This course is designed to give students an opportunity to explore contemporary issues in Australian constitutional law. Issues will be examined both from a practical and theoretical dimension.
The contemporary topics examined in the course may change each year, to reflect constitutional law developments and the interest of participants. Illustrative examples of issues that could be covered at present include:
- the implied right to vote;
- recent implied freedom of political communication cases;
- Pape v Commissioner of Taxation, Williams v Commonwealth and the nature of executive power;
- section 96 grants;
- referrals of power and other cooperative schemes;
- Momcilovic v The Queen;
- section 109 inconsistency;
- same-sex marriage;
- the position of the territories;
- minority government;
- constitutional interpretation;
- proportionality;
- use of comparative and international law;
- procedural issues, including agreeing to facts;
- the role of interveners and amicus curiae; and
- constitutional change.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
By the end of this course students will have:
- an extended appreciation of the range of current issues currently influencing developments in Australian constitutional law;
- the capacity to integrate that appreciation so as to anticipating future developments;
- the ability to contribute to the scholarly discussion surrounding current developments in constitutional law;
- extended their knowledge of constitutional law principles and developed their ability to apply them in a variety of practical and theoretical contexts;
- critically analysed legal scholarship and other material discussing recent developments; and
- appreciated the interrelationships between recent developments and their influence on fundamental constitutional law and broader public law principles.
Other Information
Students will be asked to participate in on-line discussion and development of assessment tasks using the ANU’s wattle learning environment prior to the commencement of the face-to-face component of the course. More details will be available in the course outline.
Indicative Assessment
Students must rely on the Approved Assessment which will be posted to the course homepage on the ANU Law website, prior to the commencement of the course.
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The course will involve 4 days of intensive face to face discussion as well as extensive use of on-line materials and discussion.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Preliminary Reading
Students must rely on the course outline which will be posted to the course homepage on the ANU Law website, prior to the commencement of the course.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $2958 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $4146 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Spring Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9667 | 17 Nov 2016 | 17 Nov 2016 | 02 Dec 2016 | 20 Jan 2017 | In Person | N/A |