Law conference in Bay

Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine will give the keynote address at an international education law conference in Hervey Bay this week.

More than 100 delegates from around the world will attend the Australia and New Zealand Education Law Association (ANZELA) Conference at the USQ Fraser Coast campus on Thursday and Friday.

There will be 33 speakers and presenters from the United States, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, New Zealand and most states of Australia.

They include prominent American speaker and author on education law Professor Charles Russo. He will speak about the Virginia Tech University massacre and alert delegates to some of the implications for schools and institutions in comparatively safe communities like Hervey Bay.

On Friday Prof Ralph Mawdsley, from Cleveland State University, will be on an international panel to discuss what happens when schools don't deliver academic quality. Is there recourse to the law?

Friday's guest speaker is the Principal Senior State Counsel for the Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore, Jeffrey Chan, who has some eyebrow-raising views about schools and the law.

USQ Fraser Coast Provost Ken Stott said it was quite a coup for the campus to host the annual conference.

'It is good for USQ Fraser Coast and for the region, as the conference is bringing a large number of very high profile figures here from around Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the world,' Prof Stott said.

'Apart from the Attorney-General, a Minister and a Senator, we will have representatives from government offices, law firms, school principals and university academics.

'I believe that by seeing this campus and sampling its atmosphere, coupled with Hervey Bay's environment, they will go away with a very positive view of education on the Fraser Coast.

Media Contact: Katrina Corcoran, USQ Fraser Coast Phone: 07 4120 6167