- Current project
Laureate Program in Comparative Constitutional Law
This project aims to address the need to reconcile the tensions between the pursuit of diversity and the promotion of social cohesion. This critical problem becomes increasingly urgent as nations grapple with the challenges of highly diverse multi-cultural societies. The project aims to build a team of researchers who draw on the experience of constitutionalism throughout the world to investigate how Constitutions, in their design and in their application, can unify while nurturing the diversity appropriate for a complex, modern society. This project is intended to help governments, judiciaries and the public resolve intense controversies over ideals.
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About the Conference
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Staff
See who is in the Electoral Regulation Research Network; our Director, state conveyors, working paper series editor and newsletter team
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The Electoral Regulation Research Network's biannual newsletter
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Australian Research Council Laureate Program: Balancing Diversity and Social Cohesion in Democratic Constitutions. This project aims to address the need to reconcile the tensions between the pursuit of diversity and the promotion of social cohesion. This critical problem becomes increasingly urgent as nations grapple with the challenges of highly diverse multi-cultural societies.
- Researcher profile
Kristen Rundle
Academic profile of Professor Kristen Rundle, Melbourne Law School
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Is China at Risk of a Financial Crisis?
On Wednesday 21 February 2024, the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation program of the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and the Asian Law Centre hosted a hybrid seminar exploring whether China at risk of a financial crisis. Recent events in the Chinese real estate market, especially the well-publicised problems of the giant and highly indebted property developers Country Garden and Evergrande, followed by Moody’s recent announcement of a negative outlook on Chinese government debt, have resurrected this question, which has surfaced repeatedly over the past ten years.Seminar slidesWhat is the risk of a financial crisis in China?
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Sarah Biddulph
Academic profile of Professor Sarah Biddulph, Melbourne Law School
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People
Meet the academics, sectoral and regional expert affiliates that contribute to the Constitution Transformation Network.
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Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth: 30 Years of the Implied Freedom of Political Communication
In this seminar, our panellists critically reflected upon the development of the constitutional freedom over the last 30 years and shared their thoughts in relation to its future. The panel consisted of barrister Kathleen Foley S.C., Professor Dan Meagher (Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University) and Professor Adrienne Stone (Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne). Professor Michael Crommelin AO (Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne) chaired the event.In this seminar, our panellists critically reflected upon the development of the constitutional freedom over the last 30 years and shared their thoughts in relation to its future. The panel consisted of barrister Kathleen Foley S.C., Professor Dan Meagher (Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University) and Professor Adrienne Stone (Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne). Professor Michael Crommelin AO (Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne) chaired the event.
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The Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies undertakes and promotes research on constitutional law and government, and provides a focal point for scholars and practitioners interested in these areas.
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The Electoral Regulation Research Network (ERRN) fosters exchange and discussion amongst academics, electoral commissions and other interested groups on research relating to electoral regulation. The ERRN is jointly funded by the New South Wales Electoral Commission, the Victoria Electoral Commission, and Melbourne Law School.
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ILJH
News related to the Melbourne Law School's Reconciliation and Recognition agenda.
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The Fiscal and Fairness Implications of the Stage 3 Income Tax Cuts: Concerns from the Community and Welfare Sector
On 18 April 2023, The Tax Law and Policy Research Program of the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and the Melbourne Social Equity Institute hosted a hybrid seminar on the fiscal and fairness implications of the Stage 3 income tax cuts.The Stage 3 tax cuts were legislated in 2019 with bipartisan support and are due to commence on 1 July 2024. The cuts involve a significant flattening of the progressive personal income tax and are estimated to amount to approximately AUD 184 billion in revenue foregone over the first 8 years of their operation. Distributional analysis suggests that the benefits of the cuts primarily accrue to high wealth and income taxpayers.The public seminar discussed the fiscal and fairness implications of the tax cuts and queried whether their retention can be justified. The seminar featured legal, economic and political analysis of the tax cuts from experts across the University of Melbourne and feature an address by Cassandra Goldie (CEO, ACOSS) discussing the concerns of the community and welfare sector.The seminar was the first in a series of events organised by the Community Tax Project - an alliance between the academic and community and welfare sectors to advocate on tax policy and reform to better achieve social and economic justice. The project is supported by the Tax Law and Policy research program at the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and with funding provided by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and the Australian Research Council (DE190100346).
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Taking Electoral Integrity Forward
Jointly held by the WA and ACT chapters of the ERRN, the idea for this webinar was prompted by the introduction by Kate Chaney MP of a Private Member’s Bill entitled Electoral Legislation Amendment (Restoring Trust) Bill 2023. The Bill is quite unusual in that it deals with a wide range of issues relating to the electoral process including limits on government-funded “political” advertising in the runup to a federal election. It contains much that is thought-provoking. A number of the issues go beyond what have typically been seen as within the ambit of electoral regulation; for example, it proposes limits on government-funded “political” advertising in the runup to a federal election.The webinar will cover the following topics:truth in advertising;bans on donations from government contractors;limiting government advertising before elections;removing parties’ exemptions from the Privacy Act;the distribution of postal voting applications, andthe role of political staffers.PresentersKate Chaney MP is Western Australia’s first female Independent Member of the House of Representatives. She represents the federal electorate of Curtin.Mr Phil Green, former Electoral Commissioner for the ACT. Phillip served as the ACT Electoral Commissioner from 1994 to 2017. Phil was instrumental in the drafting and development of the ACT’s electoral legislation throughout this period.Chair: Mr Michael Maley, former Director of International Services at the Australian Electoral Commission. Michael had a thirty-year career at the AEC, retiring in 2012 as Special Adviser, Electoral Reform and International Services.
- Past project
Enhancing Local Government Democracy: City of Melbourne Project
The Electoral Regulation Research Network project focused on the nature of local government democracy in the City of Melbourne. It aims to investigate the relationships that operate between the City of Melbourne and the wide range of people and organisations that use its facilities and services – residents, businesses, workers, commuters, shoppers ad others.
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The potential of s100A ITAA36 to address tax avoidance using trusts
On 17 August 2023, Sonali Walpola, Senior Lecturer in the College of Business and Economics at the Australian National University, presented a hybrid seminar on the potential of s100A ITAA36 to address tax avoidance using trusts and why the Full Federal Court’s approach in Guardian should be treated with caution.Seminar abstractSection 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA36), enacted in 1979, is an important integrity measure in the trusts arena.The provision applies where a beneficiary is made presently entitled to trust income where the economic benefits relating to the present entitlement are enjoyed by another party. Currently, Section 100A ITAA36 is in the spotlight. The Commissioner relied on s100A in two cases which were the subject of Federal Court appeals in 2023—Commissioner of Taxation v Guardian AIT Pty Ltd [2023] FCAFC 3 (Guardian), where the Commissioner was unsuccessful (at least on s100A) and the ‘BBlood’ litigation (B&F Investments (as trustee for the Illuka Park Trust) v Commissioner of Taxation [2023] FCAFC 89), where the Commissioner was successful. It is centrally argued that the Full Court’s approach to s100A in Guardian is overly narrow, and the decision should be treated with caution due to its failure to consider the most authoritative and salient s100A precedents. While the general anti-avoidance rule in Part IVA ITAA36 was successfully used in Guardian, prior case law shows that s100A is the more robust anti-avoidance mechanism in the trusts arena because it is not hindered by problems that have beset Part IVA, including establishing a dominant tax avoidant purpose. This paper highlights that a broad, non-technical approach to s100A was authoritatively laid down in the only High Court decision on s100A, Raftland Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2008] HCA 21 (Raftland), but extraordinarily, the Full Court in Guardian does not once discuss or cite Raftland.
- Researcher profile
Glenn Patmore
Academic profile of Associate Professor Glenn Patmore, Melbourne Law School
- Past project
Implications of Changes to Voting in Australia Project
This research project report was prompted by the increasing numbers of voters in Australia who are ‘convenience voting’ in one way or another.
- Past project
First Peoples’ Treaties with Victoria: Jurisdiction
In 2019 the Constitution Transformation Network was asked by the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission to identify potential powers and matters within the jurisdiction of the State of Victoria which were potentially negotiable within the treaty process.
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People
The research team involved with the Australian Research Council Laureate Project - Laureate Program in Comparative Constitutional Law.
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Precedent in Tax Law: A Case Study in Empirical Method
How important is case law in establishing precedent to guide taxpayers and the revenue authority? On 17 April 2023, Associate Professor Michael Blackwell discussed this question in a seminar hosted by the Tax Law and Policy Research Program, Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law. Using a data science approach, Associate Professor Blackwell presented some preliminary findings on his research into precedent in tax law.