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 2010 is shaping up to be a great year here in the Law Faculty. With the first semester now behind us, the Faculty has already notched up several impressive successes, both as individuals and as a collective.
Our talented mooters have made their mark around the world, delivering outstanding performances at the International Criminal Court Trial Competition in The Hague, Netherlands, at the Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Hong Kong, and also here in Australia at the National Jessup mooting competition. | |
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WRONGFUL CONVICTION OVERTURNED WITH PERSISTENCE
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 The Department of Public Prosecution has announced it will not pursue a retrial against Graham Stafford after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction in December last year.
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BOND LAW PLAYS PIVOTAL ROLE IN SHAPING AUSTRALIAN-FIRST LEGISLATION
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 Bond University academics who played an integral role in driving Queensland’s new legislation for victims of domestic violence who kill their attackers have called on the rest of Australia to strongly consider introducing the legislation.
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QLD AND NSW PREVENTATIVE DETENTION LAWS INCONSISTENT WITH INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
By Professor Patrick Keyzer
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 The United Nations Human Rights Committee have released their decisions in cases brought by Ken Tillman (NSW) and Robert Fardon (Queensland). Fardon was sent to prison in 2003 under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003. Tillman was sent to prison in 2007 under NSW legislation, the Crimes (Serious Sex Offenders) Act 2006. These laws allow the Supreme Court to order that a person who has already served their sentence of imprisonment can be sent back to prison if they are judged to be a high risk of re-offending if released.
The Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003, was the subject of an unsuccessful constitutional challenge in 2004 (Fardon v Attorney-General (Qld) (2004) 223 CLR 575).
Tillman and Fardon argued that although the Australian High Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the Queensland law, the NSW (and Queensland) laws inflicted arbitrary detention and double punishment contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Australia signed this Covenant in 1980.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in an 11-2 decision, said that the further imprisonment of Fardon and Tillman under these laws was inconsistent with the Covenant, because:
The author [detainee] had already served his 10 year term of imprisonment and yet he continued, in actual fact, to be subjected to imprisonment in pursuance of a law which characterises his continued incarceration under the same prison regime as detention. This purported detention amounted, in substance, to a fresh term of imprisonment which, unlike detention proper, is not permissible in the absence of a conviction for which imprisonment is a sentence prescribed by law.
The upshot of this decision is that the regimes in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria which contemplate the post-sentence re-imprisonment of sex offenders are all inconsistent with international human rights law, to the extent that prison is used as a venue for post-sentence preventative detention.
Australia is now under an obligation to release offenders who have been re-imprisoned under these regimes.
The Australian government, which lost the case, has been given 180 days to respond, indicating what measures have been taken to give effect to the Committee’s decision.
To comply with the Covenant, the four State governments will need to adopt preventative detention policies that do not use prison, which is punitive in character, as a venue for treatment. |
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BOND LAW WINS INTERNATIONAL SPEAKING PRIZE
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 Bond Law has again proved its first-class credentials on the world stage at the prestigious International Criminal Court Trial Competition in The Hague, Netherlands, held in March. | |
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AMBASSADOR OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO AUSTRALIA VISITS BOND
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 The Tim Fischer Centre for Global Trade and Finance and the Faculty of Law recently hosted His Excellency Mr ZHANG Junsai, the Ambassador of The People’s Republic of China to Australia, as he presented a Distinguished Lecture on "China-Australia Economic and Investment Co-Operation and Bilateral Relations".
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RESEARCH CENTRE FOR LAW, GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC POLICY ESTABLISHED
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 Bond University’s latest Research Centre, the Centre for Law, Governance and Public Policy, was established in late 2009 under the leadership of Foundation Director Professor Patrick Keyzer of the Faculty of Law.
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"UNITED NATIONS OF BOND" IMPRESSES AT INTERNATIONAL MOOTING COMPETITION
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 A team of law students hailing from all corners of the globe has impressed at the prestigious Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot, held in Hong Kong in March.
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ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES
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 As Semester 1 draws to a close, we celebrate the individual and team achievements of several of our students and staff, including Prime Minister's Endeavour Award recipient Thomas Harrison, our Jessup team members James Graham, Thomas Harrison, Katherine Mansted and Henry Norris, and their coaches Joel Butler and Kate Allan, 2010 Young Gold Coast Citizen of the Year Benjamin Naday, doctoral recipients Dr Iain Field and Dr Jeremy Peace, Adjunct Professor David Tanzer, along with the sporting triumphs of staff members Tammy Johnson and Peter Froelich. | |
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Associate Professor Dan Svantesson
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 Information Technology Law expert, Associate Professor Dan Svantesson, has recently returned from a Visiting Fellowship with the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy, where he expanded on his research into privacy regulations of cross-border data transfers. | |
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Assistant Professor Tina Hunter
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 Assistant Professor and PhD candidate Tina Hunter has been engaged by the Western Australian Government Department of Minerals and Resources to create a new regulatory structure for the regulation of offshore petroleum activities in Australia. | |
Associate Professor Vai Lo and Associate Professor Leon Wolff
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 Associate Professor Vai Lo (pictured) and Associate Professor Leon Wolff were recently invited to participate in the Kyoto and Tokyo Seminars on Japanese Law – Vai co-teaching Labour Law and Investment and the Law, and Leon teaching Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Gender and the Law. | |
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| PUBLICATIONS |
Emeritus Professor John Farrar
Professor Patrick Keyzer
Professor Patrick Keyzer
Professor Patrick Keyzer
Associate Professor Bobette Wolski
Associate Professor Leon Wolff
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Expand all articles
Bond Law Alumnus Ed Brockhoff has recently completed a three month internship at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, expanding his already stellar resume.
Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Students) John Lessing has taught many remarkable students at Bond, but whether any will go on to achieve as much as one particularly well known former student of his, by the name of Nelson Mandela, is yet to be seen!
