Dr Michelle Lim
Ligertwood Building
michelle.lim@adelaide.edu.au

Website:
https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/michelle.lim

Twitter: @FutureEnvLaw

The subject Environmental Law (2511) has a value of 3 units and will be taught as a 3-hour block each week for 12 weeks. This will include lectures and large and small group discussions and student presentations from Week 4. 

The weekly 3-hour block will comprise discussion focussed around a set of reading materials and questions issued prior to the class. Weekly topics are set out in the Lecture Outline on MyUni.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify key environmental issues at the planetary, international, national, state and local level; 

2. Explain the scope of key Multilateral Environmental Agreements;

3. Describe State and Federal powers, responsibilities and institutions in the field of Australian Environmental Law

4. Analyse the relationships between environmental laws across multiple sectors and jurisdictions (local, state, national and international) and the interactions with regulatory and policy frameworks beyond the environmental sector;

5. Develop and execute original environmental law research on a focused topic area. 

Students will be required to have access to Gerry Bates (2016) Environmental Law in Australia, Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 9th edition.

Students will also need to be able to access a number of the statutes used during part of the course, in particular, Development Act 1993 and Development Regulations 2008 (SA), Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA), Natural Resources Management Act 2004 (SA) and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). 

Further resources will be made available on the MyUni website.

Other references you may find useful are:

- DE Fisher, Australian Environmental Law (3rd ed, Thomson Reuters, 2014).

- Godden, Lee & Peel, Jacqueline, Environmental Law: Scientific, Policy and Regulatory dimensions, (Oxford University Press, 2009)

- Rothwell, D.R., Kaye, S., Akhtarkhavari, A. and Davis, R. International Law, Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives. Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn. 2004.
While not specifically focused on international environmental law there is a dedicated international environmental law section. The implications for Australia contained within the book are relevant to this course. 


The Australian Journals most frequently referred to in this area include:

- Environmental & Planning Law Journal (EPLJ), Thomson Reuters

- Local Government Law Journal (LGLJ), Thomson Reuters

- The Australasian Journal of Natural Resources Law & Policy, University of New South Wales.

A  publication in South Australia in the area of planning law is “Planning Law SA” which is a looseleaf service published by Presidian Legal Publications and for whom the consulting editor is an Adelaide barrister, Brian Hayes QC. This publication is basically an annotated version of the Development Act 1993 and the Development Regulations under that Act.

There is also a looseleaf publication “Planning Law in Australia” published by Thomson Reuters ( general editor: Glen McLeod-SA State editor: Paul Leadbeter) which contains an analysis of relevant land use planning laws in all states and territories including South Australia as well as some material on laws relating to built heritage and environmental authorisation processes.

Environmental cases decided in the State Supreme Courts, the Federal Court and the High Court are reported in the Local Government and Environment Reports of Australia (LGERA). All significant decisions of the SA Environment, Resources and Development Court (ERDC) and the SA Supreme Court (where they deal with environmental issues) can be found in the Environment and Development Law Reports published by the Law Society of South Australia although that publication appears to have ceased from the end of 2002 when all decisions of the Court began being placed on-line.

All reading lists and connections through to the listed materials and readings will be available on MyUni. Announcements during the semester will also be posted on MyUni and emailed to all students listed in the course.

The lecture section of the weekly 3-hour block will be recorded. If for some reason a lecture does not record and a student did not attend that lecture it will be the responsibility of the student to find someone who did attend the missed lecture if they want details and notes about what was covered at the time.

Decisions of the SA Environment Resources and Development court are also available on-line as follows:

All decisions after 2003 are on the Court's web site:

http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/courts/environment/judgments/content.html; and

Most decisions from 1997 are on Austlii:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/sa/SAERDC/

As noted above the Austlii site contains most legislation.

Austlii: http://www.austlii.edu.au/

It can be accessed through the Law Library’s website. Past experience suggests that Austlii is not always up to date with legislation. We recommend Comlaw for Commonwealth legislation and the SA website for South Australian legislation both of which are referred to above under “Required Resources”.

Further information on the EPBC Act can be found on:

- the Environment Australia web site: http://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/

The NSW Environmental Defenders Office has produced a useful guide to the EPBC Act (Cth), called Planting the Seed - A Guide to Public Participation and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (2002). This costs $16-00 and is available by mail order from: http://www.edo.org.au/index.html This website is the site of the Australian Network of Environmental Defenders Offices and is an excellent web based resource in the environmental area with many links to other very useful sites.

The reading materials for the seminar classes in this course have been selected carefully for their relevance. While they may at times appear formidable, every effort has been made to limit their size. The amount of reading will differ between weeks, but averages over the course of the semester to a 3 unit load. It is essential that you read the materials referred to as “essential reading” for each seminar prior to your participation in that seminar.

The relevant environmental statutes( and others that will be referred to during the course) can be accessed from the following sites:

For Commonwealth legislation: Comlaw: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ 

For SA legislation: www.legislation.sa.gov.au
Austlii: www.austlii.edu.au/

Lawlex: http://research.lawlex.com.au/

Environmental law is a large area and this course seeks to provide students with an introduction to a number of the key areas covered under the generic title of “environmental law”.

Learning and Teaching Activities amounting to 36 hours (across lecture, seminar and structured learning activity formats) will be offered in the 3-hour weekly teaching blocks. 

In addition, materials and instruction will be provided online. Content, delivery and assessment is aligned to enable students to achieve course and programme outcomes.

The University expects full-time students (ie those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. As this is a 3-unit course, students are expected to devote an average of 12 hours per week to their studies in it, including classes. Students in this course are expected to attend one three-hour lecture each week. In addition, students should allocate time to private study in the course across the 12 week semester – this includes reading the material, preparing for class, working in small study groups, and undertaking the assessment tasks.

Lecture Timetable
Week 1	Introduction to Environmental Law
Week 2	Environmental Law principles
Week 3	The fundamentals of International Environmental Law
Week 4	Environmental Law: National Perspectives Common Law & Constitutional Law
Week 5	Commonwealth Environmental Assessment and Approval (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)
MID - SEMESTER BREAK
Week 6	Climate Change and Greenhouse issues
Week 7	Regulating and Assessing Development: State level
Week 8	Regulation of Activities of Environmental Significance: State level-Environment Protection Act 1993
Week 9	Water Resources –Law and Policy issues
Week 10	Biodiversity Conservation
Week 11	Human Rights, the environment and the rights of nature
Week 12	Heritage issues-protection of built, natural and aboriginal heritage

Assessment Task	Due	Weighting	Redeemable (yes/no)	Task Detail (Group or Individual)	Word length	Learning Outcomes
Participation	Seminars Weeks 1-12	5%	No	Individual		1-5
Seminar presentation	In Seminars starting in Week 4	10%	No	Individual		1-5
Online Quiz	Open from 9am Wednesday to 5pm Friday in Week 5	10%	No	Individual		1-3
Essay Question (maximum 2,500 words)	5pm Friday, Week 10	30%	Yes	Individual	2500 words	1-5
Final Exam (1.5 hours)	Examination period	45% (or 75% if essay redeemed)	No	Individual		1-4

Extensions will only be granted on medical and compassionate grounds in exceptional circumstances, and must be supported by the relevant documentation.

Redeemable grades
In order to redeem interim assessment marks a student must achieve 40% or a bona fide effort as assessed by the course coordinator in the interim assessment.

Late Submission Penalties
When an assessment is submitted after the due date, without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend and public holidays. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc.

Word Length Penalties
5% of the total mark possible for a written assessment will be deducted for every 100 words (or part thereof) by which it exceeds a stipulated word limit. For example, a 3,000 word essay graded at 63% will have 5% deducted if it is between 3,001 and
3,100 words long for a final mark of 58%. If the essay is between 3,101 and 3,200 words long, 10% will be deducted for a final mark of 53%, etc. Word limits include all words in the text, in headings, in quotations, but exclude citations in footnotes.

Any separate cover page, table of contents, bibliography or list of sources is excluded from the word limit. If the word limit is misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.

Assessment for this subject will be made up of:
(1) A participation mark of 5% for attendance at and participation in the 3 hour seminars. Non-redeemable

(2) A group seminar presentation worth 10% on any environmental law related topic. Non-redeemable

MyUni

Consistent with Law School policy, the primary communication mechanism for this course will be through placing announcements on MyUni. It is essential that students regularly check the announcements page for information. It is your responsibility to check MyUni regularly to ensure you have the most recent information. Any urgent information (such as unexpected cancellation of classes due to illness) will be sent to you by email as well as placed on MyUni.

Referencing

Assignments are expected to be referenced appropriately in accordance with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. 

RETURN OF ASSIGNMENTS AND FEEDBACK

Feedback on the reasearch essay will be returned to students via the Turnitin portal. A marking rubric for the essay assignment( which indicates the matters the examiner will look for in the submitted essays) will be provided to all students in Week 1. Students will be notified by email when assignments can be retrieved from the Turnitin portal.

Late Submission Penalties
When an assessment is submitted after the due date, without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend and public holidays. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc.

Word Length Penalties
5% of the total mark possible for a written assessment will be deducted for every 100 words (or part thereof) by which it exceeds a stipulated word limit. For example, a 3,000 word essay graded at 63% will have 5% deducted if it is between 3,001 and
3,100 words long for a final mark of 58%. If the essay is between 3,101 and 3,200 words long, 10% will be deducted for a final mark of 53%, etc. Word limits include all words in the text, in headings, in quotations, but exclude citations in footnotes.

Any separate cover page, table of contents, bibliography or list of sources is excluded from the word limit. If the word limit is misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.

Word counts do not include footnotes, headings or cover page information. Quotations are included in the word count.

Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

• assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
• detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
• sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
• reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
• comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
• automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
• the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support

The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.

Academic Honesty

Academic dishonesty is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Academic dishonesty is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic dishonesty (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia.

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.