This unit is being offered by The University of Adelaide at the NTU campus from 21st September to 3rd October 2003 (over the semester break).  The unit is being taught by Dr Andreas Schloenhardt from The University of Adelaide Law School.

Information and application forms can be obtained from the NTU Law School. Even though we are past the cut off date for enrolments at NTU, it is still possible to enrol in this unit and gain credit (10 Credit Points) through transfer/exemption.

 The Law Students' Society is being reconstituted and we are holding our Annual General Meeting on the 1st of September 2003, in the Students' Lounge in the Union Building at 5pm. The formalities will be brief after which Ned will address the meeting on the subject of the Law School objectives and future directions.  The aim of the meeting is to allow students to discuss their concerns with Ned and other members of Staff, with a view to planning their degrees effectively. We also hope to provide an opportunity for students and staff to meet in an informal and convivial atmosphere. Light refreshments will be provided.  Unfortunately the Union, in their amazing wowserishness, will not allow us to serve alcohol, however one can always retire to the adjacent Bar should the need arise.

Rosalind Moore (acting secretary)

NTU Law School's Professor Jesse Wu recently delivered the 4th Professor Ahmad Ibrahim Memorial Lecture delivered at Renaissance Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 12 July 2003, sponsored by International Islamic University Malaysia.

The title of Jesse's paper is Sacrificing Personal Freedom in the Name of National Security. It examines recent political and legislative responses in the West to national security threats in the wake of September 11, and compares them with Malaysia's long-term responses to communist insurgency and other real and claimed threats. It's certainly worth taking the time to read.

* In case you were confused, the above photo is not of Professor Wu, but convicted Bali bomber Amrozi.

Public law debates are being conducted again this semester in LWZ 003 Constitutional Law.  The topic of the next debate is "That this House resolves that the Commonwealth has too much power at the expense of the States, as a result of a century of excessively activist High Court constitutional interpretation".

Debates on this topic will be held at 4pm and 6pm on Wednesday 10 September in the Moot Court, Level 3 Building 39 Casuarina Campus.  We welcome students or members of the public as audience members, and tasteful audience participation (moderate heckling) is encouraged.

Senior Lecturer Stephen Gray is moving to a fractional appointment (of 25%) for the remainder of the semester.  Stephen will spend the next few months adding the finishing touches to a book, working title “Northern Territory Criminal Law”, for which he has a contract with Federation Press.  The book is likely to be published in January 2004.  

There may be some who are disappointed to think that Stephen may be concentrating on academic writing to the exclusion of his fictional work.  Stephen won the Australian Vogel Literary Award in 2000 for his second novel The Artist is a Thief.  He has now secured a grant from the Australia Council to assist with his new (third) novel and, whilst details are hard to confirm at this stage, it is said to be set in the Territory with themes involving Aboriginal Australia and South East Asia.  Look out for it in 2005.

Semester 2 2003 marked the commencement of NTU Law School's offering its law degree for external study.  It is Australia's first fully online law degree and one of the first in the world, with all course components being delivered using "cutting edge" Internet technologies.

We have external students in Katherine, Tennant Creek, Ayers Rock and throughout the remote regions of the NT and WA.  Perhaps surprisingly, there are also students studying externally who live in Sydney and Perth: an indication of the unmet need for external studies in law in Australia.

The degree program is also being offered in Alice Springs for the first time, in "mixed mode" in association with Centralian College.  Alice Springs students have the benefit of "live" tutorials, as well as all the resources provided to fully external students.

For the current semester, the subjects Legal Process Research and Writing and Torts 1 are being offered both to external and Alice Springs students.  In Semester 1 2004 it is intended to offer the subjects Legal Process Research and Writing, Torts B, Criminal Law and Procedure and Introduction to Public Law for external study.

A feature of study for external students that is being trialled this semester is the “e-tutorial”.  This involves students logging on to a voice chat program (the “e-tutorial room”) which allows participants to speak to each other and to communicate via text.  In addition the program has an internet browser window, which allows the tutor to display documents either from the NTU’s computer system or the Web, eg. Austlii.  The flexibility that this technology offers is opening up new possibilities for students and staff.  Initial feedback from the tutorials with external students has been positive and it is intended to continue with this mode of tutorial delivery for the balance of the semester. 

For more details, click here.

Professor Jesse Wu from the Law School on 30 June 2003 after 17 years association with the institution and its’ predecessors.  Professor Wu has made an outstanding contribution to the Law School and the NT legal community and he will be sorely missed.  Amongst many other achievements, Professor Wu was Foundation Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Law (1994-1999), which he helped establish.  He is also joint editor (since 1998) of the international journal, LAWASIA Journal, the journal of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific.  In addition he has published 12 books and numerous articles, his most recent book being Malaysian Public Law in 2002, which he co-authored with Prof. Hickling of the UK. and will be greatly missed by staff and students alike.  The family are moving to Adelaide, where Professor Wu expects to play even more golf than at present.

Jesse retains appointment as Adjunct Professor at NTU, and intends continuing and even expanding his scholarly research and publication activities.  We all wish Jesse well in his retirement, and hope he will return to NTU from time to time, and perhaps even teach occasional intensive units (particularly in his specialty areas of South-East Asian law).