• Semester 2 (Day)
• Semester 2 (External)

Synopsis

This  unit  is  designed to acquaint students with  the  legal  issues
involved  in  the protection of the environment. This to  be  achieved
through   exposure   to   the  sources  of  Australian   environmental
regulation:  international,  national and  state.  There  will  be  no
prerequisite legal study necessary so the unit commences with a  broad
overview  of  the  Australian legal system and its  origins.  It  then
examines  the  various sources of environmental law demonstrating  how
international  initiatives  are translated into  domestic  regulation.
Through   this  mechanism  students  are  exposed  to  some   of   the
difficulties   in   this  area  of  the  law  such   as   definitional
difficulties, translation of concepts such as ecologically sustainable
development,   intergenerational  equity,  biological   diversity   to
regulation.  There is also an examination of the different  approaches
to  environmental regulation: sanction based and incentive based. This
is  achieved with a practical examination of the Queensland regulatory
framework.