Annual Phillipa Weeks Lecture
Given each year in memory of the late ANU Law Professor, Phillipa Weeks, this annual lecture is delivered by national and international experts highlighting key issues in the area of labour law.
Past events
- A/Prof Therese MacDermott
There has been in place mechanisms for pursuing the principle of non-discrimination at work on the basis of age for some time within the Australian legislative framework.
- Rosemary Owens AO, University of Adelaide
In her scholarly work, Phillipa Weeks always showed a deep appreciation of the necessity of going beyond a narrow conception of law and regulation as a formal body of rules that are created, interpreted and enforced by State agencies.
- Professor Anthony Forsyth, RMIT University
Debate over Australia’s system of workplace regulation has raged almost uninterrupted since the mid-1980s. Recently lauded by the federal Employment Minister as our own version of Europe’s 30 Years War in the 17th century, the Australian debate began with a critique of the so-called ‘Industrial Relations Club’.
- Professor Breen Creighton, RMIT University
Politicians, policy-makers and participants in the industrial relations process appear to be driven by a compulsive need to introduce new labour laws in response to every ‘problem’ – real or imagined – with which they are confronted.
- Joellen Riley, Dean and Professor of Law at Sydney Law School
In 2005, Professor Phillipa Weeks published an insightful chapter entitled ‘Employment Law – A Test of Coherence Between Statute and Common Law’ in S Corcoran and S Bottomley (eds) Interpreting Statutes. That chapter examined the emergence, development and ultimate emasculation of an implied term of trust and confidence in employment, as a consequence of the interaction of judicial reasoning and legislative intervention.
- Dr Jill Murray, La Trobe University
In 2011, the International Labour Organisation created a Convention on Domestic Work, which aims to shape legalprotections for the many millions of maids, carers, nannies,cooks and others around the world who perform paid work inthe home. The Convention provides us with the opportunity toassess where international labour law is at in its treatment of ‘nonstandardwork’, the integration of a human rights focus in labourlaw, the evolution of working time norms and the design of legaltechniques for implementation and enforcement.
