Public Interest Litigation in Australia - A comparative Perspective 

UNSW Law's Australian Human Rights Institute produces research and policy outcomes for people in Australia and the Asia Pacific who are most in need of innovative responses

This event is co-hosted by La Trobe Law School, New York Law School, Grata Fund and UNSW Law's Australian Human Rights Institute.

Public interest or social impact litigation is utilised in many democracies as a vehicle for social, political and legal change. Public interest litigation has been successfully employed in the United States to pursue civil rights, as well as in Canada, India and South Africa to end practices of racial and gender discrimination and to ensure rights for Indigenous communities. Issues relating to the environment as well as pursuing the rights of consumers have also been the focus of public interest litigation. In the past few decades Australia has witnessed an increase in public interest cases with some significant success for plaintiffs.
What is unique about the Australian experience, when compared to the experiences of other jurisdictions like Canada, post-apartheid South Africa, the USA or India, is that Australia has no national Bill of Rights – the instrument that has often animated public interest litigation in those societies. 
Despite the absence of an Australian Bill of rights, public interest litigation in Australian courts has, to some extent, reflected the legal victories that have transpired in constitutional democracies in the area of voting rights, the rights of refugees, and environmental issues. 
On Thursday 8th August, 2019 La Trobe University School of Law, in collaboration with the Australian Human Rights Institute (UNSW Law) and Grata Fund, will host a conference entitled, Public Interest Litigation in Australia - A Comparative Perspective. The conference will bring together lawyers and advocates who are pursuing innovative litigation strategies, legal academics who write on related topics, judges who adjudicate these issues, and policy makers. The conference aims to consider some of the major public interest cases in Australia and to analyse them in comparative perspective. The conference will feature discussion of Australian cases - and reflection on the issues raised by them in light of comparable cases in other jurisdictions. 
It is the hope of the conference organisers that the deliberations and the engagement of all participants will lead to ongoing collaborations.
<A HREF="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/gratafund/pages/201/attachments/original/1564977424/Program__PUBLIC_INTEREST_LITIGATION_IN_AUSTRALIA_-_A_COMPARATIVE_PERSPECTIVE_%28final%29_%283%29.pdf?1564977424" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Full program available for download here. </A>
<H4>Getting there</H4>
For those driving, you should enter the University via the North Entry at the Kingsbury Drive entrance and the best car park to park in is 8 and then walk along the path, denoted by the red dashes on the map to the building marked as SS (Social Sciences). Enter the building via the automatic door and proceed straight ahead and then to take the stairs on your right to level 2. Upon landing on level 2 head turn left and the Moot Court is about half way down the corridor.
Please note if car park 8 is full, try car parks 7 and 7a as they usually have free spots as they are not direct access to buildings like car park 8.
Download a <A HREF="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/gratafund/pages/201/attachments/original/1564973320/LA_TROBE_MAP.pdf?1564973320" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">map of La Trobe University</A> here. 
For information about <A HREF="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/transport-central/public-transport/melbourne/cbd" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">public transport see this link</A>.

La Trobe University School of Law (Moot Court)

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