The course reviews the underpinning human rights standards set by international law and their application to aspects of Australian law. As part of the human rights enterprise, special attention will be given to the principle of equality and its expression in discrimination law.
The course will have a practical as well as conceptual focus and will include:
- analysis of Australian constitutionalism and its impact on the inclusion of human rights standards in Australian law;
- critical analysis of the decisions in the courts about the constitutional underpinnings for discrimination law, detention and freedom of speech;
- issues associated with the existence of Commonwealth, State and Territory discrimination law
a critical examination of implementation methods of human rights and discrimination law; - discussion of key issues in various areas of law, such as relating to the right to life (euthanasia and death penalty), terrorism law, refugee law and indigenous law and, in the area of discrimination law, to such issues as indirect discrimination, the concept of reasonableness, racial vilification law and the challenge of disability discrimination law.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Identify, analyse and explain Australian constitutional framework and principles and impact on inclusion of human rights standards in Australian law — Commonwealth and State and Territory;
- Identify and critically examine and explain decisions of Australian courts and tribunals in their interpretation and application of principles to, for example, discrimination, detention and freedom of speech;
- Investigate, synthesise, evaluate and discuss the policy issues arising from the principles, policies and law and its implementation; and
- Plan, design and individually execute a substantial research based project that identifies and critically examines aspects of human rights and discrimination law and policy, using relevant research principles and techniques to provide practical solutions to complex problems.
Indicative Assessment
- Class Participation (10%) (10) [LO null]
- Research Essay (90%) OR Presentation (35%) and Essay (55%) (90) [LO null]
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Workload
Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 26 hours of face to face teaching). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion of this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours. Classes offered during semester periods are expected to have 3 contact hours per week.
Click here for the LLM Masters Program timetable.
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
The prescribed text for this course is:- The Human Rights
Enterprise: In Australia and Internationally, Bailey P, LexisNexis
Butterworths, Sydney, 2009
Preliminary Reading
Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately 2 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.
An e-brick will be available on the Wattle course site.
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 |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $3840 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $5460 |
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.