I am absolutely delighted to see Victoria opening up to the nation and the world. As I noted at the Tsinghua Global Forum, which I attended last week, Australia was traditionally a welcoming country. MLS looks forward to demonstrating that this remains the case in 2022.
Next week the world’s attention falls on Glasgow as the city hosts the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, better known as COP26. Bringing together world leaders, policymakers and climate experts for two weeks of discussion and negotiations, COP26 aims to accelerate action towards the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Melbourne Law School’s Professor Jacqueline Peel notes in a recent article about what to expect at the conference that COP26 has been billed as the world’s last hope of meeting the target set out in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
Professor Peel, the Director of Melbourne Climate Futures, leads the University’s participation in COP26. Among other engagements, Melbourne Climate Futures will participate in an event in the ‘Blue Zone’ (a UN-managed space which hosts the official negotiations) on 5 November. The event is a collaboration with a range of civil society actors and will focus on actions and levers to transform Australia from a laggard to a leader on climate. Professor Peel will also advocate that the tertiary sector learn from the University of Melbourne’s new climate change targets, as announced by the Vice-Chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell last week.
Specifically, the University Council has endorsed two new targets for its next Sustainability Plan: bringing its original 2030 target forward five years to achieve carbon neutral certification by 2025; and achieving ‘climate positive’ status (removing more greenhouse gas emissions than the University generates) by 2030.
Researchers at MLS are contributing to the reform of other regulatory frameworks, both in Australia and internationally. As I have previously noted, the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness has had an extraordinary impact on the global debate on statelessness since it was established in 2018. It has now established the Stateless Children Legal Clinic, in partnership with the Refugee Advice Casework Service, and has received a significant grant from the Cameron Foundation. The grant is named after Hiam Chalouhy, the mother of Fadi Chalouhy, who is the first stateless person to be granted an Australian skilled migrant visa, and will enable the Clinic to run for the next five years. Launched as a pilot in March 2021, the Clinic is the first of its kind in Australia and the third globally. Supervised JD students directly assist in the delivery of essential legal services to stateless children in their application for Australian citizenship.
I am pleased to announce that in July this year, Professor Sundhya Pahuja was awarded a prestigious Australian Laureate Fellowship for her research on global corporations and international law. The five-year fellowship awards Professor Pahuja $3.1m in research funding from the Federal Government. Professor Pahuja will examine how international law has contributed to the growing power of corporations across the world, and what can be done to redress the balance between large corporations and nation states, as well as the challenge this poses to global democracy.
MLS will welcome Dr Kathryn James in 2022, an ARC DECRA fellow, whose project examines the twin questions of can and should we reform the Goods and Services Tax from both a technical and normative perspective.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss how you can support MLS research across our many research centres and collaborations.
Finally, I was delighted this month that MLS was ranked number five among law schools globally in the most recent Times Higher Education rankings by subject. I recognise the contribution of all MLS staff to this extraordinary achievement.
Keep safe and keep in touch.
With best wishes, as always
Professor Pip Nicholson
Dean, Melbourne Law School
News and Analysis
What to expect at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26)
With many big issues at COP26, Professor Jacqueline Peel says that ensuring a successful outcome was always going to be a challenge – even without the COVID-19 wildcard.
Rivers around the world are now being recognised by law as legal persons and living entities. Experts, including Melbourne Law School’s Dr Erin O’Donnell, say Australia’s rivers are Indigenous ‘ancestral beings’.
Malcolm Speed recognised for contribution to Victorian sport
Congratulations to MLS alumnus Malcolm Speed AO, this year's recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Victorian Sport Award, who has been recognised for his invaluable contribution to sport in Australia.
After a knife-edge result in Germany’s Federal elections, three parties must now negotiate to form a coalition, writes MLS PhD candidate Elizabeth Hicks.
Melbourne School of Government's Disruptive Ideas Seminar is #GoingDigital!
Join us in November and December to explore three critical topics in the digital transformation of government: Outsourcing of Digital Government, Designing Digital Government, and Public Participation in Government Innovation. The series will provide a range of unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for digital government innovation in Australia.
Join expert panellists from across the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region at the 'Forum on Law & COVID19: Strengthening Legal Preparedness and Response for the Future' event as they share lessons and insights from practical experiences with the law during COVID-19. They will also discuss future actions and directions for strengthening legal preparedness and response in the region.
Professor Pinar Akman, Director at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Digital Governance, will deliver the 2021 Baxt Lecture. The lecture will outline some of the main findings from a large-scale empirical study in which over 11,000 consumers from ten countries in five continents were surveyed about their use, perceptions, and understanding of online platform services.
Reimagining the relationship and reshaping our institutions
Tim Goodwin will speak about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders must think beyond how to participate in current institutions and structures in nation building projects and instead build an intellectual base for reshaping those institutions and structures, and assert an innovative form of cultural leadership that remakes Australia’s political, legal, social and cultural landscape.
Comparative Climate Change Litigation: Canada and Australia
The Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law (CREEL) Annual Lecture 2021 will be delivered by Professor Nigel Bankes (University of Calgary, Canada). In this lecture, Professor Bankes will explore the comparisons between climate change litigation in Canada and Australia. Professor Lee Godden (Melbourne Law School) will chair the session.
Beneficial ownership and offshore trusts: Unpacking the Pandora Papers
Professor Miranda Stewart and Professor Katy Barnett write that in the wake of the Pandora Papers, the Australian government needs to honour its commitment to a transparent trail of ownership for money hidden away in offshore trust accounts.
Dr Erin O’Donnell spoke with ABC News about a contested water licence that has recently been approved in the Northern Territory, despite strong opposition from Traditional Owners and the community.
Associate Professor William Partlett writes in The Conversation that Russia is building its own kind of sovereign internet – with help from Apple and Google.
Drone delivery service Wing is revolutionising the way consumers receive packages. Australia is at the forefront of Wing’s plans, with the company’s two biggest trial sites running in Canberra and Queensland recently celebrating 100,000 deliveries. MLS Senior Lecturer Jake Goldenfein discusses the benefits and risks of privatising the sky.