Kirby Seminar Series - Archives

Craig Collins

Lecturer, UNE School of Law.

The Libel Trials of Andrew Bent, 1825–1838

This paper is introduced with an overview of the larger PhD project, ‘Defamation in the Australian Colonies, 1824–1874’, including an approach to methodology and explanation as to how this sub-topic fits into that larger picture as something of a case study. Andrew Bent, as an ex-convict, is not widely recognised for initiating the free press in the Australian colonies. In the period 1825–1838, Bent was a defendant in some nine libel actions in the Supreme Court of Van Diemen’s Land. Two of these cases are examined as having particular significance, with a specific focus upon the role of defamation law in transforming the nature and boundaries of public speech in Van Diemen's Land over the relevant period.

Professor Jim Jackson

School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University.

University Governance: Councils, Vice Chancellor’s Executives, Academic Boards and the Law

Professor Jackson was the foundation Dean of the School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University, and headed the School until February 1998. His specialities are in commercial, company and higher education law. He is the author of a number of books and articles, including Australian Corporate Law with Tomasic and Woellner. Professor Jackson’s doctorate was entitled “Academic Freedom in Australian Universities”. Currently he is publishing in the areas of academic freedom, legal obligations of members of university councils, and the application of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) to universities.

Cormack Dunn

Corrs Chambers Westgarth Lawyers.

Go Directly to Gaol – New Frontiers in OHS Law

Mr Dunn is acting for the first CEO of a publicly listed company charged with an OHS offence. These are criminal offences which carry a possible sentence of imprisonment for up to 5 years. This prosecution is the first of a number now on foot and reflects a significant change in policy by the NSW government towards director and manager obligations under OHS legislation. Mr Dunn will present on the ramifications this prosecution policy has upon persons charged and its appropriateness in light of limits under the legislation. Mr Dunn has acted for a number of large international and Australian corporations in relation to OHS prosecutions. Prior to joining Corrs Chambers Westgarth Lawyers in 2004, Mr Dunn worked for the NSW Police, WorkCover NSW and the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Professor Hilary Charlesworth

Professor in RegNet and Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice. Professor of International Law and Human Rights in the College of Law, ANU.

The Problems of Building Justice and Democracy after Conflict

Professor Charlesworth’s interests are in international law and human rights law. She has held visiting appointments at Washington & Lee School of Law, Harvard Law School, NYU Global Law School and in 2005 was the 24^th Wayne Morse Professor at the University of Oregon. Current research projects include the legitimacy of UN Security Council decisions, the impact of international law on Australian law and the role of women in international dispute resolution. She has worked with various non-governmental human rights organisations on ways to implement international human rights standards and was chair of the ACT Government’s inquiry into an ACT Bill of Rights, which culminated in the adoption of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004. She is Patron of the ACT Women’s Legal Service. In 2005, she was awarded a Federation Fellowship by the Australian Research Council.

Dr Charlotte Smith

Lecturer, School of Law, University of Reading

Reformulating the Body Spiritual: The Identification and Representation of the Church of England in the Later Nineteenth Century

Associate Professor Russell Hogg

Russell Hogg has published widely in the areas of criminology and criminal justice studies, including Policing the Rural Crisis (Federation Press, 2006, co-authored with Kerry Carrington) and Critical Criminology: Issues, Debates, Challenges (Willan, 2002, co-edited with Kerry Carrington). He is also co-editor of a forthcoming collection of essays on crime in rural Australia.

Executive Proscription of Terrorist Organisations

Associate Professor Belinda Bennett

Pro-Dean (Teaching Programs) and Director of the Centre for Health Governance, Law and Ethics at the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney

The Next Pandemic?: Globalisation and Public Health Laws

Dr Joellen Riley

Senior Lecturer, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney

A critical overview of Work Choices and its impact on the regulation of the Australian labour market

Dr Joellen Riley has been teaching and researching in the fields of labour law and commercial law since joining the Law Faculty of the University of Sydney in 1998. She is also a consultant with Harmers Workplace Lawyers, and academic adviser to the Law Society of NSW’s Specialist Accreditation Committee on Employment and Industrial Law. Her publications include Workplace Relations: A Guide to the 1996 Changes (LBC, 1997), Employee Protection at Common Law (Federation 2005), and she has two books due for publication in 2006 – The Law of Work with Rosemary Owens (OUP) and Work Choices: A Guide to the 2005 Changes with Kate Peterson (LBC).

Amanda Kennedy (nee Williamson)

PhD Candidate, School of Law, UNE

’Supple, Sassier and Commercially-Minded‘? Assessing the current higher education employment relations agenda and the drive to individualise the Australian academic employment relationship

Dr Mike Redmayne

Reader in Law, London School of Economics

What is wrong with character evidence?

Abstract: The common law has traditionally excluded bad character evidence against defendants (bad character evidence usually means that the accused has a previous conviction). Thus, if D is on trial for burglary, evidence that he has previously committed burglary cannot be admitted; there are various exceptions to the rule, eg where the previous conviction provides particularly compelling evidence of guilt. The usual reason given for the exclusionary rule is that bad character evidence is prejudicial, but that is not very convincing. Taking this as given, the question arises: what other reasons might there be for generally excluding bad character evidence? In this paper, I explore other possible exceptions, drawing on literature in criminology and sentencing theory to probe the possibility that the exclusionary rule might be justified by a concern for the autonomy of defendants.

Aileen Kennedy

Associate Lecturer, School of Law, UNE

Trafficking in humans for sexual exploitation: An assessment of Australia’s law and policy response.

Dr David Hamer

Senior Lecturer, School of Law, UNE

Reconciling reverse burdens of proof with the presumption of innocence under the Human Rights Act 1998 (UK)

Dr Liz Fisher

Tutorial Fellow in Law at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University

‘A Duty to Be Cautious’: The Precautionary Principle and Australian Courts and Tribunals

Professor Pat Carlen

[Co-hosted with Sociology, School of Social Sciences]
Visiting Professor of Criminology, Kent University, United Kingdom

Imprisonment and the Penal Body Politic

Carolyn Middleton

LLM research student, School of Law, UNE

Is the judicial discretion to admit illegally or improperly obtained evidence, predictable or effective?

Professor Charles Rickett

Sir Gerard Brennan Professor of Law; Head, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland

The Province of the Law of Tracing

Stuart Kaye

Professor, Dean of Law, University of Wollongong

Australia’s Maritime Boundary with East Timor: The Rise and Fall of the Timor Gap

Robert Laurence

Robert A Leflar Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Arkansas, United States

Sovereignty & Property: American Indian law, Australian Aboriginal law and the concepts of ownership and governance

Michael Eburn

Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of New England

The Felons Apprehension Acts 1865–1899 (NSW)

Peter Cane

Professor, Head of Law, Law and Philosophy Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

The New Face of Advocates’ Immunity

Harry Geddes

Associate Professor, School of Law, The University of New England

The Modern Approach to Statutory Interpretation

John Becker

Professor of Agricultural Economics and Law
The Pennsylvania State University, USA

Community Conflicts Over Large Scale Production Facilities: A Research Report

Barbara Holborow

Former Magistrate of the NSW Children’s Court

Is There Really a Juvenile Justice?

Christopher Enright

PhD Student in Law, School of Law, University of New England.
Author of: Legal Techinque (2002), Federation Press

Models for Working with Law – Teaching and Researching

Mark Lunney

Associate Professor, School of Law, University of New England

Historical Context in the Common Law of Tort: How to Get It and What to Make Of It

Mark Spackman

Professor, School of Biological, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of New England

ARC Research Grants: Tips and Hints

Frank Brennan

Lawyer, Jesuit Priest, Social Justice Campaigner
Author of: Tampering with Asylum; Legislating Liberty; Too Much Order With Too Little Law etc.

Can Lawyers Help Resolve the Timor Gap Crisis?

Jim Thomson

LLM, PhD Harvard

A Tub to a Whale: The Non Utility of a Bill of Rights in Australia

Martin Chanock

Professor, School of Law and Legal Studies, La Trobe University

Globalisation and Legal Transplants: Understanding Law in Context

Stephen Guest

Professor of Legal Philosophy, Faculty of Laws, University College London.
Author of: Ronald Dworkin (2^nd ed, 1997) and Positivism Today (1996).

A Comparison of Integrity with Justice as a Model for Law.

Amanda Williamson

PhD Student, School of Law, University of New England

Contemporary Employment Relations in Australia: Assessing the Impact of Individualism and Collectivism upon the Academic Employment Relationship

Imtiaz Omar

Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of New England

Trial of Hicks and Habib by Foreign Military Court: Constitutional Issues and Executive Decision Making

John Coombs QC

Former President, Australian Bar Association and New South Wales Bar Association

How Can You Appear For Someone You Know Is Guilty?

Stephen Colbran

Professor, School of Law, University of New England

Is The Law Lecture Dead?

Mark Lunney

Associate Professor, School of Law, University of New England

Human Rights and Private Law – An Unhappy Combination?

Michael Macklin

Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of New England. Former Senator for Queensland in the Federal Parliament

Making law – the perspective of a philosopher parliamentarian

Sandra Welsman

Director, Australian Centre of Agriculture and Law, University of New England

Interfaces of Agricultural Business, Science and Law

Emilia Della Torre

Lecturer, School of Law, University of New England

The Buck Stops Here! Responsibilities of States for Wrongs Committed by Private Individuals

Paul Latimer

Associate Professor, Department of Business Law and Taxation, Monash University

Current Issues in Corporate Governance

Justice Tony North

Federal Court of Australia

On-country native title hearings

Ivan Shearer

Challis Professor of International Law, University of Sydney
Member of the Order of Australia (AM), 1995

War, armed conflict and the circumstances in which any state may use force against another state without the authority of the United Nations Security Council

Eric Ghosh

Lecturer, School of Law, University of New England

Constitutionalism and the Revival of the Republican Political Tradition: an Alternative Approach to Protecting Human Rights

David Hamer

Lecturer, School of Law, University of New England

Justice, Probability & Juridical Proof

Sam Garkawe

Associate Professor, School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross University

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission – A Worthy Mechanism of Accountability or a Dangerous and Unjustified Compromise?

Justice Michael Kirby

Justice of the High Court of Australia

The Future of Human Rights