveillance, the regulation of military technologies, and so on. This subject invites students to consider the common challenges of law, policy and public discourse posed by problems of this sort, at both the domestic and international level. In doing so, it asks: how do scientific discoveries and their technological applications shape our legal and social worlds? And how do law and society affect scientific and technological developments in turn?
The overall aim is to equip students coming from diverse backgrounds, training and experience with the analytical and critical tools necessary to understand and respond to complex questions of science and technology in all their legal, social, (geo)political, ethical, and cultural dimensions.
The lecturer undertakes research and advocacy in this area and was recently a visiting fellow at the Harvard Program on Science, Technology and Society.
Science and technology studies as a field
The relationship between 'law', 'science', 'technology' and 'society' as concepts and fields of practice
Biotechnology and bioethics
Drug patents and disease prevention
Big data and global surveillance
Military technologies
Public discourse around science and technology
The future: advocacy, law reform and other critical encounters between law, science, technology and society.
NGOs and International Development12.5
NGOs and International Development
This subject considers the topic of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international development. In addition to critically examining the development context, this subject will highlight the importance of NGOs in development and engage with the criticisms that NGOs working in and towards development attract. In that respect, the course demonstrates how interest in NGOs has both reflected and informed wider theoretical trends and debates within development studies, public international law and not-for-profit law. It will also consider NGOs in relation to ideas and debates about civil society, globalisation and ideas and practices of international aid. The subject will consider a wide diversity of NGOs and locate their modern roles within broader histories of imperialism, proselytization, charity, self-determination and struggle as well as within the ideological context of neoliberalism. The legal and policy relationships of NGOs with governments and how this impacts on national and popular sovereignty, service delivery and civil and political freedoms will be examined through contemporary practice and case studies.
Introduction to NGOS: What are non-governmental organizations? What legal forms do they take? How are they regulated?
Understanding NGOs in historical context
Introduction to development: what do we mean by development?
NGOs and development theory: from missionary to mainstream?
NGO roles in contemporary development practice
NGOs and 'civil society'
NGOs: contemporary practice and case studies
NGOs and the government sponsored aid system
NGOs and international humanitarian action
Australia, development and NGOs
NGOs in broader perspective.
Post-Conflict State-Building12.5
Post-Conflict State-Building
This subject deals with the body of law and practice that applies to states as they emerge from conflict and try to build strong, prosperous and responsive communities. It lies at the intersection of several bodies of law including international law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law and domestic constitutional law. Many of the issues with which it deals are at the cutting-edge of these fields: the extra-territorial effect of constitutional law; the possibility of a 'lex pacificatoria' to govern the ambiguous character of intra-state peace agreements; the legitimacy of constitutions developed with international assistance; the notion of transformative military occupation. The two teachers in this highly innovative subject bring different bodies of expertise to bear on it. Professor Bruce Oswald is an international and international humanitarian law specialist; Laureate Professor Cheryl Saunders works in the area of comparative constitutional law. Both have practical experience of aspects of post-conflict state-building, which informs their approach to teaching and research in the field.
The concepts inherent in post-conflict state-building
International humanitarian law and the law of occupation
Current trends in peace-building
The relevance of constitution building to post-conflict state-building
Role and use of human rights to protect vulnerable groups
The relevance of context in post-conflict state-building programs
Role and contribution of civil society.
Business and Human Rights12.5
Business and Human Rights
The private sector represents one of the most important and daunting challenges facing the human rights community. As the reach and influence of companies has grown – sometimes dwarfing the states in which they operate – their impact on human rights has become impossible to ignore. Human rights have become the currency of major brands, helping determine Citibank financing, Exxon-Mobil relations with communities and working conditions along Wal-Mart's enormous supply chain. Shareholder activists, NGOs, social movements, the media and governments are demanding greater transparency and reporting on human rights. The United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the multilateral banks have adopted human rights standards for companies, and a growing body of soft and hard law (domestic and international) is beginning to define the precise scope of corporate human rights obligations. This subject will explore the fast-growing field of business and human rights, highlighting the most critical legal and practical issues surrounding efforts to advance corporate responsibility and accountability.
The history of the business and human rights movement
The political and ideological challenge to applying human rights to business
The legal framework and institutions for corporate human rights accountability
The UN "Protect, Respect, Remedy" Framework and UN Guiding Principles
The debate around a global treaty on business and human rights
Multi-stakeholder initiatives and soft law human rights standards
Key legal challenges: effective remedies, 'non-state actors', 'sphere of influence' and 'complicity'
Litigating corporate human rights
Non-judicial advocacy strategies
Business and human rights case studies
The business management perspective on human rights and implementation challenges.
Disability Human Rights Law12.5
Disability Human Rights Law
This subject examines the human rights of people with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the newest United Nations (UN) human rights treaty. This subject analyses the interpretation and implementation of the CRPD. It also explores the effect of multiple forms of marginalisation; for example, individuals with disabilities that are members of other minority groups, such as women, transgender people or racial minorities. This subject is relevant for students who are interested in reform in this area or for those interested in exploring the newest iteration of UN human rights law.
The lecturer has both personal and professional experience in this field and has a network of collaborators, including UN bodies, government actors, community groups, academics and others. She draws on her experiences and connections to deliver substantive law as well as provide an insight into the lived experience of disability.
Personhood and the right to equal recognition before the law
Decision-making and the right to legal capacity
Violence and the right to freedom from abuse
Mental health and the rights to liberty and consent to treatment
Universal design, reasonable accommodation, and accessibility
Medical, social, and human rights models of disability.
Human Rights Advocacy12.5
Human Rights Advocacy
This subject is a collaborative effort to reflect on, critique, appreciate, and learn about international advocacy that responds to global injustice using a human rights framework. It provides a map of the field of international human rights advocacy—its dominant forms of action, strategies, and range of methods—and introduces students to the core elements and skills involved in that work, including the collection of evidence of human rights abuses; interviewing witnesses, governments and other potential opponents; report writing; media work; advocacy strategies; quantitative and qualitative methods; litigation; and measuring effectiveness. The subject also introduces the ethical principles and professional rules related to human rights lawyering. It addresses the obstacles to effective global justice and human rights work, and the technical, procedural, and substantive problems with the manner in which advocates investigate abuses, seek accountability, and conduct advocacy. Teaching materials are drawn from a diverse range of fields and interdisciplinary sources including law, medicine, psychology, political science, social theory, critical theory, toolkits and how-to-guides, stories, video, podcasts, human rights reports, and witness testimony. The success of the subject depends, to a great extent, on the active, engaged, and critical participation of students. The subject will be of interest to students whose work already intersects with human rights directly or to students who wish to explore ways to further inject human rights into their work. It is designed to be of relevance to students whether they are working within Australia, other countries or at the international level.
The subject will examine human rights law and institutions; ethics for human rights lawyers; crafting strategy; fact-finding (including interviewing, documentation, open source investigations, and quantitative and qualitative research methods); and advocacy methods (including reporting, campaigning, messaging, and litigating).
Human Rights and Climate Change12.5
Human Rights and Climate Change
This subject will introduce and explore the main concepts, laws, institutions and policies at the intersection of international climate change law and international human rights law.
Specifically, this subject will explore two aspects of the intersection between climate change and human rights. First it will explore the nature and extent to which the impacts of climate change and response measures to address climate change can affect the realization of core human rights. It will examine the substantive and procedural rights afforded through national, regional and international instruments to those affected by environmental harms, and the ways in which such rights can be extended to cover climate harms. It will in this context analyze cases in national, regional and international courts and tribunals that engage human rights in the context of climate harms. Second, this subject will examine the treatment of human rights in the international climate change regime, and the prospects for further integration of human rights concerns in the regime.
More broadly, through a study of these two aspects, this subject will examine the potential, prospects and limits of international law in protecting the rights of those affected by climate harm.
Articulation of environmental protection in the language of human rights, both substantive and procedural, in international, regional and national human rights systems, instruments and case law
Autonomous 'right to a healthy environment' and its extension to a healthy climate
'Greening' of established rights such as the right to life, health and privacy, and their extension to protection from climate harms
Treatment of human rights in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the 2018 Katowice Rules
Human Rights and Global Justice12.5
Human Rights and Global Justice
We live in a period of rising scepticism concerning human rights, their foundations, purposes and efficacy. Yet, the language and law of human rights remains one of the truly global languages of political, moral and legal claim-making. This course will unpack and examine the tensions and contradictions of contemporary human rights law and politics. It will first consider the historical origins of contemporary human rights frameworks, with special attention to the polemical debates about the origins of human rights. It will then examine various theories of human rights and their foundations, and as the question: what is global justice and what do human rights have to do with it? Finally, the course will inquire into the utility and uses of rights to challenge harms widely perceived as instances of global injustice: inequality and uneven development, labour exploitation and military occupation. In the end, we will ask, what can we expect from human rights law today?
The history of human rights law and practice
Theories of human rights and global justice
Human rights and inequality
Human rights and labour exploitation
Human rights and military occupation
Human Rights Beyond Borders12.5
Human Rights Beyond Borders
This subject considers whether and to what extent international human rights law applies to the actions of states outside their sovereign territories. The focus is on international law only, not domestic law.
The extra-territorial application of international human rights law is one of the most contested and fast-moving areas of human rights law today. It is concerned with important and high-profile activities performed by states outside their borders, from war to occupation and anti-piracy and migration-related activities. This relatively under-explored area of law is of considerable current interest to governments (including their armed forces), international organisations and human rights non-government organisations (NGOs).
The nature and scope of extra-territorial State activity, from war to occupation, the interception and detention of migrants and 'pirates', and the operation of embassies, military bases and detention facilities
The main contours of international human rights law
Relevant principles of general international law, including treaty interpretation, and relevant features of human rights law, including applicability in times of war and occupation, and co-application with other areas of law
Arguments of principle in favour of and against applicability, including concerns about 'legal black holes', indirect nationality discrimination, abuses of detainees, double standards and 'human rights imperialism'
The main treaty provisions on applicability, including 'jurisdiction' and colonial extension clauses
Key general features of extra-territorial applicability, including the substantive meaning of human rights law extra-territorially, and the relevance to this of self-determination; the possibility of activating 'derogation' clauses; and whether human rights treaties can and should apply to the actions of contracting states in the territories of other states not also parties to the same treaties
The meaning of the two 'jurisdiction' triggers for extra-territorial applicability, based on the exercise of control over territory or individuals
The extra-territorial application of other human rights treaties that use different triggers, notably the anti-discrimination treaties and the 1951 Refugee Convention
The application and significance of the non-refoulement obligation extra-territorially.
International Equality Law12.5
International Equality Law
Equality and discrimination law is continuing to increase in importance, but remains controversial. This subject examines international and comparative aspects of equality and discrimination law. The subject is not confined to, but will include a focus on labour and employment issues. Equality and discrimination issues will be examined at four levels: international law, transnational, state constitutional law, and state human rights law. A review of the content and operation of the major United Nations (UN) and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions relevant to discrimination generally and to equality at work is directly relevant to Australian domestic law as these treaties provide a constitutional basis as well as content for much Australian anti-discrimination legislation. For comparison, an overview of the European Union (EU) system for regulating discrimination law will be included. The focus then shifts to comparative national law, with an examination of protection of equality and discrimination rights at constitutional and legislative levels in Australia and other countries that take different approaches: some or all of Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.
This subject provides a critical examination of the scope and operation of equality and discrimination law at international, transnational and national levels and utilises comparative doctrinal and policy analysis. While the major focus will be on work and employment, other areas will be considered where they cast light on the development of the law.
An introduction to the different roles played by equality and discrimination at different locations and levels of the legal system
Consideration of debates about the meaning of equality, discrimination and other contested concepts such as choice and responsibility
Analysis of the roles, framework and key features of international treaties and conventions relating to equality and discrimination in both general (human rights) and specific (ILO) contexts
Analysis of some of the key EU equality directives and their adoption in some Member States
An analysis of constitutional protection of equality rights in countries with different modes of protection, chosen from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States
An examination of anti-discrimination and equality laws across several countries to contrast different approaches and conceptualisations of these rights, and also different social environments and barriers to achieving a more equal society
Consideration of the role(s) of law in relation to equality and discrimination, and the uneven progress in the countries analysed
Exploration of possible future directions for better protection of equality and discrimination rights.
International Human Rights Law12.5
International Human Rights Law
The field of international human rights law is today composed of a multitude of legal instruments, implementation bodies, special procedures, human rights NGOs and transitional justice mechanisms. This subject provides the opportunity to examine this field in many of its dimensions, equipping students to navigate the system and critically assess its fundamental features. It will be of interest to all students who want to develop a detailed understanding of how the international human rights law system operates, including those with limited or no background in the area. The two lecturers have significant experience across a diverse range of topics and issues within international human rights law, which they draw upon to create an engaging and thought-provoking subject.
Human rights and the challenges posed by state sovereignty and national security
The contested universality of human rights
The international institutional framework for the protection of human rights, with a special focus on the Human Rights Council and treaty monitoring system
The interpretation and application of selected rights from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
Domestic measures for the implementation of human rights, such as judicial implementation of economic, social and cultural rights
The norm of non-discrimination as it relates to race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity
The contribution of truth and reconciliation commissions to the protection of human rights
Human rights law relating to refugees and asylum-seekers
The challenges posed by economic globalisation.
International Law and Children's Rights12.5
International Law and Children's Rights
Issues concerning children, whether they arise at the international, regional or local level, are increasingly being examined from a human rights perspective. Much of the momentum for this movement has been generated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989, and has been ratified by every state in the world except the United States and South Sudan. This subject is designed to provide students with an understanding of the CRC and the idea of a human rights-based approach to matters involving children. It will be of interest to anyone who works in areas that impact on children, either directly or indirectly, at the international, regional or local level. The lecturer has extensive networks with civil society, international bodies and government agencies that he draws on to provide an appropriate blend of academic and practical content.
The subject consists of two parts. Part one involves a general discussion of:
The notion of children's rights
The international framework for the protection of children's rights, with particular emphasis on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
The factors that impact on the implementation of the Convention, both in Australia and overseas.
Part two involves an examination of specific issues relevant to children and how the Convention and a rights-based analysis can be used to respond to these issues. The issues will be drawn from areas such as:
Sexual exploitation, including trafficking, prostitution and pornography
Child refugees
Violence against children
Children in armed conflict
HIV/AIDS and children
Child poverty and homelessness.
International Refugee Law12.5
International Refugee Law
This subject explores and examines the international legal regime for the protection of refugees. The essential premise of the subject is that refugee law should be understood as a mode of human rights protection, the viability of which requires striking a balance between the needs of the victims of human rights abuse and the legitimate aspirations of the countries to which they flee. The primary objective of the subject is to enable students to develop a comprehensive understanding of the international legal regime for international protection – the basis for being granted protection in 147 countries, including Australia. The subject will situate Australian refugee law and policy within the context of Australia's international obligations.
History of the international system of refugee protection
Legal and institutional framework of international legal protection
The implementation of the Refugee Convention in Australian law
Refugee status determination: domestic and international dimensions
Responsibility sharing and shifting
Principles of treaty interpretation applied to refugee law
The definition of 'refugee' in international law
Exclusion from refugee protection.
Reimagining Human Rights Law12.5
Reimagining Human Rights Law
This subject considers ways of reimagining the international human rights regime, which is under attack from many quarters. It is said to be ineffectual, hegemonic and ill-equipped for a world that is very different from that of the era in which it was devised, and reliant for its implementation upon outmoded forms of regulation. Another set of critiques focuses on groups at the margins of the international human rights system, including women, indigenous peoples and minority sexual groups, whose human rights are often breached.
This subject reviews these critiques and examines their explanatory force. It considers ways in which the international human rights system can be reconceived to be more effective, drawing on anthropological and socio-legal scholarship. It will focus, first, on the turn to quantification in the human rights field, especially the use of indicators, and whether this is likely to increase protection of human rights. Second, the course will discuss attempts to respond to 'outsider' critiques of the human rights system, including the drafting of specialised treaties and instruments. Third, the course will consider the relationship between the formal mechanisms of the human rights system and the mobilisation of human rights ideas and values by social movements and non-governmental organisation. It will examine the social and cultural processes by which international norms and laws become translated into local situations. A unique feature of this course is that it combines the perspectives of international law and legal anthropology in its approach to human rights.
A review of the key mechanisms used to promote the treaty obligations that states have accepted and how these operate
An examination of some of the major criticisms that have recently been directed at international human rights mechanisms by governments and other key actors
An overview of the question of evaluating impact in this field, including consideration of the work of scholars who have sought to measure the effect of ratification of human rights instruments
The development of an 'indicator culture' in the human rights field
An understanding of the role that quantification plays in defining human rights and fostering compliance through increasing accountability
A review of recent sustained critiques of the human rights regime by scholars such as Stephen Hopgood, Samuel Moyn, Eric Posner, Harri Englund and others
A discussion of Third World, feminist and queer critiques of the international human rights system
Analysis of specialised treaties and instruments responding to these critiques, including CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women), the Istanbul Convention on Domestic Violence and the Yogjakarta Principles
An introduction to anthropological approaches to the international human rights system
Examination of human rights in practice, focusing on the way these ideas are mobilised to deal with local issues such as gender violence and indigenous rights.
Women, Peace and Security12.5
In 2000 the United Nations (UN) Security Council for the first time considered the impact of war on women through the adoption of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). This has been followed by seven further resolutions, thereby creating an institutional agenda that encompasses women's participation in conflict prevention and resolution, protection of women from sexual and gender-based violence in conflict, and humanitarian relief and recovery for survivors of sexual violence. The subject will critically examine the WPS agenda, its place in contemporary conflicts and its basis in international humanitarian law, international criminal law and human rights law.
The lecturer, Professor Christine Chinkin, has a long academic record in international law, especially the human rights of women. She is currently Director of the Centre for Women Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and has practical experience through advising UN and Council of Europe bodies and a House of Lords select committee on sexual violence in conflict, as well as having been a member of fact-finding missions in Gaza, Malawi, Mali and Colombia.
The concepts of new wars and human security
The evolution of the women, peace and security agenda
The status of women, peace and security as a legal regime
The four 'pillars' of women, peace and security.
Participation of women in peace processes and peacekeeping operations
Prevention of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and in so-called peacetime
Prevention of armed conflict
Protection against sexual violence in conflict
Women peace, and security and countering violent extremism
Implementation of WPS through national action plans
Addressing sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers
Digital Trade12.5
International trade is being transformed by the globalisation of the internet and the ability to move data across borders. Small businesses and firms in developing countries are using internet platforms such as eBay and Alibaba to engage in international trade. Software, music and books that used to be traded physically are now being transmitted digitally across borders; lawyers, consultants and other professional services are using the internet to reach new markets. Data analytics and cloud computing have become essential tools for firms in domestic and international markets.
This subject will examine the impact of the internet and global data flows on international trade. Students will learn about the varied and innovative ways that the internet and data enable international economic activity. Students will look at how government regulation in areas such as privacy and national security affects digital trade and will examine the balance between achieving these goals and maximising opportunities for trade, growth and jobs. Students will learn about the extent to which international trade rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement support an open internet and global data flows; will identify gaps in law and practice; and will analyse where new global norms and rules are needed. Special topics covered may include: the opportunities of digital trade for developing countries and small and medium enterprises (SMEs); challenges posed by the 'Internet of Things' and privacy regulation; and digital trade and national security.
Joshua P Meltzer is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies where he teaches international trade law. He is a leading scholar on digital trade issues, consults governments, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum and was appointed an expert witness in digital trade and privacy litigation.
Overview of the globalisation of the internet including global trends in internet access and use
The economics of the internet - students will learn how internet access and global data flows are improving productivity, enabling innovation and expanding opportunities for global engagement
What is the impact of the internet and data flows on international trade? This will include the role of digital platforms and the increasing importance of digital services trade
What are the barriers to digital trade, who is erecting them and why? Students will learn about the regulatory challenges to digital trade in areas of consumer protection, financial and privacy laws and the different approaches being taken in the European Union, the United States and Australia, and consider how to achieve domestic regulatory goals while maximising digital trade
Applying international trade law to digital trade issues and identifying the legal gaps - students will analyse where existing international trade rules apply to digital trade issues. This will include analysis of WTO agreements and cases as well as new trade rules in free trade agreements. Gaps in trade law will be identified and students will consider whether new trade rules and norms are needed and where they can be negotiated.
International Business Transactions12.5
This subject is a basic 'how-to' on international business transactions and is essential for those wishing to practise international trade law. The subject intentionally covers a vast array of related topics, with the focus being on the legal issues faced by practising lawyers in the field. Particular emphasis is placed on issues such as trade terms, international sales of goods, documentary credits, carriage of goods, customs and border regulations. This subject also considers several issues relating to international trade, such as intellectual property rights, licensing, franchising and governmental measures regulating investment. Such coverage ensures students are exposed to the most important and frequent issues facing the practising trade lawyer.
Principal topics may include:
Basic trade contracts and common trade terms
Choice of law and choice of jurisdiction in international trade contracts
The Vienna Convention on International Sale of Goods
Payment systems, including documentary credits and collections
Customs law, including classification and valuation of the goods
Import and export restraints
Regulatory issues and red tape
Intellectual property rights, including parallel importation of goods
Foreign direct investment.
International Commercial Arbitration12.5
International commercial arbitration is the most important method globally for resolving cross-border commercial disputes. The focus of this subject is on the basic principles of international commercial arbitration law and is taught from the perspective of both the practitioner advising clients and the scholar interested in advanced research. There will be a particular focus on the desirability of arbitration compared with other dispute resolution methods, the relationships between the courts and arbitrators, drafting techniques and developments in Australia and other countries.
The nature of international arbitration
Applicable law in international arbitration
The Australian procedural regime and an introduction to the UNCITRAL Model Law
Enforcing international arbitration agreements
Appointment and qualifications of arbitrators
Misconduct of arbitrators
Enforcement and challenge of awards.
International Economic Law12.5
Newspaper headlines frequently concern global economic issues, from trade disputes between countries and investment claims by foreign investors against sovereign states, to countries facing balance-of-payments crises and seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This subject examines the law governing global economic issues. It is designed both as a comprehensive introduction in its own right to this important field, as well as a foundation for further exploration through specialist subjects in the curriculum. It begins with a historical and theoretical background to the field before turning to focus on international trade law, particularly the rules and dispute settlement procedures of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It then discusses contemporary developments in international trade law and policy, including the negotiations for regional or bilateral preferential trade agreements. The subject then considers international investment law, examining key substantive obligations relating to investor protection and investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms (particularly through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)). Finally, the subject provides an introduction to the lending policies and practices of international financial institutions, particularly the IMF and the World Bank.
Nature, evolution and context of international economic law
The law of the WTO
Dispute settlement in the WTO
Investor-state arbitration under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention
International financial institutions (particularly the IMF and the World Bank).
Internat Investment Law and Arbitration12.5
Internat Investment Law and Arbitration
International investment law regulates the entry and operation of foreign investment and is one of the fastest-growing fields of public international law. This subject begins by tracing the historical, political and economic causes for the protection of foreign investment across custom, bilateral and regional investment treaties. It then focuses on the unique system of dispute resolution in this field, which gives private (foreign) actors the right to pursue claims for damages against states. This subject explores a series of case studies to evaluate the impact of investment law across a range of core values, including public health, environmental regulation and the protection of human rights.
Nature, evolution and context of international investment law
Overview of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Energy Charter Treaty and parts of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Scope of protection: definition of 'investor' and 'investment'
Relative obligations of non-discrimination: most-favored-nation (MFN) and national treatment
Obligation to accord foreign investors 'fair and equitable treatment'
Expropriation and the quantification of compensation
Contract claims versus treaty claims: the 'umbrella' clause
Arbitration under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention.
International Trade Law12.5
International trade is of great importance to almost every country in the world. Many legal relationships are necessary for goods to be traded from one country to another, and they are all predictably flavoured by the issues that arise when different legal systems interact. This subject considers the private commercial legal issues that arise when goods are traded from one country to another, framework contracts such as agency and exclusive distribution, as well as public international law issues that arise when governments try to influence the subject of international trade. The goal of the subject is to give some sense of how the private commercial aspects of trade create issues for government-to-government relationships about trade, and vice versa.
The contracts by which trade in goods takes place: sale, transport, payments and insurance
Marketing and licensing structures: distributors, agency, franchising, licensing and transfer of technology
The impact upon trade of international institutions and agreements: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Impediments to, and regulation of, international trade: anti-dumping, duties and antitrust
Regulation of international investment
Conflict of laws issues in international trade
Resolution of disputes in international trade litigation, arbitration, alternative dispute resolution and the recognition of foreign judgments and awards.
WTO Law and Dispute Settlement12.5
WTO Law and Dispute Settlement
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is at the centre of ongoing debates concerning both fragmentation of public international law and persistent inequities between developed and developing countries. It also provides one of the most active systems in the world for resolving international disputes, with jurisdiction over some of the largest and most significant matters arising today. This subject offers a sophisticated understanding of the WTO and its dispute settlement system, including a detailed analysis of the fundamental principles and jurisprudence of WTO law. The instructors are both leading scholars in WTO law and former Legal Officers with the Appellate Body Secretariat of the WTO.
History and objectives of the WTO
WTO dispute settlement
Core disciplines under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994):
Tariff bindings
Non-discrimination (most-favoured nation (MFN) and national treatment)
Prohibition on quantitative restrictions
Exceptions to WTO commitments, eg environment, health, public morals, culture, free trade agreements, and special and differential treatment for developing countries
The regulation of trade in services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
Current challenges facing the WTO and the Doha Development Round of negotiations.
Commercial Law in Asia12.5
Commercial Law in Asia
The emergence of Asia as an economic powerhouse is driving enormous interest in doing business in the region. This subject provides students with an opportunity to examine commercial law in an Asian context. Although parallels can be drawn between Asian jurisdictions in terms of their economic and legal development, their commercial law systems are too diverse to be treated uniformly. Instead, the focus is on analysing key legal aspects of doing business in Asia – including contracts, business entities, international trade, competition law, dispute resolution and the role of lawyers – by reference to systems and case studies in various Asian jurisdictions. Singapore and Australia will be used as reference jurisdictions. The lecturer previously worked as a lawyer and academic in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore and has written extensively on specific Asian business law topics.
Introduction to economic, political and cultural context of Asian laws
Overview of World Trade Organization and international trade regulation
Overview of finance and capital markets
Courts and dispute resolution in Asia
The role and regulation of lawyers.
Constitutionalism after Empire12.5
Constitutionalism after Empire
This subject seeks to provide an overview of the theory and practice of constitutionalism in four countries in South and South East Asia: India, Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Two of these are among the largest, most pluralistic nations in the world, while the remaining two are small island states. All four nations experienced long periods of colonial rule, which continues to have a decisive impact on their post-colonial legal and constitutional orders. The experience of colonialism contrasts quite starkly from those nations which were settler colonies, and this is an important focus of the course. In each of these nations, discussions about constitutionalism have become enmeshed within larger societal debates about economic development, cultural values, and human rights. The subject instructor has first-hand experience of research and teaching constitutional law in two of the four jurisdictions.
Brief overview of the field of comparative constitutionalism, and methodological approaches to the discipline
A broad introduction to the four jurisdictions, covering national histories, and their economic, social and political dimensions
A focus on the colonial experience in the four jurisdictions and the nature of the colonial economy, and its politics
The process of decolonization and the constitutional politics that was engendered as a result
An examination of the post-colonial Constitutions adopted in these countries, with an emphasis on rights provisions
Broad overview of post-colonial trajectories of the four jurisdictions, and their assessments by scholars
The policies of economic development that were followed and the impact on constitutional politics
Debates about culture, human rights and 'Asian Values'.
Construction Law and Projects in Asia12.5
Construction Law and Projects in Asia
This subject provides a detailed overview of construction law, projects and practice in five representative Asian jurisdictions: the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and South Korea. Through detailed explanation, analysis and case studies, students will gain an integrated and advanced understanding of the key features of each jurisdiction, both in isolation and in a comparative context. Students will develop their capacity to operate and advise in and across these jurisdictions as well as deriving lessons for application in their home jurisdiction.
Dr Arthur McInnis is the principal subject lecturer. He is the former head of the Construction Practice Group at Clifford Chance in Hong Kong. He has published extensively and lectured widely on construction topics throughout Asia
The subject provides a detailed introduction to construction law, projects and practice in five Asian jurisdictions, with reference to:
The size and importance of opportunities and trends in their construction sectors
Their key legal and regulatory frameworks, tender practices and project management norms
The principal standard forms of contract in use
Recent build-own-transfer, build-lease-transfer and design-build-finance-operate projects, and planned public-private partnerships in economic and social infrastructure
Their resource management, financing, innovation and competitiveness on a comparative basis in the development of their construction sectors in the wider Australasian building and projects market
Detailed case studies on construction, currently planned to include: the Beijing Metro No 4 Line and Mass Transit Railway (MTR) international projects; planning, financing, construction and appraisal of the Anhwa school project in Korea; recent NEC-procured pilot projects in Hong Kong; tendering, construction, operation and issues surrounding the Taiwan High Speed Rail project; and tendering, financing, construction and operation of the Singapore Sports Hub.
Investment Deals and Disputes in Asia12.5
Investment Deals and Disputes in Asia
In this subject, students will act as lawyers advising an international investor in a hypothetical investment project in a developing Asian jurisdiction (based on real life experience of the subject coordinator). Students must identify the legal risks and potential disputes in this developing environment and advise ways to mitigate such risks and avoid or resolve disputes. Students will study relevant laws, draft contractual documents, analyse legal issues, give advice, negotiate with the local government, project finance lenders and other parties and bring the deal to closure. Students are also involved in a dispute scenario arising out of the transaction. After the subject, students are expected to have an overview of the key risks and potential disputes in investment deals in developing Asian systems and ways to mitigate such risks through negotiation and documentation. Students can also research more deeply into particular legal issues such as expropriation, change in law, currency conversion or performance by state-owned companies and dispute resolution. Throughout the subject, students will study different areas of law such as investment, administrative, conflict of laws and international dispute resolution.
General overview of risks and potential disputes for investors
Risks of expropriation
Risks of illegality
Performance by state-owned enterprises
Permits and regulatory approvals
Choice of law, dispute resolution and the arbitration process
Negotiating with local counterparties and international project finance lenders
Resolving disputes and closing the deal.
Islamic Law and Politics in Asia12.5
Islamic Law and Politics in Asia
Islam does not, in theory, recognise a distinction between religion and law because for Muslims both are derived from their god's revealed message. The result is the inevitable tension between Islamic beliefs and the modern (secular) nation state that lies at the heart of the politics of Islam in South-East Asia. It has become the subject of major global controversies and conflicts in recent decades, as religious and political leaders compete with, and – in most cases – accommodate, each other. This tension, and the legal, political and social controversies that result from it, are the focus of this subject, which is based on selected comparative case studies of efforts to achieve legal Islamisation from a range of countries in Australia's region. Teaching is led by a scholar who has conducted extensive fieldwork across South-East Asia and worked closely with Islamic legal institutions in the region. He is supported by guest lecturers specialising on South-East Asia, who will bring their own perspectives to class discussions.
This subject examines the relationship between the modern nation state and Islam in Asia, focusing on the 240 million Muslims in Australia's South-East Asian neighbourhood.
How the original Arabic-derived legal thought has been adapted in new Asian homelands
The essential position of Islamic legal traditions as an alternative authority to the contemporary nation state
Current political and religious controversies arising in South-East Asia. These will be selected from a range that may include:
Islamic legal codes and laws for Muslims
The Qadi, Islamic judicial traditions and courts for Muslims
Islamic criminal punishment
Interest-free banking, 'Islamic economics' and commercial law
Islamic approaches to the status of women (fiqh Al-Nisa)
Zakat and other forms of philanthropy
Education and the role of madrasa and pesantren
The introduction of revivalist Islamic codes
Islamic radicalism and terrorist groups in South-East Asia, including Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda.
Artificial Intelligence and the Law12.5
Artificial Intelligence and the Law
Historically a computer was "programmed" by a human utilising a precise set of instructions. Within this paradigm the computer was able to "process" information "fed" to it and produce a particular output based on such programming and information.
The human input was clear and transparent. As artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved in concert with the internet, cloud computing, big data gathering, data storage and data processing capabilities and the ubiquitous uptake of interactive smartphones and other "smart" devices, the relationship between the computer and direct and immediate human stewardship or control of outputs has become less readily identifiable. In turn this has given rise to significant legal issues.
There are substantial legal implications of AI which require ongoing, flexible and informed responses from lawyers and legal policy makers. This subject seeks to inform practicing lawyers, legal policy makers and non-lawyers in respect of those issues and how they might be dealt with.
Introduction to AI. What is AI? Where is AI headed?
The legal issues raised by AI.
Overview of current AI legal reviews underway in the USA, EU and UK and Australia's response to these reviews
Intellectual property issues raised by AI
Criminal liability in respect of AI
Civil legal liability – examination of who is (or should be) responsible/liable for AI caused loss and harm.
Mandatory insurance schemes for loss or damage caused by autonomous robots or AI
The legal regimes governing use of AI in security, law enforcement and military contexts
Privacy and confidentiality implications of AI
Entertainment Law12.5
This subject examines some legal aspects of a modern entertainment industry – in particular, contractual arrangements and intellectual property rights, as well as publicity and privacy rights. Particular reference will be made to the United States, home of the largest entertainment industry in the world, and Australia, which of course has its own important entertainment industry, but other countries will also be considered. The focus will be both on the written law (with an emphasis on legal development and policy) and the law as it is practised, with the latter part of the course devoted to a contract negotiation exercise. Cases and examples will mostly come from the fields of music, book publishing, the visual and performing arts and live theatre.
The entertainment industry and measures of social value; stakeholders within and outside the industry; need for law; range of relevant laws
Intellectual property and misappropriation: copyright and neighbouring rights, moral rights, trade mark rights, publicity rights, passing off, trade secret protection and unfair competition
Contracting in the entertainment industry: licensing, joint ventures, examples of contracts in use (such as book publishing, music touring, character merchandising), and processes and strategies adopted in negotiation
Expansion of rights: technological developments, sui generis or incremental responses, United States and Anglo-Australian approaches
Privacy and related issues: implications for industry practice and entertainers
Practical exercises on negotiation and drafting book and merchandising contracts (explored in a workshop environment).
New Media and Communications12.5
New Media and Communications
The internet has given rise to new modes of communication. Services such as Netflix, Facebook and Google pose significant challenges for traditional models of communications regulation. At present, traditional media are arguably among the most heavily regulated sectors of the Australian economy, yet new media services go largely unregulated. This subject examines the conflict between traditional regulation of old and new media. Australia's current regulatory arrangements arose in the 1990s and reflect the structure of the electronic communications industries at that time – focusing on the separate and highly prescriptive regulation of broadcasting and telecommunications. The current regulatory framework is fragmented and complex, and covers not only technical issues but also sector-specific competition, content and ownership rules. Since the 1990s, however, the communications environment in Australia has undergone a period of rapid and profound change. The emergence and ubiquitous adoption of the internet as a mass communications system has provided new opportunities for Australian publishers and audiences by dismantling traditional technological, economic and regulatory barriers to entry. From national security to sport, this revolution in communications has profound policy issues for national regulation in a global communications environment.
What is communications law? (including different regulatory approaches)
Regulation of communications services, including radio and television services
Australian content rules
Control and ownership of broadcasting and communications enterprises
Digital broadcasting law and regulation
Pay TV and the anti-siphoning regime
Competition in telecommunications (including regulation of anti-competitive practices, NBNCo and the structural separation of Telstra)
Interconnection law and policy
Spectrum allocation (including licensing and spectrum auctions)
Consumer protection issues
Regulation of internet content and filtering
Multi-channelling of free-to-air TV services
Regulation of new services and technologies, including convergence of media and Australian content requirements.
Privacy Law12.5
Privacy has been valued for centuries but now there is a resurgent interest in its protection as a result of new technologies, changing social norms and a rise of markets focused on the commodity value of information. Overlapping with the resurgent interest in privacy is a related concern about the management of data flows, especially on the part of government agencies and business organisations. The legal frameworks that deal with privacy and data protection have a long history but are coming under pressure to adapt to a more complex modern environment.
Privacy and data protection experts Professor Megan Richardson and Karin Clark explore these issues. They pay particular attention to the scope and nature of privacy protection as well as appropriate limits and exceptions, the ongoing pressures for law reform, and the practical operation of privacy and data protection laws in Australia and comparable jurisdictions.
What is privacy?
Conceptual and legal definitional issues
International and comparative privacy and data protection regimes
Protection of privacy in general law in Australia and comparable jurisdictions
The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth): regulation of personal information held by the private and public sectors
State/territory (especially Victorian) legislative regimes for the regulation of personal information
Current topics in privacy law such as privacy and the media, privacy and health information, online privacy (including anti-spam laws), telecommunications and surveillance privacy
Current reform inquiries and proposals and likely reforms.
Advanced Evidence12.5
Advanced Evidence
In the preparation and conduct of litigation no area of law is more important than the law of evidence. Advanced Evidence aims to provide students with an enhanced understanding of the law of evidence. This subject focuses on key provisions of the uniform evidence legislation, which now operates in all Commonwealth, Victorian, New South Wales, Tasmanian, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory courts, and primarily examines the law of evidence in the context of criminal proceedings, where it is is strictly applied. Students can expect to refresh, deepen and develop their understanding of the factual, legal and policy issues associated with the law of evidence and to learn to analyse the admissibility of evidence at an advanced level
This subject is primarily based on a detailed examination of those rules of evidence regarding admissibility that are of particular significance in trials, especially criminal trials.
Hearsay evidence
Opinion evidence
Tendency and coincidence evidence
Credibility evidence
Identification evidence
Discretionary and mandatory exclusion of evidence.
Alternative Dispute Resolution12.5
Dispute resolution and problem-solving lie at the core of modern professional life for lawyers, business people and anyone who works with more than one other person. This subject provides an overview of the range of dispute resolution techniques used internationally. This subject differentiates the most prominent dispute resolution methods, including traditional litigation, arbitration (in its many forms, including international commercial arbitration negotiation) and mediation (also in its many forms, including partnering, mini-trials and dispute resolution coordinators). It also includes skills training in negotiation and mediation, designed to increase effectiveness in both resolving disputes and enhancing problem-solving abilities.
The nature and varieties of disputes, how they arise and how they are avoided
The options for resolving disputes: litigation, arbitration, negotiation, mediation and conciliation
Factors considered by people when they choose a dispute resolution method, including social, cultural and economic factors
Relevant law reform initiatives, with an emphasis on Australia, other common law countries and selected Asian countries
Cross-cultural issues in the dispute resolution process
The roles of judges, lawyers and the courts in the alternative dispute resolution process
An analysis and comparison of the dispute resolution processes in environmental and native land title disputes, with an emphasis on Australia, Canada and the United States
Basic skills for successful negotiation and mediation, including theory and practical exercises.
Business Negotiations and Deal-Making12.5
Business Negotiations and Deal-Making
This subject focuses on skills and strategies that are key to negotiating, swaying and influencing counterparties in business negotiations and deal-making. In this subject, skills will be developed by constantly improving as business negotiators by asking the right questions, framing issues, gaining lessons learned, defining success metrics and negotiating with others with different skill-sets, perceptions and backgrounds. The subject will have a particular focus on negotiations in cross-border settings. The teacher is a leading expert in negotiation training, having taught and researched at prestigious institutions such as Berkeley, Stanford and Harvard, and trained executives at some of the world's largest companies. He will draw on both real-world transactional and academic experience in leading the subject.
Principal topics and skills include the following:
Understand why conflict arises between people and business organisations, within both a domestic and international context
Assess and apply various strategic frameworks in diverse settings (business-to-business, private-public sector, etc)
Define specific success metrics within diverse teams and groups before, during and after business negotiations and deal-making settings
Apply and leverage the main conceptual frameworks related to transaction planning and conflict resolution within diverse environments - including distributive, integrative, and mixed motive negotiation styles (among others)
Analyse and synthesise business negotiation theories, skill-sets and studies as current or future business negotiation professionals
Recognise implicit and explicit biases and nudges that may hinder or help business negotiations, while developing strategies on how to bridge and create value from such gaps
Develop, and learn how to continually develop, a value-added business negotiation toolbox and confidence as business negotiators and deal-makers
Understand key contractual terms that may pivot business negotiators and negotiations
Enhance effective communication skill-sets, both verbal and nonverbal, and develop an empathetic understanding of how and why counterparties may see things differently from you and your business unit
Possess an overall understanding of the nature of disputes and conflict resolution, including ethical, cultural, economic, psychological and emotional factors.
Class Actions12.5
Class actions have become an increasingly prominent feature of Australia's litigation landscape. Some people think they enhance access to justice, offer an efficient way to deal with large numbers of claims and function as an effective regulatory tool, while others criticise them as improper 'private' regulation or as just another way for lawyers to become wealthy. Students will have the opportunity to critically evaluate these views. Law reform proposals will be considered, as will the development, present state and likely future directions of the law and practice of Australian class actions. While the focus will be on Australia, methods used in other countries to bring and manage group proceedings will be considered and compared. Students will have the opportunity to engage and debate with lecturers and guest lecturers with substantial academic, practice, judicial and international experience.
The origins of modern class action regimes in Australia
Comparisons of the federal and Victorian regimes with those in other Australian and overseas jurisdictions
The main stages of class action litigation
The roles of lawyers, judges, parties, litigation funders and regulators
Specific issues, including choosing a forum, defining the class, the role of the lead plaintiff, entrepreneurial lawyering, identifying and notifying class members, settlement and court approval
Comparing class actions with other procedures available for bringing and managing complex litigation
Securities class actions and the regulatory role of the class action
Funding and costs issues, including the role of commercial litigation funders.
Commercial Arbitration in Practice12.5
Commercial Arbitration in Practice
This subject provides an outline of the UNCITRAL Model Law legislation and the LEADR & IAMA Rules and a detailed analysis of the procedures involved in the conduct of domestic commercial arbitration proceedings. It will provide lawyers involved in the conduct of such proceedings and practising arbitrators with an opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of all elements of the process. The subject includes consideration of the principles of procedural fairness, the law of evidence and their application to commercial arbitration proceedings. The subject will also include written exercises intended to develop skill in the process of decision-making and the writing of decisions and awards in arbitrations.
An introduction to the UNCITRAL Model Law legislation
A detailed analysis of procedural rules and their use in the course of proceedings
Identification of issues, pleadings and issues statements
Evidence, documents, statements of evidence and admissibility generally
Expert evidence, identification of issues, adoption of rules and procedural control
Procedural fairness and its application in practice
Procedural efficiency and control of the process
The process of analysis of evidence and reasoning
Award writing.
Current Issues in Civil Litigation12.5
Current Issues in Civil Litigation
Civil litigation is experiencing unprecedented levels of reform. Legislative changes, court decisions, changes to court rules and economic pressures are changing the way litigation is practised across the common law world. The proper roles of parties, lawyers, judges and courts are under scrutiny and discussion. The focus of this subject is current and significant issues in civil litigation, with an emphasis on new and emerging developments.
Andrew Higgins is an Associate Professor in Civil Procedure at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, and a Fellow in Law at Mansfield College. He is also a practising barrister specialising in mass tort litigation and General Editor of Civil Justice Quarterly.
Bernie Quinn is a Queens Counsel at the Victorian Bar who practices in a wide range of areas including commercial law, public law and product liability law. He speaks Bahasa Indonesian and was an Associate to Justice Michael Kirby. The subject will include guest lecturers drawn from the judiciary and the profession.
Significant procedural reforms in Australia and overseas
Law reform proposals
The role of the judge, including case management trends
Principles of apprehended bias
'Overarching' obligations of participants in the civil justice system
Summary and interim relief
Client legal privilege
Procedural issues in conflict of laws
Procedural issues in collective redress
Costs and funding rules
Online dispute resolution and its impact on civil procedure.
Mediation in Practice12.5
Mediation in Practice
With a primary focus on experiential learning and interactive discussion, this subject will provide a practical guide to the use of mediation in resolving disputes and to the legal environment in which mediation takes place. The objectives of this subject are to identify where mediation sits among available dispute resolution processes; its distinguishing characteristics and advantages; the applicable legal environment; to learn to apply mediation principles and techniques in the resolution of disputes; and to explore topical issues in mediation, including different regimes applicable to the admissibility of evidence of communications within mediation.
The lecturers are lawyers who have led and been at the cutting-edge of developing mediation and other ADR techniques. They are nationally accredited mediators and also have substantial experience in teaching and training in this field.
Identifying the characteristics of different dispute resolution methods
The roles of facilitative and evaluative techniques in mediation
Practising mediation techniques in mediation scenarios
The legislative environment in which mediation takes place
Case law and guidelines for lawyers applicable to mediation.
Negotiation and Dispute Resolution12.5
This highly interactive subject will give students practice-relevant skills for negotiation and dispute resolution. Negotiating effectively involves being able to change the conversation, shifting from adversarial to collaborative approaches. The best negotiators are also skilled at structuring processes and listening beneath what is said. This program will introduce a proven framework for creating value and resolving disputes, informed by recent research and extensive practice. Using experiential approaches, case studies and simulations, participants will deepen their abilities to represent clients and negotiate across a range of practice contexts. Participants will have multiple opportunities to refine their negotiation and dispute management skills, and will leave with a series of practical tools for dealing with difficult negotiation behaviours and hard bargaining tactics in diverse settings. This subject will be useful for those working on a wide range of complex issues in a range of contexts including commercial, environmental, public policy and human rights.
Drawing on current interdisciplinary literature and case examples from practice, students will:
Learn a proven framework for dispute analysis and negotiation to address a range of disputes
Understand the dynamics of intractable disputes and a range of tools to address them
Heighten their awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator
Gain problem-solving techniques to enhance possible solutions in complex negotiations
Acquire skills for choosing the right process to craft durable outcomes
Heighten their abilities to work across diverse contexts
Practice and refine negotiation and dispute management skills toward more successful outcomes
Successful completion of the subject will expand participants' abilities for complex issue analysis, intervention and follow-up as negotiators, representatives and facilitators in negotiation and dispute resolution processes. Students will learn valuable skills of integrative thinking and creativity through experiential exercises and their final papers.
Negotiation Skills12.5
Irrespective of their speciality, lawyers must negotiate. Litigators resolve far more disputes through negotiation than by trial. Business lawyers in every domain negotiate on behalf of their clients. Public interest lawyers, in-house counsel, government lawyers, criminal lawyers, tort lawyers and commercial litigators all share the need to be effective negotiators. However few lawyers have any systematic understanding of why negotiations often fail or have suboptimal results, the dilemmas inherent in negotiations, or the characteristics of effective negotiators.
By combining theory and practice, this subject should improve students' understanding of negotiation and effectiveness as negotiators. This subject should improve their ability to prepare for a negotiation, to engage others in joint problem-solving, and to select appropriate strategies when negotiations don't go well. Above all, this subject will equip students to continue refining their skills as they gain more experience.
Florrie Darwin has taught negotiation skills to students, as well as a broad range of professionals, around the world.
Introduction to negotiation principles
Basic framework for preparing, conducting and reviewing a negotiation
Giving and receiving feedback
Creating value in negotiations
The challenge of distribution
Effective listening
Managing interpersonal differences
Negotiating via email
Effective responses to difficult negotiation tactics
Dealing with structural complexity in negotiation/multi-party negotiations.
Biodiversity Law12.5
Biodiversity Law
Conservation biologists warn that we are in the midst of a great extinction crisis. Biodiversity Law is an emerging field, examining legal regimes designed to conserve Earth's endangered forms of life. We will voyage to foreign intellectual lands – e.g. environmental ethics, conservation biology – and take a few real voyages to see biodiversity law in action. We will examine the nuts and bolts of Australian and foreign legal regimes with an attempt to discern most effective legal practices to conserve biodiversity, grounding our analyses in in-depth case studies. Our investigations will be framed by two overarching questions: What is the legal framework for preserving life on Earth? What should be the components of the legal framework for preserving life on Earth?
A short primer on principles of environmental ethics and conservation biology and how these principles inform the practice of Biodiversity Law;
Understanding the threats to biodiversity the law must confront;
In-depth study of Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) to understand how this law interacts with Australian State and Territorial law to protect biodiversity;
Consideration of Australian court cases that have interpreted the EPBC's (and other biodiversity protective legal) provisions as applied to threatened species and ecosystems;
Comparative studies of United States, South Africa, and other national legal approaches to, and court decisions on, biodiversity conservation;
Attention to Australian (and foreign) biodiversity facing particular challenges (Great Barrier Reef, isolated marsupial populations, cetaceans) and how the law is (or is not) meeting those challenges;
Analysis of the Convention on Biological Diversity,and other international treaties including how they are implemented in domestic law;
In-depth case study on global wildlife poaching and smuggling;
Discussion of "ownership" of biodiversity, including the rights that indigenous populations have to biodiversity;
Discussion of market mechanisms designed to incentivize biodiversity conservation;
Examination of non-legal means to preserve biodiversity;
Synthesis of best practices for how to preserve and steward life on Earth.
Climate Change Law12.5
Climate Change Law
Climate change is a pressing environmental, economic and social problem. Global warming is predicted to have wide-ranging impacts, and it presents enormous challenges for conventional models of law and socio-economic governance due to its pervasive character, long-term effects and the need for dynamic change in many of the fundamental areas of life. This subject examines the challenges for law in driving that change, from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its associated Paris Agreement, to international trade and litigation, to federal and state legislative responses, through to local effects including on Indigenous peoples. The lecturer is active in research and advice in climate change law and governance in the international and domestic law spheres.
The scientific basis for global warming and physical impacts of climate change
The international legal framework, including the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement and associated international instruments
Social and cultural impacts and legal responses, such as human rights protection
The schemes for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
The role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in climate change governance, particularly with respect to renewable energy technologies and the disciplining of fossil fuel subsidies
The interaction of climate change regimes with other international law frameworks; eg World Heritage, refugee law and security
The federal legislative framework for climate change mitigation and adaptation, including direct action plans, market mechanisms and carbon trading
State-based legislative and regulatory responses to climate change
Climate change regulation and its impact on corporate entities
Bio-sequestration and carbon capture and storage
The nature of climate change litigation
Construction Risk12.5
Risk and insurance are at the heart of all construction projects, yet their role and detailed provisions are often misunderstood, leading to significant losses and disputation. The already-sophisticated contracting landscape has, in recent years, been made significantly more complicated by the introduction of proportionate liability reforms. This subject will examine these issues with particular emphasis on how risk can be managed to minimise losses.
The lecturers are expert navigators in relation to these complex issues. They have leading-edge expertise in advising on risk, security for performance and insurance in the construction context.
Identifying risk in a construction project and how various industry participants (including principals, contractors, designers, professional advisers, insurers, security providers, and statutory and government authorities) may bear responsibility
Philosophies and commercial drivers affecting risk allocation in construction contracts and consultancy agreements, and how these are reflected in standard forms
Security for performance mechanisms, including cash retentions, unconditional undertakings, parent guarantees, insurance bonds, adjudication bonds and other instruments
Insurance products available to the construction industry (including public liability, works insurance, professional indemnity workers' compensation and domestic building insurance) and the law relating to them, including regulation by legislation, common law principles and treatment under standard-form construction contracts and consultancy agreements
Proportionate liability regimes (including Part IVAA of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic)) and their impact on contract risk allocation.
Disaster Law and Climate Adaptation12.5
Disaster Law and Climate Adaptation
The frequency and severity of 'natural' disasters, like flood, cyclone and bushfire, and longer term phenomena, such as drought and sea level rise, will increase as a result of climate change; posing major threats to settlements, infrastructure, natural resources and biodiversity. This subject covers the multi-scalar legal response to disasters involving international treaties and soft-law instruments, national and regional regulation, and private law (torts and contract), and encompassing climate change adaptation, emergency management, environmental liability, insurance and human rights. It will examine approaches to prepare for, avoid or minimise disaster impacts, and to respond effectively and equitably post-event. Relevant case studies are drawn from Australia and various comparative jurisdictions regionally and internationally.
This subject critically examines different legal approaches to avoid, mitigate and respond to natural disasters and relevant adaptation planning, emergency and natural resource management regimes.
An overview of disasters and climate change impacts, focusing on predicted changes to the frequency, intensity and geographical occurrence of natural hazards, and impacts on human settlements
Examination of the types of public and private planning and legal mechanisms at the local, state, national and international scale relevant to disaster management
International agreements and soft law, with case studies of their application to recent disaster events (eg liability regimes for oil and gas disasters and mining incidents; funding mechanisms for disaster risk reduction; instruments for the protection of persons in disasters)
Emergency management and adaptation planning in Australia, with selected case studies covering: coastal hazards: NSW coastal management and land-use planning regimes; bushfire: Victorian land-use planning, emergency management and recovery, and relevant compensation law for the 2009 bushfires and fires in open cut coal mines in the La Trobe valley in 2015; Flood: statutory planning and insurance regimes in Queensland, and the response to the 2011 floods; Drought: emergency water allocation management in urban and rural areas in south-eastern Australia
Comparative case studies in developed and developing countries, evaluating the transferability of legal principles (eg responses to drought and water scarcity in the western United States and southern Africa; coastal adaptation planning instruments in the US and United Kingdom; and typhoon readiness in South East Asia).
Environmental Rights12.5
With policy and law-makers under pressure to subordinate environmental concerns to short-term economic imperatives, environmental advocates are increasingly looking to human rights as a means of reinforcing the importance of environmental protection to human welfare. Domestic, regional and international human rights laws present a range of opportunities and challenges for addressing harms done to the environment. There are also a number of conceptual concerns with framing environmental issues in terms of human rights. Students will work as a class and in small groups to understand the relationship between human rights law and environmental protection at domestic, regional and international levels. The subject will provide insight into strategic aspects of human rights advocacy for the environment, using case studies to explore the roles of state and non-state actors in environmental protection and to consider a range of approaches in the different regions of the world. Resources drawing from academic, policy and advocacy material will be used to interrogate practical and critical perspectives on human rights law and environmental protection.
The relationship between human rights and the environment in theory and practice
Human rights that protect the environment, including general rights such as the rights to privacy, health and to information as well as specific rights 'to' and 'of' the environment
Domestic, regional and international governance of human rights in relation to the environment
Sustainable development and its relevance to issues of human rights and the environment in the different regions of the world
The implications of human rights law for indigenous peoples and environmental protection
The roles and responsibilities of non-state actors in relation to 'environmental rights', including environmental advocates and businesses
Channels for redress beyond formal legal mechanisms for people and for 'nature'.
International Environmental Law12.5
International environmental law is the field of public international law concerned with the protection of the natural environment, and those aspects of the built environment recognised as world cultural heritage. It is a vitally important branch of international law, seeking as it does to safeguard the environment on which humanity depends for its very existence. International environmental law seeks to integrate the activities of diverse actors—states, international organisations, businesses, communities and non-government organisations (NGOs) and uses a wide range of legal tools (including economic instruments and participatory mechanisms) to address pressing environmental concerns. This subject explores the critical governance and regulatory dimensions of international environmental law, as well as introducing you to cases and treaties that have been pivotal to the development of this area of international law. The lecturers in the subject are international environmental law experts, with both academic and practical experience in the field, which will be drawn into the delivery of a stimulating and relevant subject.
The need for international environmental law and its historical development
Fundamental principles and concepts necessary for an understanding of international environmental law, eg sustainable development, precautionary principle and 'polluter pays' principle
The principal institutions and actors involved in the creation, implementation and enforcement of international environmental law
The principal cases and treaties that have been influential in the development of international environmental law
Current issues of concern in international environmental law, including atmospheric pollution and climate change, the protection of the oceans, species protection and biodiversity, and international trade.
Planning and Building Sustainable Cities12.5
Planning and Building Sustainable Cities
The concepts of urban sustainability are driving the regulation of the built form of our increasingly large, complex and smart cities. The global sustainable development goals have also led urban regulators to embrace more participatory and innovative forms of governance for our society and economy.
This subject explores how those concepts apply in the regulation of planning and construction and the framework and governance for the development of smart, resilient and sustainable cities. In particular, it will focus on the role of municipal and state laws in achieving liveable communities.
The subject will cover the Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) Local Planning Policies and consider whether planning regulation in Victoria incorporates best practice in environmental assessment. It will explore the interesting tension between building and planning law and the respective contribution of each in driving sustainable outcomes.
Another component of this subject will follow the introduction of building information modelling (BIM) arising out of the architecture, engineering and construction management sectors. This topic offers a further but alternate perspective of shifting regulatory dynamics that pitch towards sustainability objectives, whether on built environment projects or across broad-scaled applications.
This subject has been designed for those interested in the intersection between planning and construction law and environmental law. The course includes guest lectures, visiting some of Melbourne's iconic green buildings and assessing urban planning initiatives, such as the Queen Victoria Market Redevelopment, for their contribution to the development of Melbourne as a sustainable city.
Sustainability in the city; exploring new ideas on what sustainable development means in an urban setting, policy priorities for sustainability, ideas of new governance for sustainability, and new economic and legal models to achieve sustainability outcomes
Green building and climate change developments, directions and policy, including resilience and risk
Urban planning and sustainability, including the use and role of land-use planning laws and local governance to achieve improved sustainability features in the built urban environment, focusing on Victorian laws
The broad regulatory setting for green buildings and urban sustainability, including a sustainability analysis of the National Construction Code
Sustainability rating tools for energy efficiency and the regulation of green buildings, through voluntary and mandatory schemes, including GreenStar and BASIX, and a comparison of green rating and standard tools in Australia (NABERS), the United States (LEED) and the United Kingdom and Europe (BREEAM)
An introduction to building information modelling (BIM) relative to sustainability opportunities and challenges, from construction projects and local and international policy perspectives
An applied case study analysis of how integrated sustainable urban construction law works in practice.
Politics of Transnational Regulation12.5
Politics of Transnational Regulation
From corporate self-regulation to multi-stakeholder certification, transnational private regulation is exploding. Multinational firms and powerful governments often succeed in exploiting the resulting overlaps and intersections amongst actors and institutions to bypass unattractive forums, shift decision-making to preferred arenas, shape outcomes in their favour and impose their desired rules on others. Marginalized equity-seeking actors such as workers, indigenous peoples, subsistence producers and industry-affected communities sometimes resist these efforts successfully. Rarely, they even exploit these overlaps and intersections to advance their own interests. Using real-world examples and cutting-edge interdisciplinary theory, the subject examines how powerful actors exploit transnational governance interactions in their favour and how these interactive dynamics can instead be harnessed to improve regulatory capacities, raise standards and empower weaker actors. The teacher heads the interdisciplinary Transnational Business Governance Interactions research network and is a leading scholar and practitioner of transnational private regulation.
Principal questions and topics to be addressed will include:
What is transnational private regulation? Definition, actors, institutions, processes, history, trends, examples and relation to domestic and international law
What are transnational governance interactions? Drivers, mechanisms, pathways, forms, impacts and spatio-temporal dynamics
How do powerful actors exploit transnational governance interactions to advance their interests and sometimes to frustrate transnational regulation?
When and how can transnational governance interactions be harnessed to enhance regulatory capacities, raise social and environmental standards, or empower weaker actors?
What legal and other theories and methodologies might help to explain, predict and evaluate these interactive dynamics?
What happened in selected cases of transnational governance interactions drawn from various sectors and issue areas including:
Indigenous Peoples' Rights
Social Responsibility Standards
Sports Mega-Events
What can be learned from these case studies? Implications for legal theory, practice, ethics and professionalism in a globalizing world.
Water Law & Natural Resources Management12.5
Water Law & Natural Resources Management
Water law and natural resources management are fundamental to human society, environmental protection and many aspects of economic productivity. Legal rules around water co-evolved with the development of many societies. Water is both necessary for life but also a source of conflict. This subject considers the international laws governing water, including principles addressing trans-jurisdictional water governance for major river systems. It canvasses emerging questions, such as whether there is a human right to water, and climate change impacts on water availability. It examines the development of common law rules around water allocation and water quality that retain an important role in water management. There is a major focus on indigenous water rights.
The general development of statutory-based water law, concentrating on the Australian federal and Victorian situation, provides the main case study of water law and governance. The subject examines the water law reforms leading to adoption of the national Water Act 2007, and covers the federal legislation, such as the development of environmental water regulation and water trading. It provides an examination of the Victorian water legislation, which explores catchment and natural resources management issues. The subject has a focus on groundwater and looks at impacts on groundwater due to mining and fracking. This subject covers urban water laws, with a focus on novel uses, such as water recycling and storm water capture.
International law and policy governing water, including examination of relevant treaties and conventions
Water rights: including human rights and cultural rights – especially those of Indigenous peoples
An overview of the current system of Australian statutory regimes for surface water and groundwater allocation and use
Australian national water and resource management reforms, including the National Water Initiative
The Water Act 2007 (Cth), including water trading and water planning
Environmental water regulation
Victorian water laws, including water authorities and governance models
Water quality: addressing point source and diffuse water pollution
Integrated catchment and natural resource management, including relevant catchment management legislation
Urban water laws, including alternative water uses such as stormwater, and innovative recycling models such as water-sensitive urban design.
Comparative Corporate Tax12.5
Comparative Corporate Tax
Globalisation is driving corporate tax systems closer together and often into conflict. For many tax practitioners, it is now not enough to know their own corporate tax system—they must grapple with and question the operation of other corporate tax systems. This subject seeks to develop an ability to understand and analyse any corporate tax system and assess its impact on corporate decision-making. With a dedicated textbook (written by the presenter), this subject compares a number of influential and archetypal corporate tax systems (both common law and civil law) and assesses their behaviour in the context of practical problems. For tax professionals, this subject develops an ability to ask direct and informed questions about a foreign corporate tax system and discuss that system at a high level with foreign tax professionals.
This subject will compare and analyse income tax law in selected countries (Australia, Germany, the US and the UK) and consider how these laws interface with corporate law. Other jurisdictions may also be covered briefly during the course and students are permitted to cover other countries in their research paper.
Identification of entities (including hybrids) subject to corporation tax
Corporate groups and service companies
Debt versus equity and dividend relief
Cross-border corporate income and dividends
Gains/losses on the disposal of shares, takeovers and trading in loss companies
Corporate formation, share buy-backs and liquidation
Bonus issues, convertible notes, mergers and demergers.
Comparative International Tax12.5
Comparative International Tax
This subject will provide a detailed comparative analysis of the principal topics in international taxation. The core principles of international income tax will be examined, with the different approaches taken by nations (developed, emerging, and developing countries) outlined and critiqued. The compatibility of international tax systems in dealing with international transactions will be examined, and key areas of mismatch and overlap identified. The ongoing reform of international tax rules under the O.E.C.D. Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project will be considered. This subject will equip students to analyse international tax issues using a comparative approach and to acquire a deep understanding of the underlying structural, institutional, and policy influences that have shaped international income tax systems. This knowledge is directly applicable to analysing international tax problems in any particular country.
Jurisdiction to tax (residence and source)
Taxation of foreign income of residents, including elimination of double taxation
Deductibility of expenses to earn dividends from foreign corporations
Controlled foreign company rules
Taxation of non-residents
Thin capitalisation rules
BEPS issues.
Current Issues in International Tax12.5
Current Issues in International Tax
In today's global, digital era, international tax is vitally important, and the environment is changing rapidly. Tax issues on diverse topics of cross-border work, consumption, deals and investments are important for taxpayers ranging from individuals to multinational corporations. Governments are increasingly cooperating on tax collection and enforcement, but spill overs from unilateral tax changes of some countries may dramatically affect other countries. Meanwhile, tax competition continues. Tax havens are being brought into the global net and anti-abuse rules are strengthened, yet low tax jurisdictions remain significant for international tax policy. This subject is led by international tax experts and brings academia, government and the profession together to explore the latest trends in international tax and implications for Australia and the world.
The subject will address the latest developments in tax practice and theory on a range of topics such as:
International tax principles: are residence and source still relevant?
OECD-G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting measures
Anti-abuse rules in a global digital era
Multilateral and bilateral cooperation: Is multilateralism the way of the future and how important are bilateral tax treaties?
Transnational tax administration and taxpayer rights
Processes and players in international tax reform
Future design of international tax rules for corporate, individual and consumption taxes in a global digital context.
Foundations of Tax Law12.5
Foundations of Tax Law
This core tax subject examines the fundamentals of taxation, with a focus on Australia's most important tax: the personal income tax. It engages with the tax law that is most relevant to legal and tax practice for individuals and businesses.
This subject equips students to interpret statutory tax rules and apply judicial approaches, and to understand the policy and implications of tax reform in this fast-changing and challenging area of law. Foundations of Tax Law is a required subject for international tax students and is recommended for all masters students who have had little previous study or experience in tax law and wish to gain a solid grounding in the area
Overview of federal and state taxes in Australia, how tax laws are made, sources of tax law, tax policy and design principles and reform
The structure of the income tax, concept of income and tax rates
Income tax law, including calculation of taxable income; definition of income from services, property and business, capital gains, deductions and treatment of business and investment assets
Overview of income tax of business and investment entities
Tax avoidance and evasion, and the general anti-avoidance rule.
International Tax: Principles, Structure12.5
International Tax: Principles, Structure
This core international tax subject is of central importance given Australia's ever-growing role in the global economy. This subject covers the fundamental international income tax rules that apply where income or capital gains are derived in circumstances that have a connection with Australia. It considers Australia's tax jurisdiction of residence and source, and relief from double taxation under domestic law and tax treaties. It also examines measures to prevent tax avoidance, such as controlled foreign company measures and transfer pricing.
This subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of Australia's international taxation regime. The subject will examine both the issues of tax design and policy, and the relevant provisions in the legislation, cases and rulings.
Principles of international taxation
Rules for determining residence and source
Domestic rules for the taxation of residents' foreign income (foreign income tax offsets, accruals taxation of foreign income and exemption of foreign income)
Domestic rules for the taxation of non-residents' Australian source income (business income, interest, dividends and royalties)
Introduction to tax treaties
Introduction to thin capitalisation rules.
Tax Policy12.5
All countries face the challenge of ensuring their tax systems are able to support effective governments in the global era of increasingly mobile capital and labour, and to establish effective, fair, simple and sustainable tax systems for the future. Australia has undergone a number of major tax reform exercises over recent decades and there is an ongoing public debate in Australia, as in other countries, about how to keep the tax system relevant in a changing international economy.
This subject engages with the fundamental fiscal policy issues of today for all levels of government. It will analyse the major tax bases available for governments, the interactions of tax law with the transfer system, the challenge of environmentally sustainable taxes and issues of tax law design, complexity and administration for the future. The subject is taught by Paul Tilley, a former Australian Treasury official with a long history of tax reform in Australia.
Introduction to macroeconomics and fiscal policy
Introduction to microeconomics and resource allocation policy
Principles, objectives and main concepts in tax policy formulation
The social, economic and historical – political contexts of tax policy formulation in Australia
Major issues in tax reform in Australia, including in relation to fiscal policy and revenue adequacy, the major tax bases at each level of government, interactions within the tax-transfer system and issues of tax policy design cost, complexity and administration.
Tax Treaties12.5
Globally, countries have negotiated more than 3,000 bilateral tax treaties and the number of treaties continues to grow. Tax Treaties provides an in-depth examination of international tax treaties, regarding both inbound and outbound investment. This subject uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Treaty and Commentary and examines important tax treaties of Australia and its major trading partners.
Associate Professor Michael Kobetsky has advised the United Nations (UN) and country governments on these issues. This lively, engaging and relevant subject equips students to deal with the most topical and advanced issues of international tax in the application and interpretation of tax treaties, including the meaning of permanent establishment and taxation of business profits, residence and source, the treatment of investment income, exchange of information and avoidance of double taxation.
The role of tax treaties in preventing double taxation and tax avoidance
Interpretation of tax treaties
Relationship between tax treaties and domestic law
Impact of tax treaties on investing in Australia
Impact of tax treaties on investing overseas
Entities and tax treaties
The mutual agreement procedure
Tax treaties and tax avoidance.
Transfer Pricing: Practice and Problems12.5
Transfer Pricing: Practice and Problems
International transfer pricing is the price charged for the cross-border transfer of assets or services between associated enterprises in a multinational enterprise group. Transfer pricing is consistently identified in international surveys of multinational enterprises as the most important tax issue they face. Multinational enterprises have to deal with demands from the various jurisdictions in which they operate as national tax agencies implement measures to protect their revenue from cross-border trade between associated entities.
This subject studies the Australian transfer pricing rules and their application. The Australian transfer pricing rules are based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Transfer Pricing Guidelines. This subject is designed for tax advisers, in-house tax managers and government officials, as well as those practising in transfer pricing. A background in transfer pricing is not required.
OECD guidelines on transfer pricing
Australia's tax legislation and tax rulings on transfer pricing
Australia's tax treaties and transfer pricing
Transfer pricing methodologies—selection and application for the following transactions in respect of tangible goods, intangible assets, services and financial transactions
Transfer pricing documentation requirements
Performing a comparable search (benchmarking)
Completing the transfer pricing section of the tax return
Risk reviews and audit approach.
Comparative Family Law12.5
Comparative Family Law
In an increasingly globalised world, it is no longer enough for lawyers to be familiar with only the law in their jurisdiction. This subject aims to develop a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of family law issues arising in many jurisdictions around the world, grounded in an Australian perspective. Based on a subject taught at the University of Cambridge, core areas of family law will be looked at in a comparative perspective that examines traditional statutory and judicial materials in the context of the specific legal, cultural and social traditions of each jurisdiction. Through this approach, the subject aims to encourage fresh insights on how we think about family law (including options for reform) as it operates in our 'home' jurisdictions, and to deepen our understanding, appreciation and working knowledge of family law as it operates elsewhere. The subject aims to leave students – including those not intending to practice in family law – better placed to identify relevant family law problems arising in national and international cases.
What is Comparative Family Law?
The relevance of gender in family law (particularly in relation to relationship recognition)
Legal recognition of adult relationships (including married, de facto and non-cohabiting couples; carers; non-conjugal relationships)
Property and maintenance on relationship separation
Financial agreements and private autonomy
Parentage and the right to know one's genetic heritage (including questions of medically assisted reproduction)
Parental responsibility/time.
Development, Labour and Human Rights12.5
Development, Labour and Human Rights
The proper role to be played by labour standards and human rights in the construction of the international economic order, and in the development process, is an intricate issue and a matter of controversy. This subject examines the relationship between (economic) development and labour law – exploring the place of rights within both investment and trade-led development models, and the contrasting social justice-based developmental approaches.
In investigating the role of labour law in development, this subject interrogates the rationales, content, institutions and regulatory frameworks relating to labour standards and human rights at regional and international levels. This entails not only a technical analysis of transnational instruments and supervisory structures but also detailed consideration of underlying political and economic concerns. Such regulatory frameworks for labour that have prevailed in the global 'North' have been the basis of transplantation and experimentation in the 'South', and might obscure the actual characteristics of labour relations in the 'South'. The subject examines the redefinition of labour law, paying close attention to North-South relations in the regulation of labour; to the relationship between labour rights and human rights; and to the limits of rights discourse.
Attention will be given to various case studies. Illustrative topics include:
Introduction: Re-imagining labour law for development
Labour and the turn to human rights discourse
The changing nature of work: informalisation, 'precariatisation', and the rise in low quality work
Defining labour in the global North and the global South: Unpaid labour, family employment and care work
Setting, supervising and enforcing international labour standards
'Core' labour rights and the International Labour Organisation
Development, free trade and labour rights: socio-economic rights as a condition of international trade
Competing regimes and norms on migrant labour
The regional and sub-regional dimension: the European Union, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Labour dimensions of codes of conduct, social labelling and investor initiatives: effectiveness and legitimacy
'Post-industrial' labour law in the global North and South: Alternative models of social protection and social justice, Universal Basic Income and employment guarantees
Energy Regulation and the Law12.5
Energy Regulation and the Law
Adequate, reliable and sustainable supplies of energy are crucial to modern societies, and their assurance demands the close and continuous involvement of governments. This subject explains the challenges—affordability, security of supply, safety, control of monopoly, sustainability in an age of global warming—that the economic and technical characteristics of different energy sources present to governments in Australia, and analyses the regulatory tools that they have at their disposal for responding to such challenges. It shows how the law can function both as an essential vehicle for such regulation and as a constraint on its content. The lecturer is a leading international authority on oil and gas law and has published extensively in the field of regulation.
The nature of regulation, its development in Australia and its relationship with law
General explanations and justifications for regulation
The techniques of regulation
Regulatory issues posed by the supply of different types of energy:
Mineral energies: coal, petroleum and uranium
Network energies: electricity, gas
The Australian federal environment for energy regulation. Two or more case studies of Australian energy regulation:
Electricity and gas: from state monopolies to regulated national markets
Mined energies: securing effective exploitation, managing resource conflicts
Renewable energies: regulatory incentives
Cross-cutting issues in energy regulation:
Regulatory authorities
Forms of regulation: prescription versus goal-based regulation; discretion versus rules; legislation versus contract
Regulatory review and evaluation.
Equality and Discrimination at Work12.5
Equality and Discrimination at Work
Discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace represent an overwhelming majority of total complaints made to anti-discrimination authorities. Equality and discrimination at work remain pressing concerns for employees, managers and, more broadly, for society. Achieving equality is elusive and, indeed, the very meaning of equality is highly contested.
This subject explores the legal meanings of equality, with a focus on the frameworks through which Australian parliaments have sought to address inequality, discrimination and harassment. It examines federal and state laws that deal with discrimination, including the four federal laws, the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) and the adverse action provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). Consideration is given to discrimination based on race, sex, disability, and pregnancy and family responsibilities. The lecturers in this subject combine many years of academic scholarship in this area, engagement in law reform debates and practical client-focused legal advice
This subject provides an examination of the development and current scope of Australian equality and discrimination law, as relevant in employment and work relationships. It will focus on federal and Victorian jurisdictions.
A study of the framework and key features of federal and state legislative provisions dealing with equality and discrimination in the employment context, including theEqual Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and theAge Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)
An examination of the general protection provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), including redress for certain types of adverse action
Debates regarding the meaning of equality, discrimination and other contested concepts such as choice, especially as choice relates to carer responsibilities
The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic), and its potential impact in the interpretation of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act
Conciliation, dispute resolution and remedies
Alternative regulatory regimes, including the National Employment Standards, equal remuneration provisions under the Fair Work Act, contract law and occupational health and safety issues such as bullying
Current processes of legislative revision at federal and state level
The potential for future developments in the field.
Fundamentals of the Common Law12.5
Fundamentals of the Common Law
Fundamentals of the Common Law is a foundational subject in the Melbourne Law Masters (MLM), which is compulsory for graduates in disciplines other than law and for law graduates from countries with a non-common law system. It provides students with an opportunity to acquire the foundational legal skills necessary for studying and working in a common law system, such as that in Australia.
The common law forms one of the two principal systems of Western law that, through colonisation, have spread throughout the world. Common law systems have a distinctive approach to understanding the sources of law, the role of law-making institutions, and processes for resolving disputes. These characteristics of the common law system have had a profound effect on the development not only of the societies in the countries in which it applied, but also on international law and practice.
The aim of this subject is to acquire basic foundational legal skills that will assist you with other subjects in the MLM program. The subject teaches students how to read, use and interpret reported cases and legislation. The subject explains the sources of law, what influences them, and how they influence the development of the common law. These aims are given in context of some contemporary debates on common law reasoning by assessing the role of the High Court of Australia. The subject focuses on developing skills in analysis and legal writing, the tools of the common lawyer
How to read and analyse a case
The concept and use of precedent
Evolution of a common law principle
Common law issues: judicial activism, separation of powers
The role of the High Court and an overview of the Constitution
The relationship between the Constitution, case law and statute law
Influences of other sources of law on the common law
How to read and analyse statutes
Approaches to statutory interpretation
Legal writing skills and expectations in the MLM program.
Global Commercial Contract Law12.5
Global Commercial Contract Law
This subject provides an introduction to the global law relating to international commercial contracts. A major focus will be on contracts of sales, as codified by the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). However, some issues of the general law of contract will also be covered in detail (eg formation, interpretation, third party rights, the duty of good faith and fair dealing). The treatment of some of these topics will be based on an examination of the 2016 UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC). The approach is comparative. Examples will be drawn from the decisions of national courts as well as arbitral awards.
Global commercial contracts
Applicability and application of the CISG and the PICC
Interpretation and supplementation of the CISG and the PICC
Contract formation
Interpretation of international commercial contracts
Obligations of sellers and buyers
Contractual remedies
Good faith and fair dealing
Transnational commercial dispute resolution.
Health Data Governance12.5
Health Data Governance
Data relating to an individual's physical and mental health and condition can reveal extremely sensitive information. Valuable health data also underpins improvements in health care and can be useful for other government and commercial purposes. How can the law protect the principle of medical confidentiality and enable the data flows necessary for a modern learning healthcare system, public health, and other public interest purposes?
Health privacy and data protection expert Mark Taylor considers the relevant law and governance in Australia and comparable jurisdictions. This subject will provide students with an advanced and specialised knowledge of health data governance, including relevant privacy and data protection law. It will invite critical consideration of relevant law benchmarked against the Recommendation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Council on Health Data Governance and other international standards.
Legal concepts of 'personal health data', 'identifiability', 'reasonable expectation' and 'public interest'
Transparency, informed consent, and respect for individual objection
Confidentiality and third-party access, including family members, researcher, public health and government
Feedback of incidental findings and the 'right not to know'
Oversight and approval mechanisms, with consideration of issues raised by increasing use of new techniques of machine learning and analysis of big data (including algorithmic accountability in health care context)
International transfer and cross-border cooperation.
Internat and Comparative Competition Law12.5
Internat and Comparative Competition Law
This subject will provide students with international and comparative insights into a field of growing significance to practitioners in Australia and the region. While the subject will focus on the federal antitrust law of the United States ('US') and the competition law of the European Union ('EU'), we will examine also the extent to which these two regimes provide models for other regimes, with particular attention paid to the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China '(PRC'). The subject will explore how competition laws are justified, and the extent to which different regimes converge and diverge, and the reasons for this. An understanding of the US and EU regimes will equip students to analyse the likely responses to anti-competitive actions in many other regimes, and the focus on China will be particularly useful to students within the Pacific region.
The policy foundations of, and history of approaches to, antitrust law in the US and competition law in the EU
The structure of the two regimes, the role of competition authorities, and the role of public and private enforcement
Comparative analysis of the substantive laws relating to agreements and multi-lateral anti-competitive conduct (s 1 of the Sherman Act, and article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ('TFEU'))
Comparative analysis of the approach taken to cartels, with an examination in particular of differing enforcement methods (civil and criminal)
Comparative approaches to the treatment of oligopolies, with particular reference to the concept of 'conspiracies' in the US, and 'concerted practices' in the EU
Comparative approaches to the control of monopolisation and dominant firm abuse (s 2 of the Sherman Act and article 102 of the TFEU), with particular reference to pricing conduct (excessive, predatory and discriminatory pricing practices)
The development, structure, and application of competition law in the PRC, including a consideration of the challenges facing new regimes
Comparative approaches to merger control in the US, EU and PRC, with particular reference to the establishment of jurisdiction, the operation of the substantive test, and the application of remedies
Jurisdiction, extra-territoriality, and bi-lateral and multi-lateral cooperation mechanisms in the application of competition law
International Construction Law12.5
International Construction Law
Cross-border construction contracting, and the avoidance and conduct of disputes, has a distinctive character and content. Lawyers and industry professionals need to be familiar with the differences between legal systems and the impact of statutory law, the key issues in the international financing and procurement of projects, the range of standard form international contracts available for various delivery methodologies, and the options for, and methods of dealing with, dispute resolution, along with the intricacies associated with those processes in an international context.
Discussion of the key differences between common law and civil law, and how they impact on the practice of construction law in different jurisdictions
The role of statute law applicable to the construction site, such as security of payment and mechanics' lien legislation
Key issues in the financing and delivery of international construction projects, including alternative financing such as PPP
Standard-form contracts for international construction projects (including the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) suite and variants promulgated by multilateral development banks)
The main distinctions of principle and practice between the prosecution, determination or resolution of construction disputes in different jurisdictions
An examination of international bodies dealing with the determination or resolution of international construction disputes
An introduction to the jurisdictional, applicable law and procedural framework for the prosecution, determination and enforcement of construction disputes through international arbitration
Identification and consideration of contractual and extra-contractual alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and dispute avoidance procedures (DAPs) in the context of international construction.
International Employment Law12.5
As labour and capital markets transcend domestic borders, the objectives of labour law can no longer be confined solely to actions within the nation state. The purpose of this subject is two-fold. First, to identify the diverse components of international employment and labour law, the institutions, the claims and the methods for advancing social protection to workers worldwide. This enquiry spans beyond traditional instruments that are associated with labour law, and includes trade law and corporate social responsibility. It further seeks to embed the study of legal instruments in the broader economic and sociological debates on globalisation. The second goal is to critically assess how international developments affect domestic labour law with a particular focus on the European Union, the United States, China and India.
The importance of the concept of globalisation in understanding national systems of labour regulation
The composition, powers and functioning of international organisations that regulate labour internationally, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Union (EU)
The relevance of different theories of international regulation
The usefulness of a comparative approach to labour law, including consideration of the major models of labour regulation like the Wagner Model in the United States and Canada
The role of intergovernmental and corporate codes of conduct in securing international labour standards
The emerging challenges posed by the use of migrant, contingent and precarious workers in the global economy
The success of adopting a human rights approach to labour regulation in the face of changes to domestic and international labour law frameworks.
International Financial System12.5
International Financial System
In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the visibility of finance and financial regulation has increased dramatically. This subject will provide an overview of the global financial system and international efforts to build structures to support its proper functioning. Taking an integrative approach, the subject will look at the evolution of the global financial system, its structure and regulation. In doing so, it will analyse financial crises, especially the GFC, and responses to it, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The historical evolution of the international financial markets from Bretton Woods to the present
Costs and benefits of internationalisation and globalisation of finance
International debt and derivatives markets
International prudential regulation and capital adequacy
The rise of emerging markets and their integration into the global financial system
Major international financial crises, their causes and implications
Regulatory responses to financial crises and mechanisms for crisis resolution
The international financial architecture and its evolution
The impact of technology on global finance and its regulation: FinTech and RegTech.
International Financial Transactions12.5
International Financial Transactions
The purpose of this subject is to give students an advanced and integrated understanding of the legal issues that arise in international financial transactions. This is achieved by looking at the principal transactions, analysing the ways in which they are structured and implemented, and identifying relevant legal issues. This subject provides students with an insight into cross-border transactions and the role of international finance lawyers. It is therefore of particular interest to lawyers practising or seeking to practise law in this area and also to lawyers and bankers in commercial and investment banks.
The regulation of international finance
Financing options: bank financing versus capital markets financing
Syndicated lending
Techniques of loan sales: novation, assignment and participation
Legal issues, including insolvency, security, the use of trusts, contractual rights and governing law
Transactions: derivatives, asset securitisation and project finance.
Internat.Issues in Intellectual Property12.5
Internat.Issues in Intellectual Property
Over the past two decades, the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) globally has become a major issue both for right holders and users, and one that has had profound implications in a number of important areas of public discourse, such as international trade, public health, education and research, national development and the promotion of biodiversity. This subject seeks to engage with all these issues, and begins with a discussion of the sources of international intellectual property (IP) law, including the principal IP treaties and the general architecture of the international IP system. It then considers a number of case studies where particular IP issues arise and where international solutions are presently being negotiated. It will also examine the growing tension between the territoriality of IPRs and the global scope of IP exploitation, considering how this clash plays out in the key area of private international law. Both lecturers have had extensive experience in international intellectual property matters, and bring to the subject both academic and practical perspectives that add greatly to its interest and relevance.
This subject consists of a survey of the economic, legal and political elements and forces that shape the international IP system.
Introduction to the international IP system, including the main producers and owners of IP, the institutional architecture and the treaty system, including those administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization (notably the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), and the emergence of bilateral and regional trade and investment protection treaties that have an impact on the protection of IP rights
Instruments and strategies for obtaining protection internationally—the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Madrid System, Hague System and regional systems
Human rights, IP and the development agenda
IPRs and public health
IPRs and food security
Biotechnology, access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge
Access to knowledge
The protection of names, marks and other identifiers and content, with particular reference to the internet
Dispute settlement and private international law issues.
International Lending12.5
International Lending
This subject involves the study and analysis of the structure, purpose and key provisions of cross border lending documentation, including large market standard syndicated credit agreements (governed by New York or English law). Students will focus on anticipating potential concerns and tensions in the negotiation process and will have the chance to review and study all the agreements and documents such as the credit agreement, other ancillary documents, schedules and deliveries that they will encounter in practice. Students will also study the structure and standard documents used in the cross-border repo market, one of the most important international capital markets.
Christian Johnson is the Dean and Professor of Law at Widener Commonwealth Law School in the United States. Dean Johnson has worked for large international law firms in New York and Chicago. In addition to teaching previously at Melbourne, he has taught lending and finance documentation to lawyers and bankers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Professor Johnson has his JD from Columbia Law School and is a CPA.
Study of the key interbank credit markets
Analysis of the various structures and purposes of different cross-border lending transactions
Discuss the key differences between New York and English law in lending transactions
Review of the key provisions and clauses found in cross-border lending documentation
Study of the key clauses found in New York/English guarantees
Analysis of the key legal, credit and business issues in repo transactions.
International Mineral Law12.5
International Mineral Law
The mining industry is international in character and many mining and exploration companies operate in multiple foreign jurisdictions. This subject examines the legal, fiscal and regulatory regimes that govern mineral exploration and production internationally, with a particular emphasis on exploration and mining in developing countries. It deals with the negotiation of mining development agreements with host governments, regulatory schemes and fiscal regimes, community agreements, principles of sustainability and international norms affecting the mining sector. The lecturer has extensive practical experience in mineral ventures in a number of different jurisdictions.
Mining development agreements
Mineral ownership
Legal structures
Exploration regimes
Fiscal regimes
Foreign investment controls
Marketing and financing issues
Communities and indigenous peoples
Land access issues
Sustainable development principles
International frameworks and norms applicable to mining.
International Petroleum Transactions12.5
International Petroleum Transactions
This subject considers the legal issues and structure of transactions relating to the exploration, production and marketing of petroleum that, owing to its economic and strategic importance, is the most important commodity traded worldwide. This subject will give students a detailed understanding of how crude oil and gas are exploited and marketed worldwide. It will cover how countries establish sovereignty over petroleum resources and how host governments or their national (state-owned) oil companies contract with private companies to explore and develop oil and gas resources. This subject also reviews and analyses key contracts among petroleum companies, and contracts between petroleum companies and petroleum-services contractors, that facilitate exploration, development and marketing of petroleum. As petroleum is one of the most politically charged commodities, this subject will also consider extra-territorial anti-corruption law and political risk. In a broader sense, this subject will help students develop better analytical skills—especially the ability to critically evaluate contracts.
Host government contracts
Joint bidding, confidentiality, exploration and farmout agreements
Joint operating and unitisation agreements
Managing and contracting to avoid corruption problems
Managing and allocating risk in service contracts.
International Sustainable Finance12.5
International Sustainable Finance
Is sustainable finance the answer to climate change, poverty and inequality? The purpose of this subject is to immerse students in sustainable finance in international practice, from micro-finance to green bonds, renewable energy and refugee financing. Across these markets, key legal concepts, structural features and documentation are covered in detail. By engaging in-depth, through term sheet negotiations, the students jointly develop the skills to assess, prioritise, challenge and negotiate these transactions.
The subject coordinator draws on his own experience in global sustainable finance, and invites experts from international law firms and consultant, to help you become 'more than a lawyer'.
This innovative subject will combine classroom teaching with online learning. Students will be expected to attend four days in class and participate in online learning prior to the subject being taught.
The Sustainable Development Goals, their evolving regulatory framework, their implementation by banks, funds and corporates in international practice
Development Finance, the actors and the law, covering such diverse issues as sanctions law, immunities and aspects of state aid, as well as environmental and social law in financial transactions
Understanding the structural features of international financial transactions with a focus on sustainability
Inclusive finance, through microfinance, gender finance and small and medium enterprise (SME) lending, and relevant regulation
Green bonds, SDGs bonds and social impact bonds, furthering sustainability the capital markets
Local currency financing as a means for derivatives to provide sustainable development
Legal aspects of renewable energy project finance
Impact investing (private equity and funds)
Examples of structured sustainable finance, for instance through refugee finance, vaccine bonds, drought risk transfer and microfinance securitisation
Examples of litigation in sustainable finance, for instance the risk of mis-selling 'green' products, and legal means to address this risk in documentation as well as through strategic means.
Regulation of Health Practitioners12.5
Regulation of Health Practitioners
Over the past few years there have been profound changes in the regulation and registration of the health professions. Fifteen professions are now included in a national scheme and others may join them. All of the registered professions are covered by the same legislation for accreditation, registration and the monitoring of practice, to ensure that standards are maintained to protect the public. More than 700,000 health practitioners are registered under the national scheme and, when it was adopted in July 2010, 66 acts of parliament were repealed and about 85 health professional boards were abolished. This subject will provide a detailed examination of the scheme, which has centralised the disciplinary process, with the state and territory registration bodies acting under delegated authority from the federal board. The subject will also provide an understanding of how health practitioners, their employers and educators can report 'notifiable conduct' of practitioners to the national regulator, and how healthcare consumers (patients) can lodge a 'notification' about the practice of a health practitioner. The course will scrutinise the concept of revalidation, and the health, fitness/character, performance and conduct pathways, analysing the factors that lead to different forms of disciplinary findings and determinations for different forms of problematic conduct, including sexual misconduct and serious error. It will examine what differentiates permissible from impermissible advertising, will evaluate how unregistered practitioners are now regulated and will explore how registered, unregistered and deregistered practitioners' conduct is regulated by consumer protection legislation.
Legal requirements for accreditation, registration and monitoring of practice of health practitioners in Australia
The process and grounds for disciplinary action
An examination of specific disciplinary proceedings against health practitioners, looking at issues of conduct, health, performance and fitness
A comparison of disciplinary proceedings and other legal action against health practitioners
Analysis of the regulatory mechanisms applicable to unregistered practitioners
An evaluation of the new registration scheme and its operation to date
A review of consumer protection actions that can be taken against health practitioners, both those who are registered and those who are not.
Sports Integrity and Investigations12.5
Sports Integrity and Investigations
Sport is renowned for embodying some of the highest and most inspiring of human ideals. Few other pursuits activate the passion with which sport is played and followed. For many people, sport delivers release from the shady aspects of life. This shining image is threatened by corrupt practices around doping, match-fixing and other activities; some with links to illegal gambling and organised crime. Also, the holding of public inquiries into questionable incidents and behaviour occurring in the context of sport can have an adverse impact.
Sport bodies and governments around the world are taking legal and regulatory steps to counter these threats. This subject will explore the new frontier of sports law, from criminal laws to mandatory information sharing and monitoring arrangements, and onto the establishment and processes of inquiries. With an understanding of the international legal order around 'integrity' and sports investigations, students will be well-placed to contribute to this emerging field both practically and academically.
Between them, the lecturers have extensive knowledge and industry experience in sports law, anti-doping, investigations and governance.
Principal topics include at both national and international levels:
Nature and meaning of integrity in sports competition and governance including historical and empirical perspectives
The criminalisation of the manipulation of sporting outcomes
The legal regulation of gambling on sport and its relationship to integrity
Regulatory measures of sports bodies to address manipulation of sporting outcomes
Doping and the criminal law
The structure and role of investigative and enforcement bodies such as ethics commissions and integrity units
The establishment and conduct of inquiries into sports activities and bodies
Powers of investigation and information-sharing of sports bodies and relevant government authorities with particular emphasis on doping and the manipulation of sporting outcomes.