The University of New South Wales Law Journal is excited to announce the launch of Volume 44, Issue 44(1), on 8 April 2021. To launch Issue 44(1), we are very pleased to be holding a panel discussion on Issue 44(1)’s key theme, ‘Rights Protection amidst COVID-19’. The panel discussion will feature Mr Edward Santow, the Australian Human Rights Commissioner. Mr Santow was appointed Human Rights Commissioner in August 2016 and is also a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The panel discussion will also feature three authors from Issue 44(1): Professor Michael Legg, Dr Chris Martin and Dr Sara Dehm.

Issue 44(1) is comprised of seven articles which expand on the Issue’s theme, and six articles which cover an array of independent topics. The thematic articles discuss a breadth of topics in light of COVID-19, including: potential legal challenges to triage decisions in intensive care units; the parallels between the legal regimes governing immigration detention centres and residential aged care facilities as sites of confinement; the capacity and limits of international law to address the twin crises of refugee protection during COVID-19 and future displacement linked to climate-change; the use of remote hearings and Audio-Visual Links by courts during COVID-19; state and territory COVID-19 emergency measures regarding evictions and rent liabilities; the expansion of executive power in times of crisis; and the scope, application, and implications of criminal offences relating to the containment of COVID-19 in Australia. The articles independent of Issue 44(1)’s theme also represent an impressive body of legal scholarship, covering topics such as: the 2018 Australian High Court’s constitutional term in its inter-institutional context; the possibilities and limits of using corporate culture as a regulatory mechanism; the role of social entrapment evidence in self-defence cases involving intimate partner violence; the constitutional validity of using the Australian Defence Force in recent crises; the development and disruption of the notion of ’substantial identity’ and its analogues in Australian trademark law; and lessons for Australia from the UK’s regulation of financial advisers.

The launch will take place on Thursday 8 April 2021 via online live stream from the Journal’s YouTube channel, at 6:30pm. The link will be provided closer to the date.

To register your attendance, please RSVP before 12:00pm, 8 April 2021: https://unswlj44-1.eventbrite.com.au