Anu lss allens peppercorn 2014 issue 2 by Peppercorn

Allens

Peppercorn

Issue 2, 2014

The ANU Law Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Society Quarterly Publication

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CONTENTS

Contents 5

Letters to the Editor

Stop Worrying About What Everyone Else Is Doing By ANTHONY LIEU

Wag the Dog - The Future of Print Media By ADAM SPENCE

11 Human Rights - It’s All of Our Business By MUHAMMAD TAUFIQU BIN SURAIDI 12 Comments on Crimea By ARTHUR BI 16 News of the Legal World By MICHAEL QUINCEY O’NEILL & CATH PILLEY 18 Quando ludex est Venturus By KELLY SU 20 Dear Doctor Dean

ANU LEGAL WORKSHOP Professional legal education

22 Satire, Don’t Take It Too Seriously By ERIC ALLILOMOU & MICHAEL QUINCEY O’NEILL 24 Global Corporate Power 28 Comments on Crimea: Sources

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LETTERS

Letters to the Editor Dear Editors, Was outraged to see in issue #1 a piece taking the mickey out of Burgmann. Such scurrilous snipes are totally unwarranted and the residents of Burgmann are proud of our college and its ethos of generosity, openness and kindness to those who are less fortunate. And yes, while many of the residents are rich, we do not believe wealth is a matter to poke fun at. In future you should try and make fun of those who deserve to be laughed at, AKA poor people. Everyone at Burgmann College Dear Editors, Long time reader first time writer. I would just like to point out the noticeable decline in quality of this once august publication. Peppercorn used to be number one in breaking stories and presenting interesting analysis, but now it seems more interested in smut and tantalising stories that seem to be more about sales and increasing readership numbers than quality journalism. The failure of student run magazines and newspapers to educate and shape campus opinions only further reaffirms the importance of public broadcasters such as the ever relevant and important ABC and SBS. Now that’s a source of news I can trust. I’ve spent many glorious hours watching ABC News 24 and other fantastic programming such as Landline and QandA. Not only is QandA a fantastic experiment in Australian Democracy (which hasn’t existed ever since September 2013!) but there couldn’t be a better host even if there was a billion buck reward for finding one!

Dear Editors, Following on from my letter last edition, I have discovered another ghastly fact of law student life. As a law student reaching the end of my degree, I find myself increasingly alone and isolated in what is a bleak and dismal graduate employment environment. No one told me when starting my degree that I wouldn’t stroll straight into a top tier litigation position. Now with the possibility of increased interest on my HECS debt, and with no employment prospects waiting in store, I must say I feel this entire exhibition in further study may be for naught. I think it is time that law schools around the country be upfront with current and prospective students alike, and stop selling this degree as a sure-fire way to success. Rosie (concerned law student) Dear Editors, After watching Joe Hockey hem and haw his way through what transpired to be another complete shambles of a budget, I can only say that I wish our own VP of Finance Mr. Dean Batten had given the address! Mr. Batten has proven he has both the acumen and charisma to fix the Australian economy, and it is due largely to his foresight that this year’s LSS is heading towards a surplus—and this despite the Peppercorn editors successive attempts to swipe from the kitty! If Mr. Batten decides to run for President for the 2015 LSS, consider this constituent “Keen for Dean!” John Keynes Dear Editors, The human mind is much more than just law readings and repetitive stories. Have you ever wondered about all the inventions you could pioneer if you had unlimited backing? I have! Some of my favourites include a refillable pen that would convert human urine into ink, as well as a beanbag that could double up as a concealment device. “Where did Peter Snerpus go?” the vagabond would ask, not knowing that I was hiding under the beanbag in the very same room! Ha! I got you!

Tony Stones

Peter Snerpus

Dear Editors,

I’ve always found the Peppercorn editorial team to be wellstocked in the stud department but this year I’ve been blown away by the talent. Standing head and shoulders above the rest is Mr. Eric Allilomou, a turbo-charged heartthrob if ever there was one. I can only hope that he’s on Tinder, because this girl is ready to get burnt! Heather Knockers you can have that grotesque husk of sinew, Mr. Quincey, I’d settle for those limpid brown-eyes any day of the week!

I’ve been to a few wild parties in my time, but I hear the First Year party went from PG to X! It’s a wonder the two kids didn’t catch a cold, but I guess at least the lad was well-covered. I do feel sorry for everyone else at the party though, it must be awfully difficult to carry on a conversation while two people are at it like rabbits in the corner. I always miss out on these things but if this sets a trend, sign me up for Law Ball!

Samantha Panties

Jane Littlemore-O’Less

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STUDYING LAW

Stop Worrying

About What Everyone Else Is Doing BY ANTHONY LIEU The life of a law student becomes far less stressful when you stop worrying about what everyone else is doing. Don’t worry about how many applications people have written or what job interviews they have lined up or the graduate offers they are deciding on. Instead, think beyond this mindset and focus your time and energy on you, your goals and intentions, and putting them into action. In 2014, there will be more than 12,000 law graduates entering a market that comprises around 60,000 solicitors. There are 36 law schools across Australia, with two more opening their doors this year. If the surfeit of law graduates wasn’t bad enough, there is also a contraction in demand for lawyers, with solicitor jobs advertised online dropping from 6300 a month in 2008 to 1800 a month in 2013. This is not a recession in an economic cycle but rather a permanent structural change as a result of the globalisation of the legal profession, cost-cutting by law firms, offshoring and outsourcing of legal work, commoditisation of legal services and competition from non-legal or online providers. With this reality check, there has never been a better time to prepare yourself for the job market and consider what you really want to do once you graduate. Be strategic, act with initiative and distinguish yourself from the sea of graduates. Now is the perfect time to find an area of law that you are passionate about and to pursue it, or apply the unique skillset of a law degree in another profession that values problem-solving, analytical thinking and logical reasoning. Whilst it is an increasingly competitive market, there are still ample opportunities for those prepared to find them. The job listings on the Beyond Law website are proof that there are a diverse range of jobs available to those with a law degree. In this job market, an open-minded and assiduous candidate will always be better prepared for the opportunities ahead. Generally, the only graduate opportunities you hear about during your law degree are from commercial law firms. Indeed, this makes sense – law firms have generous marketing budgets to present on campus, hand out promotional USBs

and feed you gourmet hors d’oeuvres. Law firms dominate the career culture at law school and this often dictates how you and everyone else contemplates their future career. Of course, for those interested in a career in commercial law, private practice is a great starting point. Many of my friends working at law firms enjoy what they do. But this route is not the only path out of law school, despite what your Law Students’ Society or law school have led you to believe and doing something other than commercial law is not settling for an alternative. Many of my friends have taken their law degrees into a number of different fields. Some have become judge’s associates, others have entered non-profits and a number have even taken their degree overseas. Outside law, many have landed positions in consulting, banking and finance, blue-chip corporations, journalism and politics. They were able to achieve this going beyond the norm and taking advantage of the fact that law is a powerful generalist degree and selling this to employers supported by their extra-curricular activities and law elective choices. Always keep in mind that your law degree will prepare you for your career and not just your first job. Remember to keep some perspective – you will soon have a law degree from one of the most prestigious law schools in Australia. Don’t do something just because everyone else is doing it. Don’t assume commercial practice is the only avenue. And don’t settle. Keep looking to find something that makes you happy and turn your law degree into something worthwhile and rewarding. Anthony Lieu is an ANU law student graduating in July and former Vice-President of the Australian Law Students’ Association. He founded Beyond Law – a job-search website for law students, graduates and young lawyers that promotes a range of opportunities around Australia and across the globe. Jobs posted daily on www.beyondlaw.com.au

Beyond Law is a job-search and resources website for Australian law students and graduates.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

MEDIA/JOURNALISM

Wag Dog the

BY ADAM SPENCE

The Future of Print Media

Jobs are disappearing, advertising revenues declining and circulations recording double digit falls consistently. Print media’s best days are behind it, leaving organisations once regarded as power houses in a struggle, as they seek out new ways to connect with audiences and attract revenue while protecting the traditional core purpose they serve. That’s not to say print media is no longer significant. On the contrary, the traditional print mastheads remain leading players in the media landscape with significant influence, a position they retain in the digital space. NewsCorp Australia and Fairfax are ranked first and second respectively for online news in Australia, and own 5 of the top ten ranked websites between them. The trends, though, are unmistakable for print. In the final quarter of 2013 Fairfax Media’s metro mastheads The Age and Sydney Morning Herald fell in weekday circulation by 17%. For the Herald, that meant a year on year fall from 157,931 to 131,737, a mere shadow of its almost 270,000 circulation in the 90s. NewsCorp Australia’s Sydney and Melbourne mastheads declined, though by only 12%, and still enjoyed a significant lead in circulation and readership over their Fairfax counterparts. Just as important as the audit figures of readership and circulation are the dollars rolling in, and while NewsCorp’s audit figures may not be as bad as those of Fairfax, their advertising revenue paints a bleaker picture. Year on year, in 2013 NewsCorp Australia’s newspaper revenue fell $350m. It’s indicative of declining advertising revenues across the whole industry, with total advertising revenue falling by tens of millions each year. The story is no better locally, where The Canberra Times’ circulation is half what it was in the 1990s. The Times, whose alumni includes Lenore Taylor, Chris Uhlmann and Karen Middleton, has seen redundancies throughout. Senior journalists have given way to an increasingly young team largely from interstate, at the same time losing institutional expertise while gaining no new local knowledge. It’s telling that The Canberra Times’ mission statement was once to serve the nation, now their sights are set much lower. Setting sights lower though may be something we have to expect, given redundancies are now the norm throughout the once thriving newsrooms of print media. Both NewsCorp and Fairfax have shed hundreds of jobs in recent times, are closing printing presses and increasingly outsourcing roles such as sub-editing. In recent weeks Fairfax drew a strong rebuke from its staff and the public for floating the idea of shedding the bulk of its in-house photographers in favour of using stock agency imagery. These photographers, many award winning and long serving are recognised as some of the finest in the world, and their role is essential to media organisations whether they publish in print or online. The availability of high quality is imagery is vital, both for compelling story telling that engages and informs readers, and from a business perspective, influencing whether a story will run and how prominently it will be placed.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

MEDIA/JOURNALISM

Declining revenues and smaller newsrooms have the potential to undermine the fundamental mission of newspapers, which is to investigate, to report, to inform and to record. Having to do more with less and shedding talent is already seeing a greater reliance on user-generated content, while the competitive digital space in which traditionally print publications must now compete creates new time pressures not favourable to the longer lead times quality journalism demands. Can digital save the essence of print, that fundamental mission? It remains uncertain. While the traditional titans of print, Fairfax and NewsCorp, remain the dominant players in digital, the value of digital media is only a fraction of print. The advertising revenue generated from digital mediums has not come close to replacing that lost from declining print revenues. In the United States in 2012, digital revenue growth was being outstripped by print revenue loss by a 13:1 margin. According to the Newspaper Association of America, since peaking in the year 2000, newspaper revenues have sharply fallen by over twothirds to below 1950s levels. The rise in digital revenue barely registers. In response to this, publishers around the world are moving to supplement online advertising with a user pays model, imposing pay walls with varying degrees of free content still available. The success of this so far is difficult to gauge, but its fair to say even the revenues from subscriptions will not replace those lost from the rivers of gold that once flowed when print was dominant. At best we can hope that sound strategies protect enough of the revenue, so that some core of the media outlets we once knew survive. What does print media’s decline mean? Journalism is more than a business. It’s recognised as essential to maintaining a healthy, democratic society. Print journalism more than any other medium is essential to that and to understanding who we are and where we’ve been. Yet the realities of the digital age and need to compete in the digital space will have serious repercussions for the capacity and direction of print media and the purpose it serves as a record of society. In 1996 Macquarie University began a project aimed at uncovering the wide and important breadth of legal decisions from before 1900 in New South Wales. With only limited court reporting in the era and largely forgotten by history, the best source for uncovering these decisions has proven to be newspaper archives. The project has produced a significant numbers of case records, and these in turn have been utilised by dozens of books and academic articles. That newspapers serve to record history for posterity not only serves society, but the business interests of media outlets. History provides an entertaining look at the past and context for the present, both attractive to media consumers. An internal report of the New York Times Company leaked recently, identifies the historic content media organisations amass, as of significant value to them going forward. Media organisations should be libraries, the report states emphatically.

Yet that capacity to record history and the quality of what is recorded are both in doubt in the digital era. The law does not yet compel publishers in Australia to deposit their digital works with the National Library of Australia as it does for print publications. While print publications will be around for a long time yet, as more content is produced for digital only and print recedes further, we see a gap in archiving that will only grow wider in the absence of law reform. Even if the digital publications of tomorrow are archived as comprehensively as print has been, the quality of those publications will reflect the significantly different dynamic that exists in the digital era. Digital mediums favour speed and enable detailed readership analytics. While print essentially broadcast words and images, digital allows media consumers to be selective. Just as the publishers of print newspapers favoured stories with compelling photographs, publishers of digital content will prefer content that earns clicks and generates revenue. The relationship is one where it is no longer as clear to what extent the publisher defines the content. Increasingly it appears publishers are tailoring content to suit consumers, and we see this in the stories given prominence on Australia’s most read news site, news.com.au. On any given day, celebrity gossip, scandal and hype saturates the homepage, saying little of value, but generating the clicks that make the meager yet necessary digital dimes. At the second ranked Sydney Morning Herald online, lifestyle and entertainment content is given less prominence, but is slowly creeping up the page. If the media were a dog, and the audience traditionally its tail, the move into the digital era poses this question… does a dog wag its tail, or does the tail wag the dog? It’s an important question because the stories worth telling, aren’t always the most popular, nor the most profitable. Yet these are the stories often of most value to society. But in an era of decreasing revenues and resources, where each digital dime counts, achieving the balance between commercial imperatives versus investing what is needed to produce original, well researched journalism is only going to become more difficult. If that balance is not achieved, then our society now and in the future will be losing something valuable.

“Declining revenues and smaller newsrooms have the potential to undermine the fundamental mission of newspapers, which is to investigate, to report, to inform and to record.” ALLENS PEPPERCORN

Think ahead.

Melbourne Perth Sydney

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INTERNATIONAL LAW

Human Rights - It’s All of Our Business

BY MUHAMMAD TAUFIQ BIN SURAIDI When looking at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the two main conventions that follow it– namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR) – it should be expected that their statements are universally accepted. However, there are schools of thought that challenge the universal nature of these rights – from the Asian-values proposition, to post-colonial and feminist critiques of human rights. The incomplete nature of our rights further culminates into Conventions like CERD, CEDAW and CROC and also the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (DRIP). Even then, there continues to be disagreement on the content of human rights and its interpretation. Why is this so? In this article, I will attempt a very general look at the history of international human rights law beginning from post-World War II. In that time, the victors came together, led by the United States to start the United Nations. The victors then worked to draft the UDHR (56 countries voting) and later through the Cold War drafted the ICCPR (pushed by the Western bloc during the Cold War) and ICESCR (pushed by the Soviet Union and some Eastern European states). This seems well and good, especially when during those time, involvement in the UN is prospering with the entry of newly independent colonial states. Hence there is some semblance of international involvement. Nonetheless, we must look further and see who is at the table discussing and drafting these documents and deciding on the forms of its interpretation and manifestation. Upon deeper reflection, it will be obvious that the drafting and discussion of international human right treaties were done when not all the voices who should be heard were heard. Women were not given sufficient representation, indigenous people were not on the table, children’s rights were not adequately represented and minority races were not given an equal voice. The representatives of States may be present during those discussion but they can hardly claim to represent the minorities in their country, the women of their country, the children of their country and the indigenous people of their land. In the 1940s till the 1990s, discrimination and unequal treatment of women, children, racial minorities and indigenous people were rife around the world. Accordingly, CERD, CEDAW, CROC and DRIP were drafted and came into force.These conventions and declarations were drafted to begin to recognise the rights of women, minority races, indigenous people and children and to restore the much neglected space for everyone to be involved in the discussion of human rights. As these movements are relatively recent, it is therefore important to remember that the discussion of human rights is nowhere close to its conclusion. These conventions supplementing the UDHR, ICCPR and ICESCR have only laid down the necessary foundation ensuring that the discussion on human rights is inclusive and holistic.

The next step should be to assess whether these conventions were successfully implemented. On this front, the respective Convention Treaty Body websites and reports suggest that we are still very far behind. In the 41st session of the CEDAW Committee, the countries assessed still shows prevalent discrimination against women. Racial genocide still occurs in the world such as that occurring in Myanmar. Indigenous people still struggle to preserve their community (a UN report has shown that 90% of the world’s language will be extinct within 100 years and that indigenous people are still overrepresented among the poorest people in the world). We need to fix this discrepancy and inequality before we can be confident that everyone on Earth has the ability to take part in the discussion of human rights. Furthermore, I would like to highlight the institutions that are in place currently to enforce, monitor and preserve human rights both internationally and domestically. These systems and institutions cannot be seen to be the perfect mechanisms – not because they are influenced by politics but because they are a manifestation of the interpretations of human rights decided in a world where and at a time when not everyone is at the table to discuss human rights and who should wield the responsibility to effectively monitor them. For instance, although non-governmental organisation are given a voice through the submission of shadow reports, States continue to resist their input and voice in some of the treaty monitoring bodies. We must also be careful whenever domestic systems mete out decisions and judgments that attempt to balance human rights against other conceptions of human rights. This can most clearly be seen in the example of when indigenous customary law conflicts with the common law. The common law is a system of law which is imposed onto the local indigenous population of colonised states such as those in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and other colonised states. The local indigenous population did not have any say in how a system of justice was to look like in their country and such systems do not consider what an appropriate system of justice should be in light of their local context, customs and tradition. That discussion never took place. To conclude, I am not arguing that we go down the path of cultural relativism of rights. That will give too much way to parochialism and that, in itself, gives rise to so many other injustices (cultural factors justifying subordination of women etc). I am merely pointing out that our understanding of universal human rights is incomplete because when these ideas were discussed and deemed to be the norm, not everyone was invited to the discussion. Women, racial minorities and indigenous populations were excluded. Human rights are our rights and so concerns us all. The UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR and the supplementary conventions have laid the groundwork for us to have that great discussion, with everyone at the table with their ideas and philosophies, to finally decide what universal human rights should look like. I think the final result will be very different from how we understand human rights today but I believe that it will be fair, just and wise enough to balance and harmonise the inherently conflicting nature of who we are: a diverse society comprising of unique individuals, each having a sacred right to exist and bound by a sacred duty to the community.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

INTERNATIONAL LAW

2. The facts 2.1 What happened in Crimea? On 22th February, 2014, the Maidan protest movement successfully ousted the former pro-Russia President.1

Comments on

Crimea From the perspective of international law on the use of force BY ARTHUR BI Xiao-fan (Arthur) Bi is a second year law undergraduate and an enthusiast of Jus ad bellum. You can send your opinion or criticism of this article to U5072970@anu.edu.au.

On 26th of February, Putin ordered an urgent drill to test the combat readiness of Russia’s armed forces.2 Starting on 27th of February, unidentified forces (also known as ‘the little green men3’) emerged in Crimea,4 and gained control of important governmental and public facilities in Crimea.5 Notably, these events bear an incredible similarity with what happened in Georgia in 2008.6 On 1st of March, the Russian Parliament approved the use of force in Ukraine. On 6th of March the Crimean Parliament declared that it would hold a referendum on the future of Crimea.7 On 16th of March, a referendum indicated a 96% majority in favor of Crimea becoming part of Russia.8 On 18th of March, president Putin signed a bill to officially absorb Crimea into Russia.9 On 24th March, the remaining Ukrainian troops in Crimea were withdrawn.10 2.2 What happened in eastern Ukraine? On the 7th of April, separatist groups emerged in eastern Ukraine.11 On 12th April, occupations of official buildings by pro-Russian protesters and militants multiplied12. The government in Kiev responded with an ‘anti-terrorist’ operation on 15th April.13 On 17th April, Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU held talks in Geneva on de-escalating the current crisis in eastern Ukraine.14 Russia consented to the deployment of observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (the OSCE) in the Russian/Ukrainian border.15 By the time of 25th April, some 40,000 Russian military forces remained amassed at Ukraine’s doorstep.16 On the same day, the pro-Russian activists had taken hostage of 8 OSCE observers17, whom they blamed as ‘NATO spies’.18 Notably, the captured observers are not part of the mission for the deployment in the border between Russia and Ukraine.19 The hostages were released on 3rd May.20 2.3 The positions of Russia and the West Russia also expressed concern over the security of Russian-speaking minorities in Crimea and eastern Ukraine and reserves the right to protect their safety.21

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

INTERNATIONAL LAW

protect their safety21.

proportionality in exercising the right of self-defense.36

Moscow first denied any involvement in Crimea, claiming that these apparently professional, well-equipped and well-organized ‘little green men’ were spontaneously organized Crimean self-defense forces.22

3.1.1 Is there an armed attack?

When asked about the identity of the ‘little green men’, Mr Putin replied: “However… I did not hide the fact that our goal was to ensure proper conditions for the people of Crimea to be able to freely express their will. And so we had to take the necessary measures in order to prevent the situation in Crimea unfolding the way it is now unfolding in southeastern Ukraine. We didn’t want any tanks, any nationalist combat units or people with extreme views armed with automatic weapons. Of course, the Russian servicemen did back the Crimean self-defense forces. They acted in a civil but a decisive and professional manner…”23 “It was impossible to hold an open, honest, and dignified referendum and help people express their opinion in any other way. …There were more than 20,000 well-armed [Ukrainian] soldiers stationed in Crimea… It was imperative to prevent even the possibility of someone using…weapons against civilians.”24 Mr Putin also denied any involvement with the pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine.25 In contrast, the Western governments26 and NATO27 considered the association of Crimea to Russia illegal under international law, and see Russia as responsible for (at least) not using its power to prevent the civil unrest in eastern Ukraine.28

3. Legitimate grounds for the use force Article 2(4) of the UN Charter stipulates that “all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state…”29 This covers both the Anschluss-type situation where the territory of a state (or a part of it) is deprived by another without a single shot fired and the situation where the same happens after a bloody war.30 The mainstream view is that there are only two ways in which a war could be legally waged: an act under the authority of Chapter VII of the UN Charter; or an act under the self-defense31. The first head is clearly unavailable here, because such authorization could only derive from a Security Council Resolution, which hasn’t been made32 and (arguably) unlikely to be made in the future. 3.1 Self-defense as an inherent right under Article 51, UN Charter Article 51 of the UN Charter recognizes the inherent right33 of individual and collective self-defense.34 This right derives its contents and limitations from the customary international law.35 To exercise this right, three conditions must be met: 1) the attack is an armed attack; 2) it ‘has occurred’; and 3) there must be necessity and

Only the actual use (contrast to the mere threat) of force with sufficient gravity37 (not just a frontier incident)38 and specificity39 could amount to an armed attack.40 An armed attack is defined as “an attack by the armed forces of a State on the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another State.”41 It follows that an attack by non-state actors could not be an armed attack, unless the ‘irregulars’ could be attributed to another state,42 which “carry out acts of…such gravity as to amount to an actual armed attack conducted by regular forces.”43 The legal principles governing attribution is discussed in detail in my second article. 3.1.1.1 Application There was unlikely to be an ‘armed attack’, because nothing here suggests that the events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine are attributable to Russia and these events have the sufficient scale and specificity to amount to an armed attack. This is the case in Crimea, because, as discussed in my second article, the conducts of the ‘little green men’ are unlikely to be attributable to Russia. However, if such conducts were attributable, they would clearly then amount to an armed attack, since the requirements for scale and specificity are clearly satisfied on the facts. That is so, because Ukraine was deprived of an entire region of its territory. This is also the case in eastern Ukraine for two reasons. First of all, as discussed in my second article, the conducts of pro-Russia activists (occupying a few governmental buildings, setting up checkpoints, taking hostages and etc.), are unlikely to be attributable to Russia. Secondly, this conduct clearly does not satisfy the scale for an armed attack. 3.1.2 Has the armed attack occurred? Despite the expression ‘has occurred’ in Article 51 of the UN Charter, it seems absurd that a state, given the development of modern armament, must await the initial attack to occur44 to take self-defense actions. There is much academic debate on the existence of a right to take ‘anticipatory’ self-defense actions.45 This essay adopts the ‘interceptive self-defense doctrine’ as proposed by Professor Yoram Dinstein46 and supported by state practices.47 According to Dinstein, the right of self defense arises when the other side “has committed itself to an armed attack in an ostensibly irrevocable way … and the blow is imminent and practically unavoidable.”48 However, it does not arise “merely on the ground of assumptions, expectations or fear. It has to be demonstrably apparent that the other side is already engaged in carrying out an armed attack.”49 In the present case, for two reasons, Ukraine is unlikely to have a right of interceptive self-defense.

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INTERNATIONAL LAW

Comments on Crimea (continued) Firstly, Russia’s military drills and concentration of troops at the border are merely sources of a well-founded fear for Ukraine, falling short of an ostensibly irrevocable commitment to an armed attack by Russia. Also, this would be inconsistent with Russia’s previous consent to the deployment of the OSCE observers. Secondly, nothing here suggests that an attack is imminent or unavoidable.50 3.1.3 Necessity and proportionality: The Caroline Incident provides the two qualifications on the right of self-defense, necessity and proportionality.51 According to the Caroline Incident, an act could be justified under self-defense, if there is “a necessity of self-defense, instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation…and did nothing unreasonable or excessive; since the act justified by the necessity of self-defense, must be limited by that necessity, and kept clearly within it.”52 3.1.3.1 Necessity: The requirement of necessity is reflected in two aspects. Firstly, the situation must be “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation”. If there is an alternative peaceful solution, this clearly points against there being ‘no choice of means.53 Secondly, the targets of a self-defense action must be legitimate military targets.54 Is a full-scale troops movement into eastern Ukraine by Russia ‘necessary’? A full-scape troops movement is not necessary on the present facts, because the current facts are far from “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation’ for four reasons.”55 Firstly, nothing here suggests that Moscow’s concern over the safety of ethnic Russians (a vaguely defined concept)56 in eastern Ukraine has actually materialized.57

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Secondly, even if the safety of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine was at stake, nothing here suggest that, in contrast to Israeli’s rescue operation at Entebbe airport, Uganda in 1976,58 the government in Kiev is unable or unwilling to protect ethnic Russians in the region. Thirdly, even if the two conditions above were satisfied, Russia would have a right of interceptive self-defense only for the purpose of protecting ethnic Russians. That means, Russia would only be justified, for example, to bring some ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine to safety if necessary. However, Russia would certainly not be justified to march a massive army into eastern (or the whole) part of Ukraine. 3.1.3.2 Proportionality: It was held in Nicaragua that, in determining whether an act under self-defense is proportionate, the court would compare the scale of the initial attack to the scale of the act under self-defense.59 This means, for example, if some Ukrainian infantry units have entered Russian territory; it would be proportionate for Russia to repel them; but it would be excessive to order a full-scale troops movement.

5. Conclusion Hence, the present facts suggest that neither Ukraine nor Russia could wage a new war legally, because, as argued above, nothing here suggests that a use of force could be justifiable under the inherent right of self-defense or Chapter VII of the Charter. For about 100 years ago, millions of young people in Europe and Australia marched for their King and Country, and very few returned home. It would be a great irony, if we forget about the millions of death of the Great War, and the brutality and agony to the very few who survived the artillery shells but nonetheless destroyed. Sources for this article can be found on pages 28-29 of this issue.

Think Law When you think of a law firm, what springs to mind? Grey and boring, heads stuck in legal books, and lots of ‘same same’ with no different.

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LAW IN THE NEWS

NEWS

OF THE

LEGAL WORLD Legal aid funding slashed again BY CATH PILLEY

In response to my previous article (Peppercorn Edition 1, 2014), the recent Federal budget has cut funding from the already struggling legal aid sector. $15 million will be cut from the legal aid budget over the next four years. In the ACT, the Legal Aid Commission will lose about $400 000. In response, ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell has stated that the funding reduction will “increase costs on our justice system and social services, because legal problems that might have been averted with early advice will balloon into more serious problems.” The President of the Australian Bar Association, Mark Livesey QC, has also condemned the reductions in legal aid funding, emphasising that it will only further disadvantage citizens who need legal representation. In a media release he indicated that “the Commonwealth share of funding under the national legal aid agreement is now down to 35%.” The cuts will further affect the capacity of the court system to resolve cases efficiently. Livesey also emphasised that the reductions will create a ‘two tier, two speed justice system – one for the wealthy and another for the poor.’

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

High Court of Australia landmark judgement: Gender-neutral recognition In April, a successful legal battle, cumulating with a High Court ruling, established the recognition of non-specific sex. Norrie, a Sydney resident, commenced legal proceedings after wanting to be registered with the NSW Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages as of non-specific sex. Norrie was born a male and in 1989 underwent sex reassignment surgery. Norrie identifies as neither male nor female. However, Amnesty International has said that while the decision is significant, the court’s ruling only applies to someone like Norrie who has had sex reassignment surgery. Subsequently, an Amnesty spokesperson has stated that it could still be difficult for people who have not had surgery to be officially recognised as gender-neutral. The ACT has also recently passed new legislation recognising a gender option, other than male or female. Commonwealth guidelines have recognised a third category of gender on passports, since 2011. Australian passports have three gender options, male, female and indeterminate or X. In 2011, the former Attorney-General, Robert McClelland hailed the recognition of the third gender category as allowing gender diverse people to “travel free of discrimination.”

LAW IN THE NEWS

European Court of Justice advances the ‘right to be forgotten’ In a decision that is bound to please anyone who has an embarrassing past, the European Court of Justice (the EU’s highest court) ruled on the 13th of May that Google must take down its links to a previously resolved lawsuit. Spanish lawyer, Mario Costeja Gonzalez sued Google for connecting his name to a newspaper article first published in 1998, but still given a ghostly second-life in the virtual realm thanks to the complex and nebulous algorithms of Google’s search engine. The court identified Google as a ‘data controller’ under the European laws of data protection, which gives individuals strong rights over the data others hold on them. Google should not display information that is “inadequate, irrelevant...or excessive,” given the purpose for which they are processed and the time elapsed. Though the court’s desire to protect individuals from misunderstanding and malice stems from good intentions, the ruling appears to strike at the central philosophy of what the Internet is supposed to be: a universal library of free, instantaneous information for its users. To impose restrictions upon gossip and hearsay—not to mention the conundrums of finding a satisfactory definition for either of these terms—would give licence to censorship. Here at the Peppercorn we find ourselves agreeing with our fellow journalist John Milton ““Let her [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing.” Surely when it comes to forgetting the past, time and the sound judgment will always prove more effective than censorship.

Fred Nile defies all expectations— helps to repeal ‘gay panic’ laws in NSW As of May the 14th, the Crimes Amendment (Provocation) Bill 2014 is now law in NSW, putting an end to the State’s much maligned ‘gay panic’ laws. The idea that a non-violent sexual advance could satisfy the elements of provocation was first established in 1997 in the controversial case of Green v The Queen. Since then the so-called ‘Homosexual Advance Defence’ has been continuously used by people, who would otherwise have been convicted of murder, to instead be convicted of manslaughter with a reduced sentence. According to the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, this legal defence was exclusively used in cases where a man tried to fraternise with another man. MP Fred Nile and his peers in the NSW legislative assembly have rightly decided that men will now have to do what billions of women have been doing since the dawn of time, i.e. smile and politely say ‘No’.

All news has been brought to you by

MICHAEL QUINCEY O’NEILL & CATH PILLEY ALLENS PEPPERCORN

LEGAL DRAMA

Quando ludex est Venturus

(Or some truly irrelevant thoughts on the mandatory retirement age for federal judges)

An Introduction (Explained) When Francesco - the same Francesco who later became Saint Francis of Assisi -was a young man, he could often be seen wandering through the streets by day and leading the farandole at night, dressed in the brilliant silk and velvet of his father’s shop. Then, a mad beggar would spread his cloak before him every time he walks by and, flinging himself down before him, cry: “Ah, Master, step this way, lest the dust of the Earth should sully your feet.” Story from the Liber Conformitatum How is that an appropriate introduction for an article in a law school magazine?! Well, when the scribbler of this article sat down before her desk one Sunday night after a long week, she was rewarded with a brilliant idea that would conclusively end all debates around the mandatory retirement of federal judges at 70 (which, if you haven’t yet heard, was recently reopened by the Abbott government’s decision to rise the pension eligibility age1). Evidently this would be resolved once and for all if we make immortality one of the requirements for appointment to federal courts! The idea was so simple and concise that our scribbler wondered why were mortals permitted to study law in the first place. Through an extraordinary flash of insight that illuminated her entire life to date, it became obvious to her that all the doubts she had about her studies and her future employment prospects (which are looking very bleak indeed) are simply results of her pitiful mortality. To her great surprise, when she began to announce this amazing discovery, everyone tried to convince that it was impractical. This certainly came as a shock to her, as it appears that her education never offered her much of an opportunity to observe the principles of practicality and common sense. However, after contemplating the issue for many more hours, she finally had to concede that everyone else’s argument was more or less right and, if she should wish to restore her faith in humanity, she must, like more or less everyone else, look forward to the world to come. As she is a rather optimistic individual (how else could she survive in law school), and to overcome the disappointment of having her most brilliant legal idea refuted, she immediately started to sketch a possible history for the federal court of that world. This shall form the remainder of her article here.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

The Rest of the Story - Which is (Even) More Irrelevant It’s believed that when great judges die, their souls would drift to a remote corner of the universe beyond space and time. There they would discuss the finer points of Earthly laws, even though they’d be no longer bound by Earthly needs or Earthly lives. Great decisions could be made, and were made, during these meetings. However, for us mortals, these debates would seem to be simply a torrent of voices that had existed since the indefinite past, and would continue into the infinite future. Countless men and women would have devoted their time on Earth to this torrent, with the firm belief that a life spent in calmly contemplating one puddle is a life well spent. Therefore, unfortunately, the scribbler must confine herself here to one story that she once saw, strolling past on a cloudy day. Once upon a time, these conversations were very pleasant, since their Honors were simply introducing themselves and trying to get used to each other’s company. Therefore, not surprisingly, they looked for points common to all. They soon discovered many of these – some liked wearing wigs, others thought the cloak was the best part of the costume; a large number believed in the freedom and dignity of mankind; many, being once human, held some common prejudices and deeply ingrained opinions called principles; the great majority loved the law and an even greater majority loved giving orders. However, soon there were too many similarities for everyone to feel comfortable, since each was the best when they lived on Earth and everyone believed that they are the best of the best. So a particularly disputative soul thought of the great idea of a competition and all started to debate in true lawyerly style. “We should recite the best case we decided on Earth.” “But it had been such a long time since we left. So much had happened…” “What do you mean? The Earth is the same madhouse it had always been.” “Pardon me. Let me clarify, of course I meant we have became much more refined here…” “I have an idea!”

LEGAL DRAMA

“How dare you mention… Wait… Someone did walk in…”

“Who are you?”

“Yes, I heard a knock…”

“Don’t your Honors recognize your own creation? I am the legal person.”

“Let us return to more reasonable matters and welcome this new member to…” “He’s wearing buckled shoes – who wears shoes with silver buckles these days?” “I think they are gold…” “I cannot see…” “Of course you can’t – it’s dressed in a full-length bridesmaid’s gown.” “I’m sure that’s only a trick of the light…but whatever this is, it is not one of us.” “Yes – it’s too colorful.” “Too varied.” “Too…it still seems to have…personal character. Remember that we had to throw everything away when we left Earth…” “Our lives and our dreams…”

When their Honors spoke again, they sounded somewhat kinder but a little less confident: Everything seemed to freeze for a moment. Then there was a terrible sound that would have shattered reality into a million sharp pieces, though, fortunately, as the room was in fact made of the purist, most rigorous legal formalism, their Honors were only a little shaken, but not injured. However, they immediately realized that the Person was no longer there and they are left alone again. What no one wants to admit, of course, is that they have no idea how to write a judgment based on that hearing. Some thus held that the hearing has not yet begun, so they waited on the bench, and are waiting there still. Others, more pragmatically, decided that the Person had destroyed itself and proceeded to debate the causes and effects of this tragic incident. However, everyone is glad to acknowledge that they are suitably occupied for the rest of eternity.

BY KELLY SU

“Our bodies and our faith…” “With those we are not truly honorable…” “…and thus cannot live in the Law.” At this point it was evident that they were ready to return to their finer conversations on legal matters. However, also at that point, the Person spoke: “I am representing my client.” Their Honors looked up with some interest: “Who is that?” “The humankind you are trying to judge.” Their Honors now paid their full attention:

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

LEGAL ADVICE

A Slice of Advice... Dear Doctor Dean,

Dear Doctor Dean,

I’m studying my first year of Law and am absolutely loving it! I can’t wait to get out there and follow my dream of becoming a human rights lawyer. I want to ask the big questions and help those people in society who are often ignored and neglected. Can you tell me the best way to become a human rights lawyer?

No matter how hard I study, I just can’t seem to improve my grades. I cram and cram until my head is about to bursts with the Corporations Act but I just can’t seem to raise my Cs to Ds. Can you help me out?

Human rights lawyer? The only thing a human rights lawyer is there for is to give real lawyers something to throw champagne on at parties. I don’t know who put that flippy flappy fairy-beary huggah boogah into your head but you better give them a big ol’ fist in the nose for suggesting it. A human rights lawyer spends most of their day sitting in the middle of the road outside The Hague, clawing at the pants of passersby, much like beggars. Except beggars beg for money. You’ll be begging for self respect since the last time you tried to prosecute someone they sent you a drawing of a penis and 56kg of rat poo in a box (Romania in particular specialises in breeding rats from which you can collect the dung to mail to your enemies as a sign of disdain. I’m told the odour is particularly demeaning.) You may also need to beg for money since you can’t collect the mocking laughter of other people to pay rent. As for loving your first year I can only assume you haven’t done a final exam yet. When you spend a month in the library with all your besties (who, you will discover later, would merrily shank you for the amusement of Gilbert + Tobin’s HR manager) pounding all the knowledge of tortuous liability possible into your head, you’ll think to yourself “I’m all ready to go!” And then you’ll get your 61, or 59 if the marker had an underwhelming breakfast that morning. Scribbled across your hard work will be the phrase “basic legal concepts not understood” “poor application of the law” and “NO!” And as you scramble for an explanation of how you, with your 90’s ATAR and Principal’s Award for Attendance could possibly struggle at law school, you’ll find out that at university it actually makes almost no difference how much of the course you know. This leads me to our next question.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

Well me friend if you want to raise your marks the Corporations Act is the very last place you should be looking. For you see an assessment in the College of Law is not about proving how much law you understand but how much law you seem to understand. If you’re like me you’ve come this far not because of your superb legal reasoning or fathomless depths of legal knowledge (that we have apparently received at the low low low price of $40-50k ). It’s because you can polish a turd like nobody’s business. You could take the nastiest copy of Mein Kampf that ever there existed and HIRAC it so good you can proudly march around your home flashing your 60 for all to see (until your veteran grandfather realises you’re parading around with a legalised version of Mein Kampf and beats you with a pool cue). There are hundreds of students undertaking a compulsory law course and the markers don’t really have time to actually read and think about what you’ve written, since most of it is barely any different from the paper of Weird Smelling Gary who sat on your right in Melville Hall. They’ll just be looking for a few key words and phrases like “Donohue v Stevenson”, “Gummow J said”, “the court held,” “pancakes” “the doctrine of Bunny constructive trusts” “why doesn’t my mother love me” and “64 slices of American cheese”. If you can master HIRAC-ing that then you’ll never need to touch a book of law ever again to get your ANU law degree Dr. Dean’s Tip Of The Day: University degrees are mostly just con jobs anyway.

LEGAL ADVICE

FROM

Doctor Dean Dear Doctor Dean,

Dear Doctor Dean,

There’s a really cute girl in my Admin lecture who I really, really like. Should I tell her how I feel?

I came here to the ANU this year to do a JD. Can you tell me what the night life scene is like, and maybe suggest some of the better haunts to visit?

Yes. Crushing defeat will only make you stronger. That’s why Germany is now the economic superpower of Europe.

Doctor Dean

If by “do a JD” you mean have sex with someone with the initials “JD”, inspired no doubt by your love of Scrubs which I can definitely sympathise with, then I can only point you to Woroni which is packed to the gills with articles about boobs and dong and where they can both be found in plentiful abundance. As for the Canberra night life....well I’m actually glad you chose the word “haunt” since considering the attendance of most places the only other revellers joining you in North Bar at 2am will be the spirits of people you drunkenly rubbed against over the course of the evening. Your selection of Thursday night rompery will pretty much be limited to “dark and noisy club” “dark and noisy club with too much damn strobe light” “dark and noisy club that is actually a front for a cocaine dealing organisation”, “creepy old guy pub” “angry ADFA dudes pub” and Mooseheads, which is a delicious cocktail of all five choices. So really where you end up will depend on your mood, where Jesebelle, the Burgmann girl you’ve been trying seduce since O-Week is partying, whether you’ve got a particular shine towards balding public servants who drink wine in pubs after midnight, feel like getting punched in the face by a guy who has been trained to kill a man with his bare hands or simply follow the happiest sounding drunken cheers. Just keep walking around and around the bus terminal my friend and Canberra’s nightlife will find you. And hey, if that doesn’t work you can always have a quiet night in with a book. Those things don’t even vomit on you.

ABOUT

Doctor Dean has a PhD in Failure from the University of Misery. In 1994 he earned a Nobel Prize in Shame and has spent the last 20 years abusing his tenure at the ANU. He’s seen it all, knows all the ropes and is here to help. So why not throw him a question at lsspeppercorn@anu.edu.au.? ALLENS PEPPERCORN

SATIRE

Satire, Don’t Take It Too Seriously All satire has been brought to you by

ERIC ALLILOMOU & MICHAEL QUINCEY O’NEILL Abbott Government Defends Privatising Law Courts

LSS Committee Member Not Exactly Sure What It Is They Should Be Doing

CANBERRA: After selling off such natural monopolies as the Post Office, Uluru and the Kookaburra, today Prime Minister Tony Abbott responded to complaints that the recent move to privatise the Australian judicial system has proven unsuccessful, remarking that the whole thing just sounded like “a bunch of menstruating women bitchin’ in the kitchen”. The Prime Minister subsequently apologised if his comments had offended anyone before adding, “The previous Labor government left us in a debt crisis of apocalyptic proportions. If enforcing my ideology onto the Australian people is the only way to solve it, then clearly my hands are tied”.

ACTON: In a shock announcement that has sent reverberations throughout the Law student community at ANU, Margaret Wong has admitted that she’s not “a hundred percent clear what the role of Technical Director of Administrative Support” actually is. When pressed, Miss Wong could only hazard a vague guess that it “might have something to do with helping the Social Justice Officer stack and unstack chairs before and after events”. However later that same day Allens Peppercorn received inside information that the “stacking and unstacking of chairs” is in fact the duty of the Senior Assistant of Technical Direction, meaning Miss Wong’s actual responsibilities remain largely in doubt.

Treasurer Joe Hockey defended the reforms. “In the ACT alone, we’ve gone from 43% of cases still carrying on after a year, to 100% of trials being resolved in just under an hour. No matter who you are, from the wealthiest Australian to the poorest, everybody can now buy the justice they deserve”. The Treasurer then cited figures showing that the recent 8% cut in corporate taxes could only have been achieved with the $12 billion sell-off of the High Court to Rio Tinto. The company itself is delighted with its latest acquisition and has promised the Australian people “a more transparent justice system”, citing that instead of bribing judges they would now just fire them. CEO Sam Welsh believed his corporation would ensure the rule of law in Australia was stronger than ever. “There used to be a time when the legal system in this country bred uncertainty. Cases like Mabo and Tasmanian Dams got in the way of business, cost the Australian people jobs and empowered radical extremists like the Greens and Indigenous people. We can now guarantee with absolute predictability that every time there is a dispute between big business and the people, big business will win”. Surprisingly, many law students have proven amenable to the changes. Lauren Brickwater, student at the ANU, admits that cases have become easier to summarise. “It used to be that the judges would just dive into all this legal mumbo jumbo and reason their way to a decision, but now they just name a price and call for the highest bidder. It really is a lot more straightforward!” Incidentally, the price of justice itself continues to fluctuate with the RBA pricing justice from Michael Kirby at $3.4 million and justice from Dyson Heydon at $12.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

The crisis has resulted in an explosion of existential fears throughout the LSS body. Social Justice Officer, Vincent Barry, now wonders if his role as Social Justice Officer has any meaning beyond being a nice signifier on his resume. “I mean, here I am dispensing pancakes and holding origami sessions and I have to ask the question, am I actually furthering the cause of social justice?” Though events such as Day of Dissent and Women and the Law Breakfast have proven highly popular amongst Law students, other activities such as the LSS Bathing the Homeless Week have consistently failed to pull in the crowds. On the other hand, Careers Officer Wendy Peltman is more optimistic. “The role of Careers Officer provides an essential service to the Law student body. I think everyone can agree that this year’s Clerkship event was one of the best we ever had. It’s really the only way for students to get that first foot into the commercial law industry”. However, when asked whether there would be any future events catering for Law students interested in such sundry legal fields as criminal law, constitutional law, administrative law, family law, labour law, sports law, legal academia, international law, military law, migration law, environmental law, arts law , human rights law, communications law, entertainment law, information and technology law or space law, Miss Peltman declined to comment. In fact it would seem that the only person absolutely certain of what they’re supposed to be doing is Finance Officer Derek Mountbatten, who has so far this year judiciously spent a large part of the annual $50,000 LSS budget on the customary expenditure of booze-fests and unread Peppercorns.

SATIRE

Woroni & ANUSA Declare Secession from ANU; Besiege Chifley Library ACTON: Members of the campus chattering classes have taken desperate measures in the wake of the recent Federal Budget, declaring secession from the ANU and escalating the already dire situation. Many have thrown down their lattes and tofudogs and taken to the barricades in reaction to what they call the “Hock-pocalypse” – which included a controversial 20% tax on the ownership of a fixed-gear bicycle or “fixie”. Confrontations and skirmishes have occurred throughout the campus, but tensions are especially high outside the Chifley Library as pro-Chancellery loyalists hold off against the ever-increasing secessionist numbers. While initially numbering in only the dozens, secessionist numbers swelled around 2pm with students leaving their POLS1917: Introduction to the Marxist Critique of Masculine Colonial Politics class had drawn to a close. Chanting and singing songs such as “To Arms for my Fixie” and “Bonnie ANUSA flag” the rebels have moved against the Law School, two of the four Unilodges and sealed off all main bridges over Sully’s Creek. A later push towards Johns College was repelled. Unusual for ANU, Burgmann has remained quiet so far and is yet to declare its intentions. An ANUSA emergency meeting - which had already been scheduled in reaction to some uninspired Christopher Pyne twitter banter the day before – voted in solidarity with the rebels and passed unanimously a motion to secede, which was shortly followed up with the same action by Woroni. ANU 9th year undergrad personality and campus commando Pam Bilson has declared that the Chancellery has stepped on the inalienable rights of students for the last time. “I mean, the real problem here is I am going to be expected to pay for what I should get for free”, Bilson said. Further, Bilson went on to add: “Despite what the Government may say, this is about student rights. I will live or die for my fixie. To arms, to arms, and conquer peace for our fixies!”

McDonald’s Opens Its First Law School SYDNEY: MacDonalds, the renowned fast-food franchise, yesterday celebrated the inauguration of its first Law school, situated in Western Sydney. CEO Mike Frazier heralded the move as the first step in MacDonald’s campaign to open a Law school in every one of its outlets. “Soon our customers will be able to walk into any one of our chains, order a Big Mac at the counter, a coffee at McCafe and then pick up a Law degree at McLaw”. Mr. Frazier refuted allegations that this was merely the franchise’s attempt to “cash-in” on the lucrative Law student market. ‘The tertiary education system needs to be tailored for all kinds of Law students, whether they want degrees from prestigious universities or Law degrees that come with fries and a small plastic toy’. Minister for Education, Christoper Pyne was also at the proceedings and welcomed the launch of Australia’s 37th Law school, stating that MacDonald’s entry into the market would provide much needed competition in the sector, “with only one Law school for every 200,000 square kilometres in this country, we’ve definitely got a long way to go!” Mr. Pyne dismissed claims that with over 12,000 graduates per year, the legal sector in Australia was already at full capacity. ‘That is just elitist tosh posh. We believe that the market should decide young people’s futures and if they can’t get jobs in a saturated field we encourage them to spend another four years doing something else’. So far the McLaw degree has had a huge swathe of applicants. Mr. Frazier believes that this is because unlike at the ANU and similar universities, Law students from McLaw can at least get a job after graduating, even if that means serving fastfood for the rest of their lives.

Issuing an official directive the Chancellory has stated that they hope to resolve this situation without any further violence and has implored for restraint on both sides. The atmosphere is very tense however, and it must be acknowledged that any flare up at Chifley Library would certainly escalate this crisis and threaten to push the ANU into a state of civil war. More to come.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

Mining Industry It is commonly thought that the Mining Industry is a ‘Man’s World’. Unfortunately, our research into the World’s most powerful Mining Corporations has done little to disprove this belief. The top ten Corporations had an average of 16% female Directors on their Board; the worst contenders being Norilsk Nickel with 1/13, and Goldcorp with 0/7. Further, no Top 10 Mining Corporation had a female Director in a high executive position, such as Chairman or Vice-Chairman, in the parent company. Jessica Tagg and Hanna Kaci

Consumer Electronics Industry Despite being so developed, Australia has relied on consumer electronics companies in America and China as sources to import products. As a result, there are no major Australian based consumer electronic corporations. There are only a few corporations that hold the majority share of the Australian market, such as Apple, Samsung, LG, Sony to name a few. These companies have subsidiaries and stockists Australia wide indicating the popularity and demand for consumer electronics in Australia. Zoe Champtaloup and Natasha Walker

About the Global Corporate Power Project This project is an ANU Law Reform and Social Justice Initiative that seeks to identify key global corporations in the global economy. A team of students undertake research into a particular sector with the goal of developing a working list of the corporations making up the ‘global elite’. For more information about the project, or to become involved, please contract: lrsj@anu.edu.au

Hotels & Motels Industry Our research into the hotel industry has proved to be a constant surprise as to the size and dominance of several key groups. The largest hotel firms in the world have upwards of 650 000 rooms, with the top six controlling around 50% of the world’s hotel supply. Further notable was the scale of the industry in North America alone, where just over half the hotel rooms in the world are found - primarily a function of America having nearly five times the number of rooms as China, the next largest nation per number of rooms. There has also been a marked increase in the number of hotels wordwide, with an increase of more than 100% in the sub total of the top 20 groups. Ryan Cushen and Neil Murthi

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Comments on Crimea: Sources BY ARHTUR BI

1 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Ukraine timeline: developments since political crisis erupted in Kiev (3 May 2014) < http://www.abc.net.au/news/201402-19/ukraine-protest-timeline-political-crisis-kiev/5268676>. 2 Ibid. 3 David Mdzinarishvili, ‘Putin acknowledges Russian military servicemen were in Crimea’, Reuters (online), 17 April 2014 < http://rt.com/news/crimea-defense-russian-soldiers-108>. 4 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Ukraine timeline: developments since political crisis erupted in Kiev (3 May 2014) < http://www.abc.net.au/news/201402-19/ukraine-protest-timeline-political-crisis-kiev/5268676>. 5 Ibid. 6 Mikheil Saakashvili, ‘Let Georgia be a lesson for what will happen to Ukraine’, the Guardians (online), 15 March 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/georgia-lesson-for-ukraine-crimea-referendum-trick> 7 The British Broadcasting Corporation, Ukraine crisis timeline (3 May 2014) <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26248275>. 8 Ibid.

25 David Mdzinarishvili, ‘Putin acknowledges Russian military servicemen were in Crimea’, Reuters (online), 17 April 2014 < http://rt.com/news/crimea-defense-russian-soldiers-108>, Russia Today, ‘Putin: ‘Nonsense – No Russian troops, special services in east Ukraine’’ (17 April 2014) <http://rt.com/news/ putin-qa-session-questions-084/>. 26 Ewen MacAskill, Shaun Walker and Dan Roberts, ‘US Rejects criticism of ‘toothless’ sanctions following Crimea referendum’, the Guardian (online), 18 March 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/us-eu-sanctionsrussia-ukraine-crimea-referendum>, see also The Cable News Network, Is Russia’s annexation of Crimea opportune or opportunistic? (19 March 2014) <http:// edition.cnn.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/crimea-points-and-counterpoints/ index.html?iid=article_sidebar> 27 Ewen MacAskill, Shaun Walker and Dan Roberts, ‘US Rejects criticism of ‘toothless’ sanctions following Crimea referendum’, the Guardian (online), 18 March 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/us-eu-sanctionsrussia-ukraine-crimea-referendum> 28 See, eg, ‘John Kerry discusses Ukraine crisis with Russian foreign minister’, the Guardian (online), 27 April 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/ apr/26/john-kerry-ukraine-sergei-lavrov-us-russia >,The British Broadcasting Corporation, Ukraine crisis: Military observer freed in Sloviansk (27 April 2014) < http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27180103> 29 Charter of the United Nations art 2(4). 30 David Harris, Cases and Materials on International Law (Sweet & Maxwell, 7th ed, 2010), 725.

9 Ibid.

31 Ivan Shearer, ‘A Revival of the Just War Theory?’ in Michael Schmitt and Jelena Pejic (eds), International Law and Armed Conflict: exploring the faultlines (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007) 1, 7.

10 Ibid. 11 Ibid.

32 The United Nation, ‘UN Security Council action on Crimea referendum blocked’ (Media Release, 15 March 2014) < http://www.un.org/apps/news/story. asp?NewsID=47362&Cr=Ukraine&Cr1=#.UykzEs6q5Nk>.

12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid.

33 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, [176].

15 Ibid.

34 Charter of the United Nations art 51.

16 Jonathan Marcus, ‘Ukraine crisis: Is war inevitable?’, the British Broadcasting Corporation (online), 25 April 2014 < http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27155509>.

35 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 95.

17 Luke Harding, ‘Ukrainian separatist leader defends capture of ‘Nato spies’’, the Observer (online), 27 April 2014 < www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/26/ ukraine-separatist-leader-defends-capture-nato-spies >. 18 19 Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (Media Release, 25th April 2014) < https://twitter.com/OSCE >. 20 Tom Porter, ‘Ukraine Crisis: Pro-Russian Separatists Free Western Hostages’, the International Business Times (online), 3 May 2014 < http://www.ibtimes. co.uk/ukraine-crisis-pro-russian-separatists-free-western-hostages-1447161>. 21 Reuters, Putin tells Obama Russia has right to protect interests in Ukraine (2 March 2014) < http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/01/urkaine-crisis-putin-obama-idUSL6N0LY0SZ2014030>. 22 The Cable News Network, Hostage-release deadline passes at Ukrainian base stormed by pro-Russians (19 March 2014) < http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/19/ world/europe/ukraine-crisis/>.

36 Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons Case [1996] ICJ Rep 245 [41]. 37 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 101 [191]. 38 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 101 [195]. 39 Yoram Dinstein, War Aggression and Self-Defense (Cambridge University Press, 4th ed, 2005), 209, Oil Platforms Case (Merits) ICJ Rep [2003] 161, [51]. 40 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 95, see also Oil Platforms Case (Merits) ICJ Rep [2003] 161. 41 Resolution on the Definition of Aggression, GA Res A/RES/3314 (XXIX) (1974), para 3(d). 42 Yoram Dinstein, War Aggression and Self-Defense (Cambridge University Press, 5th ed, 2012), 221

23 President of Russia, Direct Line with Vladimir Putin (Media Release, 17 April 2014) <http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/7034>.

43 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 101 [195].

24 Ibid.

44 Bowett, Self-Defence in International Law (1958), 188-192.

ALLENS PEPPERCORN

45 Terry D Gill, ‘The Temporal Dimension of Self-defense: Anticipation, Pre-emption, Prevention and Immediacy’ in Michael Schmitt and Jelena Pejic (eds), International Law and Armed Conflict: exploring the faultlines (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007) 113, 113.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 46 Dinstein, above n 39, 191-192. 47 Dinstein, above n 39, 129-139. 48 Dinstein, above n 39, 191-192. 49 Ibid. 50 Contrast to the Six Day War of 1969: Gill, above n 49, 134-139. 51 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 94 [176], cited in Oil Platforms Case (Merits) ICJ Rep [2003], 161 [76]. 52 John Bassett Moore, Francis Wharton, A Digest of International Law (the US Government Printing Office, 1906) vol 2, 25. 53 Dinstein, above n 44,262. 54 Oil Platforms Case (Merits) (Iran v United States) [2003] ICJ Rep 161, [51]. 55 Dinstein, above n 39, 233. 56 National Geographic, Ethnic Russians: Pretext for Putinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ukraine Invasion? (2 May 2014) < http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140502-russia-putin-ukraine-geography-crimea-language> 57 The Cable News Network, Is Russiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annexation of Crimea opportune or opportunistic? (19 March 2014) <http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/19/world/europe/crimea-points-and-counterpoints/index.html?iid=article_sidebar> 58 Dinstein, above n 39, 233-234. 59 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States of America) (Merits), (1986) ICJ Rep 14, 94 [237].

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