ANU College of Law has partnered with Oonchiumpa Consultancy, a company whose Traditional Owner Directors have been instrumental in the design and delivery of this on-country intensive course since its inception. Central to the course is the examination of the adequacy of the current state of Australian legal education, legal practice, and law and justice in relation to First Nations peoples, with a view to exploring possibilities for reform.
The course acknowledges the multidimensional roles of law and explores connections between law, culture and identity and between law, legitimacy and resources. Additional issues include the roles of legal education, legal practice and the legal system concerning how lawfulness and justice are constructed and performed. The course incorporates consideration of substantive areas of law such as legal ethics, property, criminal and civil law.
The course presents principles and tools to support reappraisal and future leadership to better address legal and societal dimensions of justice, rights and empowerment for First Nations peoples.
The course covers issues relating to Indigenous world views, historical and contemporary Indigenous experiences of settler-colonialism, the phenomena of legacy relationships and legacy systems, and concepts of cultural safety and decolonisation. Students will critically assess the implications of issues for themselves, relating to Indigenous peoples, and relating to the future of law and justice in Australia. As such, the course builds on concepts introduced in Lawyers, Justice and Ethics, Australian Public Law, International Law and Property Law.
Students will complete orientation workshops (max 6 hours) prior to departure, complete the on country intensive (5 days), and submit reflective assessments. Students will have six weeks after completing the intensive to write a research paper on an aspect of decolonising legal education, legal practice, law and justice in Australia and present their findings.
Students must apply to undertake this course. Please go to Law Professional Experience for application information.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Critically analyse how reflexive insights into personal and societal legacies of colonisation can relate to shifting power relations for Indigenous empowerment and Australian national building.
- Differentiate between how concepts of cultural competency, cultural safety, cultural security and the like can operate to empower Indigenous people and improve social justice.
- Critically discuss how non-Indigenous settler-colonial knowledge systems construct their own identities and those of Indigenous peoples.
- Investigate and critically analyse conceptual and legal problems within substantive areas of law such as legal ethics, property, criminal and civil law relating to Indigenous peoples.
- Evaluate a variety of impacts of the cultural interface on legal education, legal practice, law and justice in Australia.
- Identify and evaluate a range of legal practice approaches having regard to the wishes and interests of Indigenous people and Indigenous peoples.
- Propose concrete and achievable ways in which they can promote Indigenous peoples access to justice and equality before the law.
- Conduct research into an aspect of decolonising legal education, legal practice, law and justice in Australia and present findings.
Work Integrated Learning
Fieldwork
This on country intensive course, delivered through a collaboration between the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency and the ANU College of Law, equips students with knowledge to critically assess law’s history, characteristics and impacts from the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Central to the course is the examination of the adequacy of the current state of Australian legal education, legal practice, law and justice in relation to First Nations peoples, with a view to possibilities for reform.
Other Information
Students must apply to undertake this course. Please go to Law Professional Experience for application information.
Indicative Assessment
- The proposed means of assessment for this course will provide students with at least two pieces of assessment, including one piece during the teaching period. More information about the means of assessment, including the relationship between the assessment and the learning outcomes of the course, will be available in the class summary and on the course WATTLE page. (100) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
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
- Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 36 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 three contact hours per week. Students are generally expected to devote at least 10 hours overall per week to this course.
Click here for the LLB Program course list
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the ANU Law School to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately two weeks prior to the commencement of the course. Alternatively, this information will be published in the Program course list when known.
Preliminary Reading
Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately two weeks prior to the commencement of the course. Alternatively, this information will be published in the Program course list when known.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you 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). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 34
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found 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 |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $5280 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $6360 |
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.
Summer Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1439 | 20 Feb 2025 | 07 Mar 2025 | 07 Mar 2025 | 24 Apr 2025 | In Person | View |