Academic News
May 2010
Dr Savitri Taylor (in Canberra Times, 4 May 2010) wrote an article 'The war goes on, but without refugees' discussing the international lawfulness of the Government's new policy regulating changes to Australia's immigration processing system.
April 2010
The School of Law welcomes Lecturer Hanna Roberts. Prior to joining La Trobe, Hannah taught in the Law School at the University of Newcastle, and worked as a solicitor in two commercial firms in Sydney, practicing primarily in commercial litigation and dispute resolution (including contract disputes, insolvency, trade practices, tax and a small number of intellectual property and family provision act matters).
Her Masters thesis was in legal history and concerned the notions of property and indigenous rights in land used by colonizers in Victoria and South Australia in the early 19th century. She is currently working on a PhD at Sydney University Law School on paternity deceit claims.
Reeta Verma, Lecturer, has been awarded the Faculty of Law and Management Dean's Teaching Award. Reeta runs a formal mentoring scheme for her tutors. She has an impressive list of teaching and elearning publications and is actively involved in curriculum development.
Dr Savitri Taylor, Senior Lecturer, has been awarded the Faculty of Law and Management Dean's Research Award. Her research interests include Australian and international asylum seeker law and policy. She has published in A* and A ranked journals, has an ARC linkage research grant and has guest edited 2 journals.
Judy Gutman has been promoted to Senior Lecturer in the School of Law.
March 2010
Dr Roger Douglas has been appointed Chair of the University's law school. (Faculty Broadcast - Ed 123, 12 April 2010)
2009
September
Attorney-General McClelland ‘dropped in’ to West Heidelberg Community Legal Service, interested in how the legal service, Banyule Community Health Centre and La Trobe University’s clinical legal education program worked together to provide an integrated service to the community. He was also keen to hear from La Trobe law students how the experience of working in a clinical legal environment assisted law students. Read the full news article.
August
Dr Penelope Andrews, human rights expert has been appointed Chair of the University’s law school. (Australian Financial Review, 10 August 2009)
Dr Penny Andrews (ABC Radio, 10 August 2009) discusses violence against women in Afghanistan. Listen to her story.
July
Criminal Investigation and Procedure: The Law in Victoria is a new book written by Law lecturers Dr Chris Corns and Dr Steven Tudor. This book is an essential guide to the new terrain of criminal procedure in Victoria. The work places particular emphasis on the laws and principles governing criminal investigations. Detailed yet accessible coverage is given to arrest and bail, questioning, search and seizure powers, fingerprinting and forensic procedures, and covert investigations. Learn more on the Thomson Reuteurs website.
Professor Jianfu Chen (on Radio National, 14 July 2009) talked about the situation in China where Australian citizen Stern Hu is being held without charge by the Chinese government, commenting that the Chinese legal system doesn't specify legal requirements on the Ministry of State Security.
June
Frances Gibson (in Australian Financial Review, 15 June 2009) talking about the Law Council’s submission to the Bradley review calling for more government funding to ensure law schools could run legal education clinic programs for their students, commented that practical experience gives law students a deeper understanding of law.
Anthony O’Donnell (in The Age, 9 June 2009) wrote an opinion piece on the ACTU’s recent declaration at the council’s congress that transforming social protection and social insurance were now at the top of the union agenda. Full Article at The Age Business website.
May
Dr Roger Douglas (in Law Society Journal, May 2009) reviewed Australian Foreign Policy in an Age of Terror edited by Carl Ungerer, as a series of essays that provide a comprehensive guide to the problems facing Australian foreign policymakers and how they are responding to them.
Fair Work: the New Workplace Laws and the Work Choices Legacy (Federation Press 2009), edited by A Forsyth and A Stewart is now available. La Trobe Law School academic Dr Jill Murray is part of a group of labour law experts from around Australia who have written the first book about the new Australian federal workplace laws, the Fair Work Act 2009. The book was launched on 6 May 2009 by Commissioner Greg Smith AM (Australian Industrial Relations Commission), at the University of Melbourne Law School.
In their essay, Wrongs, Rights and Remedies: An Australian Charter?, Professor Spencer Zifcak and Alison King argue that it is now imperative that Australia legislates comprehensively to protect human rights. The authors point out that Australia’s legal protections against human rights violations are patchy and incomplete. The Australian Constitution says almost nothing about human rights, anti-discrimination laws provide only a scant and limited shield, and the common law can be overridden at any time by an ordinary Act of Parliament. The essay describes many areas in which human rights have recently been infringed.
Dr Savitri Taylor (in The Canberra Times, 5 May 2009) wrote an article 'The desperate flight from administrative limbo' about the current increase of asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia and discusses the journey an individual undertakes whilst trying to seek refugee status in Indonesia as one possible reason for this.
March
Keith Kendall (in the Australian Financial Review, 16 March 2009) wrote an opinion piece discussing the continually evolving carbon debate.
February
David Wishart (in The Age, 12 March 2009) wrote an opinion piece questioning if the salaries earned by company directors or executives are actually what they're worth. Read the full Article at the age website.
Professor Ray Watterson (on both ABC Darwin Radio, 18 February 2009 and Radio National, 18 February 2009) - Interviewed on why coroner's recommendations are not fully implemented following an enquiry.
January
Dr Jill Murray has completed a report on Australian legal developments for an international project run by the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. The project is examining the way in which (and the extent to which) law regulates working conditions, and the kinds of policy objectives that underpin such laws. The project is part of a broader conversation amongst scholars of international labour law. Whereas in recent time the international institutions have narrowed their focus to a core of fundamental rights, activists and academics are continuing to draw attention to the key questions of law and money, time and work/family life.
School of Law lecturer, Alma Pekmezovic's, opinion article about the regulation of genetic information, has been published by ScienceAlert, an online science communication service for Australia and New Zealand. Read the full article at the Sciencealert website.