The legal avenues available to citizens who wish to challenge governmental decision making and action that they consider flawed are the subject areas of this unit. Those avenues include merits review by institutions such as the Ombudsman and administrative appeals tribunals (appeal). They also include judicial review by superior courts in Commonwealth and State/Territory spheres. The unit introduces freedom of information and privacy legislation. The unit concludes with review of the need for reform of Administrative Law in light of emerging topical issues.This unit may be taught with a PG version of the unit.The legal avenues available to citizens who wish to challenge governmental decision making and action that they consider flawed are the subject areas of this unit. Those avenues include merits review by institutions such as the Ombudsman and administrative appeals tribunals (appeal). They also include judicial review by superior courts in Commonwealth and State/Territory spheres. The unit introduces freedom of information and privacy legislation. The unit concludes with review of the need for reform of Administrative Law in light of emerging topical issues.This unit may be taught with a PG version of the unit.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Understand legal avenues available to citizens who wish to challenge government decisions and actions through merits review and/or judicial review;
2. Apply principles of good administrative decision-making found in the common law and in legislation;
3. Explain the significance of legal and institutional reforms introduced following the Kerr report in the 1970s and onwards, including freedom of information and privacy legislation;
4. Critically reflect on the need for ongoing reform of Australian Administrative Law in light of 21st century developments in law and practice; and
5. Solve practical problems through the application of Administrative Law methods.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - evaluate and adopt new technology
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development

Skills development

This unit facilitates and nurtures student acquisition of all of the Graduate Attributes, although not all of them will be subject to examination in the assessment tasks of the unit.

Prerequisites

11251 Foundations of Law and Justice AND 11274 Constitutional Law

Corequisites

This unit is only available to students in a Bachelor of Laws course.

Incompatible units

11441 Administrative Law PG

Equivalent units

7018 Administrative Law

Assumed knowledge

None.