Upcoming events

Read our monthly round up of upcoming public law events, including conferences, seminars and calls for papers

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 by 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.

Competitions and calls for papers

1 April 2024

The John Nethercote Prize in Australian Constitutional Law
The Samuel Griffith Society
Competition closes: 1 April 2024
Conference date: 24-26 May 2024
Conference location: Sheraton Grand Mirage, Gold Coast

The competition provides a prestigious platform for all Australian residents aged 35 years and under, as well as all students currently enrolled in an undergraduate or Juris Doctor program at an Australian university. The winning entry will be awarded the John Nethercote Prize, including:

  • $500 cash prize and one-year paid membership of The Society,

  • Paid flights, accomodation, and entry to the 2024 Samuel Griffith Society Conference, at the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort on the Gold Coast,

  • A certificate presented by the Hon Ian Callinan AC, KC at the Conference.

  • Publication of the winning essay in Volume 34 of 'Upholding the Australian Constitution' (Austlii)

A number of shortlisted runners-up will also be recognised at the Conference and presented with certificates and all eligible entrants will automatically be considered for student scholarships to attend.

Entrants are asked to submit an essay of up to 1,500 words, on the above topic, in Word format.

Submissions are due by close of business (5 pm AEDT) on Monday 1 April 2024 by email to Natalie Litsas at contact@samuelgriffith.org.au.

For more information, click here.

1 June 2024

Saunders Prize for Excellence in Scholarship in Constitutional Law
Australian Association of Constitutional Law (AACL)
Nominations close: 1 June 2024

Nominations are open for the 2024 Saunders Prize. The winner of the Saunders Prize in 2024 will be awarded $1,000. Nominations should take the following form:

  • A nominated article should be sent by way of e-mail attachment to the AACL Council at secretariat@aacl.asn.au (with the subject line “Saunders Prize”).

  • The article should be in the form in which it was published. Manuscripts in other forms will not be accepted.

  • In addition, a covering letter should be included containing the details of the nominating party and (if different) the article’s author. The covering letter should also confirm that the article was published in an Australian legal journal in 2023.

  • An article may be nominated by an individual or by a law journal. However, each individual and each law journal is limited to one nomination.

The Judging Panel for the Prize in 2024 is yet to be fixed.

It is expected that the last dates for nominations will be 1 June 2024.

For more information, click here.

1 October 2024

Human Rights Law Essay Prize
Human Rights Law Association
Entries close: 1 October 2024

The Human Rights Law Essay Prize is awarded to the applicant who produces the most original contribution on the annual topic related to human rights law in Australia.

The recipient of the Human Rights Law Essay Prize will be selected by a judging panel appointed by the committee of the Human Rights Law Association. The winner will be announced close to Human Rights Week in December and will receive a prize of $1000.

2024 topic: “It has been said that the success of domestic human rights instruments in protecting and promoting human rights depends on a robust human rights culture in the public sector. To what extent does the protection and promotion of human rights also depend on a human rights culture in the legal profession and how can such a culture be fostered in the legal profession in Australia?”

To be eligible, the paper must be either unpublished or published in the current or previous calendar year. The word count must not exceed 8,000 words. Anyone who resides in Australia can apply – students, practitioners, academics and others.

For more information, click here.

Conferences and seminars

29 April 2024

Artificial Intelligence and Legislative Power
Australian Association of Constitutional Law
Date: 29 April 2024  
Time: 1.00-2.00pm (AEST) 
Location: Online

Please join the Australian Association of Constitutional Law for a lunchtime webinar on Artificial Intelligence and Legislative Power on Monday, 29 April 1pm-2pm AEST!

With generative artificial intelligence growing in prominence, how might artificial intelligence be used in the drafting of legislation? What are the potential risks and opportunities? Can it work? And, importantly, should it be used?

Chair: Professor Luke Beck (Monash University | Victorian Convenor AACL)

Speakers:

  • To be confirmed will offer a practitioner perspective on the potential role of artificial intelligence.

For more information, and to register, click here.

30 April 2024

Proportionality under Australian State-level human rights statutes
Human Rights Law Association
Date: 30 April 2024  
Time: 5.15-7.00pm (AEST) 
Location: Banco Court, QEII Courts of Law Complex, 415 George St, Brisbane City QLD 4000, Australia

Join us in the Banco Court in Brisbane at our inaugural event to launch the Human Rights Law Association. We are excited to hear from our new patron, the Hon Pamela Tate AM KC, who will speak about the role of proportionality under Australia’s human rights instruments. The Hon Justice Peter Applegarth AM is chairing the evening and Professor Sarah Joseph, a human rights scholar from Griffith University, will respond to the paper, with time for questions, before refreshments.

There is a fee for this event.

For more information, and to register, click here.

2 May 2024

Legal Futures: Where Should Artificial Intelligence Take Us?
University of Queensland; Bar Association of Queensland; Supreme Court Library Queensland
Date: 2 May 2024  
Time: 5.15-6.45pm (AEST) 
Location: The Banco Court, Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, 415 George Street, Brisbane

Evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence systems in prediction and content generation are impressive and sometimes surprising.

In light of this, it is tempting to reduce recruitment and start contemplating a world of avatar judges delivering automated justice based on documents authored through the use of large language models fine-tuned on the wealth of legal documents held in large law firms and the corpus of statutes and case law. Before rushing towards such a future, we should pause to consider both what might be gained (and the skills we will need to achieve that) as well as what would be lost.

Only after that can we approach some important questions: What skills will we need to provide legal services and operate legal institutions optimally in light of the capabilities afforded by developments in artificial intelligence? And, more importantly, how do we ensure that the core purposes and functions of our legal system are preserved by recognising the limits of simulation?

Chair: The Hon Justice James Edelman, High Court of Australia

Commentator: Dr Robert Mullins, The University of Queensland, TC Beirne School of Law

Presenter: Professor Lyria Bennett Moses, University of New South Wales

For more information, and to register, click here.

3 May 2024

Senate lecture series: The future of federal financial relations following Vanderstock
Procedure and Research Section, Department of the Senate
Date: 3 May 2024  
Time: 12.15-1.15pm (AEST) 
Location: Theatre, Parliament House, Canberra

This lecture brings together two constitutional law experts to discuss the implications of the High Court decision in Vanderstock v Victoria.

Professor Anthony Gray will discuss the recent Vanderstock decision in the context of the broader question of the future of federal financial relations in Australia. Most would agree that the existing federal financial arrangements are unsatisfactory in one way or another. There is less consensus on what reforms should occur and/or whether substantial reform is even possible. Australia requires a mature discussion about the allocation of responsibilities between different levels of government, and then a mature discussion about providing the respective levels with adequate sources of revenue that are efficient and equitable. Professor Gray's presentation will offer some ideas for consideration.

Emeritus Professor Greg Craven AO will discuss how the decision in Vanderstock has both an immediate and wider significance. While the decision is immediately relevant to the scope of State powers of taxation, its broader importance is as a further important stage in the failure of the High Court to protect the fundamental principle of federalism in the Australian Constitution.

For more information, and to register, click here.

8 May 2024

2024 Fiat Justitia Lecture - The role of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security: A Primer
Monash University Faculty of Law
Date: 8 May 2024  
Time: 6.00-7.00pm (AEST) 
Location: TBA

As we celebrate 60 years of the Law Faculty in 2024, Monash Law is very proud to present the return of the Fiat Justitia Lecture in person for the first time since the pandemic.

We are honoured to present the 2024 Fiat Justitia Lecture by the distinguished speaker and alumnus of Monash, The Hon Christopher Jessup KC. This address will explore the role of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Registrations close Friday 3 May 2024.

For more information, and to register, click here.

17 May 2024

GSPL Reading Group Series - Jeremy Waldron
Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, University of New South Wales; Julius Stone Institute, University of Sydney Law School; Greater Sydney Law Schools’ Public Law Reading Group
Date: 17 May 2024  
Time: 9.00-10.00am (AEST) 
Location: Hybrid - Online and In-person at University of Sydney Law Building (F10) (Level Four Law Common Room)

It is often said that the rule of law is one of the most fundamental constitutional principles in Australia and globally. But how should we understand the idea of the rule of law in this context? Is it an absolute value or one that must be balanced against other competing public law values and principles? How can it prevail in complex legal systems? Is it best served by clear and certain rules – or does it instead depend on the ‘thoughtfulness’ of its subjects?

We reflect on these questions through a dialogue between Australia’s leading rule of law theorists – Professors Lisa Burton Crawford (University of Sydney) and Martin Krygier (UNSW) – and one of the work’s leading legal philosophers, NYU Professor Jeremy Waldron, author of a new book published by Harvard University Press, Thoughtfulness and the Rule of Law (2023). The event will be chaired by Professor Wojciech Sadurski (University of Sydney).

For more information, and to register, click here.

23 May 2024

Refuge: Viet Thanh Nguyen & Shankari Chandran 
UNSW Centre for Ideas; Sydney Writers’ Festival
Date: 23 May 2024  
Time: 6.30-7.30pm (AEST) 
Location: Leighton Hall, John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW Kensington

The life stories of refugees have all the narrative tropes of myth, replete with world-shattering conflicts, perilous voyages, and courageous heroes who sometimes get to live happily ever after.  
 
Hosted by refugee law expert and advocate Daniel Ghezelbash, this free event brings together Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winner Viet Thanh Nguyen (A Man With Two Faces) and Miles Franklin-winner Shankari Chandran (Safe Haven), whose latest books draw on first-person accounts of seeking asylum and illuminate the realities of this all-too-common experience. 
 
Go beyond the media reports, with these dramatic tales of escape and its aftermath. 

For more information, and to register, click here.

26 May 2024

Fragile Democracy
UNSW Sydney; Sydney Writers’ Festival
Date: 26 May 2024  
Time: 12.30-1.30pm (AEST) 
Location: Carriageworks Bay 20, The ARA Stage

Australia has been a close ally of the United States since 1940, but what does this mean for contemporary politics when democracy is more fragile than ever?

Chaired by Festival favourite Barrie Cassidy, one of Australia’s most experienced political correspondents and analysts, this expert panel features former BBC foreign correspondent Nick Bryant (The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict With Itself), UNSW Sydney Professor of Law and constitutional democracy specialist Rosalind Dixon and Senior Fellow of the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre Bruce Wolpe (Trump’s Australia: How Trumpism changed Australia and the shocking consequences for us of a second term).

Unpack the far-reaching ramifications of this relationship across trade, security, foreign policy and beyond.
 
There is a fee for this event.

For more information, and to register, click here.

24-26 May 2024

The Samuel Griffith Society 2024 Conference
Samuel Griffith Society
Date: 24-26 May 2024  
Location: Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast

The 34th annual national conference of The Samuel Griffith Society will be held at the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast on the weekend of Friday 24 to Sunday 26 May, 2024. The conference provides students with a unique opportunity to network and meet renowned legal scholars, barristers and other eminent speakers.

Both Friday and Saturday dinners commence with pre-dinner drinks at 6:30 pm. The dress code for the conference is business casual and for the dinners is lounge suit/equivalent.

This year’s conference will feature:

Other announced speakers include:

  • Dr Janet Albrechtsen

  • Professor James Allan

  • Jarrod Bleijie MP, JP

  • The Honourable Thomas Bradley

  • Associate Professor Mark Fowler

  • The Honourable Declan Kelly

  • Associate Professor Ben Saunders

For more information, and to register, click here.

6-7 June 2024

Free + Equal Human Rights Conference
Australian Human Rights Commission
Date: 6-7 June 2024  
Location: Hyatt Regency, Sydney, 161 Sussex St, Sydney NSW 2000

The Free + Equal Conference will include 12 engaging sessions and events over two days featuring a diverse line-up of more than 50 eminent experts, thought leaders, social justice advocates and community heroes.

Delegates will learn about the positive change and opportunities a Human Rights Act will deliver as well as how to activate community support and engagement for this landmark reform. Sessions will also focus on a range of key human rights related issues including: enhancing Australia's anti-discrimination laws; preventing racism; improving children's rights and youth justice; exploring the intersection of business, technology and human rights; and marking 40 years of Australia’s ground-breaking Sex Discrimination Act.

Session topics include:

  • Keynote Address: Revitalising Australia’s Human Rights Framework

  • Better For Everyone: Enhancing Australia’s anti-discrimination laws

  • Children’s Rights Are Human Rights: Advancing the rights of Australia’s young people   

  • In Good Company: Business and human rights

  • Bytes & Rights: Human rights In the digital age

  • Advancing Australia’s National Anti-Racism Framework

For more information, and to register, click here.

3-5 July 2024

31st ANZSIL Annual Conference 2024 - International Law: Crisis, Conflict and Cooperation
Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law
Date: 3-5 July 2024  
Location: Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton, Victoria, 3053

‘International lawyers revel in a good crisis. A crisis provides a focus for the development of the discipline and it also allows international lawyers the sense that their work is of immediate, intense relevance.’

These words, written by Judge Hilary Charlesworth over twenty years ago, provide a starting point for considering the role of international law in dealing with crises in the international community. Crises may be the result of armed conflicts, human rights violations, climate change, environmental damage, disruptions in the financial system or global trade, and, as we have so recently experienced, pandemics. The framing of an event or situation as a crisis may lead to intense periods of coordination and cooperation, and result in rapid developments in international law.

However, the focus on crises has also led to conflicts within the discipline as to the applicable legal principles or appropriate theoretical lens through which to frame a situation. As Judge Charlesworth noted, views may differ on whether a situation amounts to a crisis in need of an immediate response from international lawyers and whether the focus on crises distracts international lawyers from systemic issues.

There is a fee for this event.

For more information, click here.

8-10 July 2024

ICON•S Annual Conference 2024
International Society of Public Law (ICON•S)
Date: 8-10 July 2024  
Location: IE University Law School, Madrid, Spain

The plenary program at the 2024 ICON•S Annual Conference will focus on ‘The Future of Public Law: Resilience, Sustainability, and Artificial Intelligence’.

The conference seeks to foster reflection and discussion on the different transformations that public law is going through as a result of the major societal challenges of our time: the quest for sustainability, the AI revolution and, more generally, the need for resilience in a world of exponential change.

This calls for a more general discussion on the capacity of constitutions, state structures and regulatory regimes to anticipate, mitigate and adapt to unforeseen crises and challenges, including political crises, socio-economic disruptions, health emergencies, and environmental calamities. 

For more information, click here.

18 July 2024

Recap of Australian human rights cases in 2023
UNSW Sydney; Sydney Writers’ Festival
Date: 18 July 2024  
Time: 5.15-6.30pm (AEST) 
Location: Hybrid - Online and In-person at the Gibbs Room, Bar Association of Queensland, 107 North Quay, Brisbane

Chair: Saul Holt KC

Panellists:

  • Nitra Kidson KC

  • Paula Morreau

  • Megan Fairweather

  • Kent Blore

For more information, and to register, click here.

18-19 July 2024

2024 National Administrative Law Conference
Australian Institute of Administrative Law
Date: 18-19 July 2024  
Location: Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

The overarching theme for the 2024 AIAL National Administrative Law Conference is ‘Difficult conversations – values and administrative law’.

Recent detailed scrutiny by the courts, Royal Commissions, commissions of inquiry and administrative tribunals has highlighted the importance of having robust and defensible processes to ensure the lawfulness of governmental actions and address deficiencies in administrative decision-making across all levels of government. These matters continue to be the subject of intense social and legal commentary.

The 2024 Conference will explore the resetting of priorities and approaches in light of these significant findings and the considerable public disquiet that has followed. This will be examined through the lens of returning to basic yet fundamental principles of modern administrative law based on values, ethics and integrity.

For more information, click here.

18-19 July 2024

Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy Conference
Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy (ASLP)
Date: 18-19 July 2024
Location: Deakin Downtown Campus, Deakin University, Melbourne

The aim of the ASLP Conference is to provide a forum for the discussion and debate of a range of issues in legal theory, broadly defined. It is by no means restricted to analytic legal philosophy, and the involvement of participants from other disciplines is strongly encouraged. Philosophical or theoretically oriented papers from any field of legal inquiry are welcomed.​

Keynotes will be delivered by Brian Tamanaha (Washington University in St Louis) and Kristen Rundle (University of Melbourne). The subject of the book symposium will be Organizations as Wrongdoers: From Ontology to Morality by Stephanie Collins (Monash University). 

For more information, click here.

12-13 August 2024

Human Rights Law Trans-Tasman Conference 2024
New Zealand Law Society
Date: 12-13 August 2024
Location: Hybrid - Online and In-person at Rydges Lakeland Resort Queenstown,
38-54 Lake Esplanade, Queenstown, New Zealand

This two-day case law conference is designed to enable practitioners on both sides of the Tasman to learn more about each other’s human rights systems and case law in order to enrich each other’s jurisprudence. It will focus on the statutory rights charters (in New Zealand, the ACT, Victoria and Queensland) and on the role of the common law.

The conference will cover some of the big issues of the day on both sides of the Tasman, including the impact of human rights litigation on criminal law and procedure, climate change, indigenous rights, religion and personal liberty.

We have lined up respected judges and leading practitioners from all the principal human rights jurisdictions and from the common law jurisdictions. Confirmed speakers include the Chief Justice of New Zealand, the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, and senior judges from New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.

Chairs: 

  • Andrew Butler KC, Thorndon Chambers, New Zealand

  • Kylie Evans SC, Victorian Bar, Australia

There is a fee for this event, with a special offer available for registrations up to 30 June 2024.

For more information, click here.