Public Law Events Roundup December 2022
Welcome to the December edition of the AUSPUBLAW Australian Public Law Events Roundup. We would firstly like to draw your attention to the following opportunities:
Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy Essay Competition
Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy
Competition closes: 31 December 2022The ASLP Essay Competition is designed to encourage original research and writing in legal theory and philosophy of law by early career scholars around the world. The author of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of AU$1,000, plus a contribution of up to AU$500 towards the cost of attendance at the Society’s annual conference to present the essay as a paper.
The competition is open to students currently enrolled in a postgraduate degree program (Master or Doctoral) in any discipline. Graduates in one discipline reading for a first degree in a different discipline (such as a Juris Doctor) are not eligible.
Submissions may be on any topic in legal theory or the philosophy of law. Essays must be in English and not exceed 15,000 words (including notes, references, headings, etc).
It is a condition of being awarded the ASLP Essay Prize that the winning essay be submitted for publication in the next issue of the Journal of Legal Philosophy. Note that the essay will still need to go through the review process and that publication is not guaranteed.
The deadline for the 2022 Competition is 31 December 2022. Please submit your entry here. Please send any enquiries about the Competition to the ASLP President, Dr Kevin Walton.
For more information, click here.
SCIL Student Writing Competition
Sydney Centre for International Law, Sydney Law School
Competition closes: 9 January 2023SCIL is organizing a student writing competition to be held in conjunction with the SCIL’s annual International Year in Review Conference 2023. SCIL is pleased to offer a prize of AUD $1000 to the competition winner and the offer of publication of the winning paper on the SCIL website. Submissions should bear some relationship to either:
1. Armed conflict in Ukraine
or2. Interstate dispute settlement (ISDS). The best papers will focus on the events of 2022. There is no requirement that papers discuss Australian law.
The writing competition is open to all persons enrolled on 1 March 2023 in a program of higher education leading to a degree in law (including but not limited to the J.D., LL.B., LL.M. or S.J.D.). Applicants may be of any nationality and may be affiliated with degree-providing institutions located in any country.
Submissions must be in English and between 5000 and 7000 words in length, including all headers, footnotes, etc.
For more information, click here.
The Nine Dots Prize
The Kadas Prize Foundation
Submissions close: 23 January 2023The Nine Dots Prize is a prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary societal issues. Entrants are asked to respond to a question in 3,000 words, with the winner receiving US$100,000 and a book deal with Cambridge University Press to write a short book expanding on their ideas. The aim of the Prize is to promote, encourage and engage innovative thinking to address problems facing the modern world.
The question for the 2023/2024 cycle is: ‘Why has the rule of law become so fragile?’
Entrants must respond to the set question in 3,000 words and provide an outline showing how they would expand their response into a short book of between 25,000-40,000 words, backed up with relevant research and evidence. The winner will receive editorial support from Cambridge University Press as well as the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), at Cambridge University, to help develop their ideas and focus on their writing.
The Nine Dots Prize is open to anyone worldwide aged 18 years or over writing in English. Entries must be submitted via the online submission form by midday (GMT) on Monday 23rd January 2023. The winner will be announced in May 2023.
For more information, and to make a submission, click here.
Remember, if you have an AUSPUBLAW opportunity, conference or significant public lecture that you would like included in this roundup, please contact us at auspublaw@unsw.edu.au. The roundup is published once a month on the first business day of the month, so please let us know in time for that deadline. We are grateful to Kelly Yoon for compiling this roundup.
Schools, Blood, Guns, & Bombs: Education in Myanmar’s Pro-Democracy Struggle
Australian National University College of Law
Date: 1 December 2022
Time: 11:00am-12:30pm (AEDT)
Location: OnlineFollowing the military coup of February 2021, Myanmar’s education system became a host for civil disobedience protests, with teachers and students protesting the country’s state-run schools. The military, or Tatmadaw, responded by occupying campuses and prosecuting teachers and students. In the time since 2021, the Tatmadaw has escalated its violence, including schools among the targets in its attacks against pro-democracy resistance. The webinar hosts Myanmar natives providing 1st-person accounts of their experiences in the education system amidst Myanmar’s pro-democracy struggle. The webinar addresses the challenges facing teachers and students in Myanmar’s ongoing conflict, and the ways international aid efforts can navigate the ethical and legal challenges of rendering assistance.
Speakers:
- Dr Ka Lok Yip, Associate Professor, Hamad Bin Khalifa University
- Dr Su Yin Htun, Civil Disobedience Movement Professor, International Affairs Department of the Ministry of Education
- Yamin (pseudonym), former Professor in Myanmar until the military coup
Moderator: Dr Jonathan Liljeblad, Associate Professor, ANU College of Law
For more information, and to register, click here.
The Inaugural Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Panel: The Promise and Pitfalls of a Marketised NDIS
Sydney Law School
Date: 1 December 2022
Time: 6:00-7:30pm (AEDT)
Location: Law Lounge, Level 1, New Law Building Annex (F10A), Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney (Camperdown Campus)Supported by the Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Fund, Sydney Law School’s annual panel discussion closely examines a legal issue in its socio-cultural context, with social justice and human rights considerations central to the discussion.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) holds great promise for improving the lives of people living with disability, but due to its marketised structure it also has a number of pitfalls. To discuss this difficult policy issue, this year’s panel brings together a range of perspectives:
- Professor Emeritus Ron McCallum AO, Former Dean, Sydney Law School
- Dr Angela Jackson, Lead Economist, Impact Economics and Policy
- Deborah Connors, NDIS client
- Giancarlo de Vera, Senior Manager of Policy, People with Disability Australia
The panel discussion will be facilitated by Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Ben Gauntlett.
The discussion will be followed by audience questions, refreshments, and presentation of the Inaugural Kim Santow Law and Social Justice Essay Prize.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Book Launch - Transitional Justice for Israel/Palestine: Truth-Telling and Empathy in Ongoing Conflict
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law; Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University
Date: 1 December 2022
Time: 7:30-9:00pm (AEDT)
Location: Jewish Museum of Australia, 26 Alma Road, St Kilda, VIC 3182Monash University's Castan Centre for Human Rights Law and the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation invite you to the launch of Dr Jeremie Bracka's new book, Transitional Justice for Israel/Palestine: Truth-Telling and Empathy in Ongoing Conflict (Springer, 2022).
Around the globe, diverse societies have pursued truth-telling, restorative justice and reconciliation to end conflict. Yet the language of transitional justice has been all but absent in Israel/Palestine. Until today, peacebuilding is framed in practical and territorial terms alone. What’s more, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has overshadowed justice for the Middle-East.
Rather than avoid questions of memory, the past and human rights, Bracka seeks to address how transitional justice could contribute to conflict transformation and accountability. The book covers the most important historical and legal issues facing Israel/Palestine today with a focus on civil societies in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Latin America. Ultimately, Bracka designs an unofficial Israeli-Palestinian Truth and Empathy Commission (IPTEC) to address gross human rights abuses committed by both nations.
Speaker: Dr Jeremie M Bracka, Australian-Israeli human rights lawyer and academic at Monash University
Discussants:
- Dr Daniel Heller, Kronhill Senior Lecturer in East European Jewish History, Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation
- Professor Melissa Castan, Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law
- Dr Joanna Kyrikakis, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash University
- Caitlin Reiger, CEO, Human Rights Law Centre
For more information, and to register, click here.
Australian Law Reform Commission Inaugural Michael Kirby Lecture
Australian Law Reform Commission
Date: 5 December 2022
Time: 5:00pm (AEDT)
Location: Online via live streaming and In person at Federal Court of Australia, 305 William Street, MelbourneThis annual lecture celebrates the law reform legacy of the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG both as the inaugural Chairman of the ALRC and as one of Australia’s leading jurists.
The 2022 keynote address will be delivered by the Attorney-General of Australia, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Protecting the Press from Search and Seizure: Comparative Lessons for the Australian Reform Agenda
Centre for Media and Communications Law, University of Melbourne
Date: 8 December 2022
Time: 5:30-7:00pm (AEDT)
Location: MinterEllison, Collins Arch, Level 20/447 Collins Street, MelbourneThe Federal Government has committed to law reform to protect press freedom in police investigations. But what form should this protection take? Presently, Australia lags behind comparable nations in providing even a bare minimum level of protection for the press against search and seizure. In contrast, Canada, the US and the UK provide robust safeguards through dedicated statutory regimes, while New Zealand is in the process of introducing enhanced protections. At this event, Associate Professors Rebecca Ananian-Welsh and Jason Bosland will draw upon the Canadian and UK models to set out an appropriate and workable ‘blueprint’ for reform in Australia.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Julius Stone Address: The Legal Experience of Injustice
Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence, Sydney Law School
Date: 8 December 2022
Time: 6:00-7:30pm (AEDT)
Location: University of Sydney (Camperdown Campus)In The Faces of Injustice, Judith Shklar criticizes the ‘normal model’ of justice which views injustice as ‘a prelude to or a rejection and breakdown of justice, as if injustice were a surprising abnormality’. Her central insight is that ‘the real realm of injustice … does not stand outside of the gates of even the best known of states. Most injustices occur continuously within the framework of an established polity with an operative system of law in normal times.’ She also offers a second, Hobbesian insight: ‘[w]ithout juridical institutions and the beliefs that support them, there can be no decent, just, or stable social relations, but only anxiety, mutual mistrust, and insecurity’.
Professor David Dyzenhaus argues that certain kinds of injustice are inconsistent with an operative system of law since they create tensions within the ‘jural community’, the community of persons subject to law, that it must resolve to remain operative. Professor Dyzenhaus shows how systems of law offer a legal resource that makes resistance to certain kinds of injustice possible and thus the practice of human rights lawyering. However, at the same time we see that all involved in maintaining an operative system of law, including human rights lawyers and their clients, participate in legitimising the system. Here Professor Dyzenhaus suggests that Shklar underestimated the ability of the legal theories of three important exemplars of the normal model of justice, H.L.A. Hart, Lon Fuller and Ronald Dworkin, to illuminate different aspects of the experience of injustice.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Annual Harry Evans Lecture: Law and Border - Who Has the Power to Control Movement Across State Borders?
Procedure and Research Section, Australian Senate
Date: 9 December 2022
Time: 12:15-1:15pm (AEDT)
Location: Main Committee Room, Parliament HouseThe Constitution says that ‘intercourse among the States … shall be absolutely free’. When the Commonwealth tried to stop Dulcie Johnson crossing state borders to see her fiancé one last time before he headed off to war in World War II, it failed. When Western Australia closed its border to Clive Palmer during the COVID pandemic, it succeeded.
What powers do the Commonwealth and the states have to close state borders? If a state closes its border, could the Commonwealth override the state and force the border to open? This lecture will explore the difficult question of who really controls freedom of movement across Australia.
The annual Harry Evans Lecture commemorates the service to the Senate of the longest serving Clerk of the Senate, Harry Evans.
Speaker: Professor Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Sydney
For more information, and to register, click here.
Responsive Judicial Review? A Global Judicial Dialogue
Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, University of New South Wales; ICON-S Australia-New Zealand
Date: 12 December 2022
Time: 1:00-2:30pm (AEDT)
Location: Online and In person at UNSW Staff Common Room (Level 2, Law & Justice Building, UNSW)Apex courts worldwide are charged with interpreting quite different constitutional documents, and in very different social and political contexts. Yet they face a range of common challenges – including the challenge of situating their role within the context of a commitment to democracy and constitutionalism. This seminar explores how they approach this dilemma, and what if any guidance they can gain in doing so by thinking about their role through a “responsive” constitutional lens.
Hosted by the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and ICON-S Australia-New Zealand, it features Professor Rosalind Dixon in conversation with Justice Stephen Gageler (High Court of Australia), Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud (Chief Justice of India), Justice Luís Roberto Barroso (Supreme Court of Brazil) and former Justice Manuel Cepeda (Constitutional Court of Colombia), about her forthcoming book Responsive Judicial Review: Democracy and Dysfunction in the Modern Age and will be chaired by Professor Lisa Burton Crawford.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Twenty-fourth Geoffrey Sawer Lecture - Human Rights: Beyond Tragedies and Atrocities
Centre for International and Public Law, Australian National University
Date: 13 December 2022
Time: 5:30-7:00pm (AEDT)
Location: ANU College of Law Moot Court, 6A Fellows Road, ActonThe tragic and the atrocious have come to define our understanding of human rights and especially the system that has been designed to promote human rights and exact accountability. The result is itself a tragedy because it distorts the institutional responses, consumes most of the available institutional and other resources, distracts attention away from issues that should be seen to be at least as troubling and urgent, and leaves in its wake an impoverished notion of human rights. It is not by accident that we have gone down this path, and it will only be through an honest diagnosis and a determination to do things very differently in the future that the international human rights regime will start to provide answers to the most pressing problems of our time and be capable of mobilizing the political base that is an indispensable element of a successful regime.
Speaker: Philip Alston AO, former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (2014-20) and on extrajudicial executions (2004-10)
For more information, and to register, click here.
CCCS Global Public Law Seminar Series: Post-Soviet as Post-colonial
Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, University of Melbourne
Date: 13 December 2022
Time: 5:30-7:00pm (AEDT)
Location: OnlineWhat is the relationship between post-colonial theory and constitutionalism? What role does the construction of history play in this interaction? This seminar will discuss these questions in the context of William Partlett and Herbert Kupper’s new book, The Post-Soviet as Post-Colonial: A New Paradigm for Understanding Constitutional Dynamics in the Former Soviet Empire. It will address three main questions.
First, what is the relationship between post-coloniality and the fifteen post-Soviet states? Why have these post-Soviet states been ignored in post-colonial theory? What does this region teach us about post-colonial theory generally? For instance, what role does historical memory play in the post-coloniality of the region?
Second, how has post-coloniality shaped constitutionalism in the former Soviet states? What role has it played in informing constitutional interpretation and change? For instance, does post-coloniality always aid or hinder democratic constitution-building or will it depend on the context?
Third, what does the post-Soviet region teach us about post-colonial theory and comparative constitutional studies? What similarities and differences do we see between post-colonial constitutionalism in the former Soviet republics and other former colonial spaces? For instance, what role does constructions of history play in post-colonialism?
Presenters:
- Dr Maria Mälksoo, Senior Researcher, Centre for Military Studies, University of Copenhagen
- Armen Mazmanyan, Director, Apella Institute for Policy Analysis and Dialogue
- Dr Dinesha Samararatne, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Associate Professor William Partlett, Melbourne Law School
For more information, and to register, click here.
2022 Wallace Wurth Lecture - Behrouz Boochani: Freedom, Only Freedom
UNSW Centre for Ideas; Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law; Refugee Advice & Casework Service
Date: 13 December 2022
Time: 6:30-7:45pm (AEDT)
Location: Roundhouse, UNSW Sydney (Kensington Campus)Join Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani live, for his first ever visit to Australia.
If it weren’t for the consecutive Australian government’s inhuman treatment of refugees; Behrouz Boochani wouldn’t be a household name. The Kurdish-Iranian journalist spent six years languishing in offshore immigration detention, during which time he witnessed those seeking asylum being exposed to conditions that grossly violated international refugee law.
Freedom, Only Freedom, is a new book which features the prison writings of Boochani; this collection is translated and edited by from his long-time translators and collaborators Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi. The editors weave Boochani's critical prose with essays from experts on refugee rights, politics, literature and history to further unpack this harrowing experience.
Following an introduction by Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi, Boochani will share his stories of resilience and shed light on the shameful refugee policies that the Australian government continues to endorse, following which he will be in conversation with human rights lawyer Madeline Gleeson.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Lobbying Regulation in Australia: Where We Are Now and Options for Reform
Electoral Regulation Research Network; University of Western Australia Public Policy Institute; University of Western Australia Law School
Date: 14 December 2022
Time: 5:00-6:00pm (AWST)
Location: Online and In person at Law Lecture Theatre (LAWS106), University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009Join us for a history of Australian lobbying regulation and changes needed to ensure transparency.
Although lobbying is integral to democratic representation, there are concerns regarding the undue influence of professional lobbyists, which may ultimately lead to corrupt conduct by lobbyists and/or officials. This seminar explores the history and evolution of lobbying regulation in Australian federal and state jurisdictions. It also considers the effectiveness of lobbying regulation and makes recommendations for reform towards achieving transparency, political equality and fairness.
Associate Professor Yee-Fui Ng (Monash University) will unpack the history of Australian lobbying regulation and what changes are needed in this space to ensure a transparent and level-playing field. Chaired by Professor Sarah Murray, the seminar will provide a forum for interactive discussion about this important issue and how lobbying regulation can best ensure integrity in government.
For more information, and to register, click here.
Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era
Centre for International and Public Law, Australian National University
Date: 14 December 2022
Time: 5:30-7:30pm (AEDT)
Location: Australian Centre for China in the World Lecture Theatre, Building 188, Fellows Lane, ActonThis public lecture by Professor Peter Danchin (University of Maryland) and Professor Shruti Rana (Indiana University) with commentary from Professor Philip Alston AO (New York University) seeks to address the fundamental problem of how to reconceive engagement by states with the international legal order in the face of a sustained populist backlash. The ARC funded project ‘Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era’ based at the ANU College of Law and led by Chief Investigators Professor Jeremy Farrall, Professor Jolyon Ford and Associate Professor Imogen Saunders will also be launched at this event.
Refreshments from 5.30pm with the lecture to start at 6pm.
For more information, and to register, click here.
2023 Constitutional Law Conference
Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, University of New South Wales Law & Justice
Date: 10 February 2023
Time: 8:45am-7:00pm (AEDT)
Location: Online and In personThe hybrid conference will feature discussions of important developments in the High Court, Federal Court and state courts and provide an overview of the key public law debates in 2022. The conference will include papers on the separation of powers, the implied freedom of political communication, privacy, protective detention, discrimination law, inconsistency between state and federal legislation, and government powers with respect to citizenship, alienage and deportation.
The conference will be addressed and attended by leading judges, academics, barristers and government lawyers. The conference will be held in hybrid format, with attendees able to attend in person (100pax capacity; first come, first served) or online via Zoom. The in-person element of the conference will be held at the offices of Gilbert + Tobin in Barangaroo, Sydney. There will be multiple opportunities for informal interaction throughout the day, both in-person and online. A cocktail party will be hosted at Gilbert + Tobin in Sydney, and smaller cocktail events in most other major cities for those attending remotely. Details will be forward to online attendees closer to the date.
Session 1: The High Court on Constitutional Law in the 2022 term
Session 2: The State and Federal Courts on Constitutional Law in the 2022 term
Session 3: Rights, Freedoms and Chapter III
Session 4: Citizenship, Alienage and Deportation
Session 5: The Evolution of Public Law
There is a fee for this event. Academics and NGO lawyers will receive a 50% discount when using code ACADEMIC50 at checkout. If you are experiencing financial hardship and unable to purchase a ticket please contact gtcentre@unsw.edu.au.
For more information, and to register, click here.