Administrative Law 733521
Subject Objectives
On completion of this subject, students should:
- have developed an understanding of
- the structure and operation of executive government in Australia
- the fundamental principles of effective governance and accountability for the exercise of government power
- some theoretical perspectives on administrative law, including the relationship between administrative law and governance and the foundations of judicial review
- the structure and operation of the Australian administrative law systems, including their constitutional, statutory and common law bases; their institutions; their principles and their remedies
- the difference between judicial review and merits review and the kinds of arguments that may be made in each context
- the importance of statutory construction and interpretation in the exercise and supervision of government powers, and the major techniques and aids used
- the way in which government policies are given effect through legislation and how the legislative and administrative law framework affects their implementation
- the main aspects of practice and procedure in administrative law
- the major challenges to the development of administrative law and accountability in Australia today
- be able to draw on this understanding to
- to find, state and apply the rules and principles of administrative law
- describe and critically analyse the fundamental principles of administrative law
- identify relevant administrative law cases and statutes, and state and critically analyse the legal principles that emerge from them
- apply the techniques of statutory construction and interpretation to mount and evaluate arguments about the interpretation of statutes conferring powers and authorising government actions
- critically analyse the relationship between these legal principles and the fundamental principles of administrative law
- apply these legal principles to new fact situations to construct arguments about
- the merits of government decisions that may be put in the context of merits review of those decisions
- the legality of government decisions that may be put in the context of judicial review of those decisions
- develop arguments about which legal principles should be applied when the relevant provisions or decisions are unclear or in conflict
- present these descriptions, analyses and applications of principles in the form of written arguments that are appropriately structured, developed, supported and referenced
