Public Law Weekend

Attracting leading administrative law jurists, commentators and practitioners, the Public Law Weekend is one of Australia’s leading public law gatherings.
The ANU Public Law Conference, sponsored by the Centre for International and Public Law, is returning in 2023 after a pandemic hiatus with the theme, Integrity and Innovation: Public Law in the 2020s.
Past events
Despite having to postpone this event beyond the 60th anniversary of ANU Law and the 30th anniversary of the Centre for International and Public Law (CIPL), we are pleased to confirm that this major public law conference will now be held at The Australian National University in Canberra, on 16-18 February 2022. The conference theme is ‘Public Law and Inequality’.
The ANU Law School has a long tradition of excellence in administrative law scholarship and of engagement with government and the private profession in public law.
A leading administrative law conference will be held at the National Museum of Australia on Friday, 28 October 2016. The Public Law Weekend, run by the Centre for International and Public Law, is one of Australia’s preeminent public law conferences.
This year’s conference will be part of a larger project with a sister conference to be held at University College London a month later – both focussing on processes of deliberation about and under a constitution.
A conference in honour of Emeritus Professor Dennis Pearce Public Law Weekend 2014 Dennis Pearce AO, FAAL, is one of the doyens of public law in Australia, a remarkable embodiment of the ‘new’ federal administrative law introduced in Australia in the 1970s, and one of the great figures of the ANU College of Law at the Australian National University.
The Public Law Weekend, run by the Centre for International and Public Law, is one of Australia’s leading public law conferences. In 2013, it will focus on a range of important administrative law issues and developments, covering judicial review, tribunal decision-making, freedom of information, privacy and human rights.
This year's Public Law Weekend theme is Law and Democracy, which seeks to examine the complements and tensions between the two ideals. Law can of course maintain the smooth functioning of democracy, helping people to establish voice and participation in the exercise of authority, through electoral, associational, information and communication protections.
The 16th Annual Public law weekend is a great opportunity for academics and practitioners of public law, throughout the country and from overseas, to gather and meet one another and be stimulated by a great program.
Over the past year there has been much attention to policy issues involving scarcity of resources and sustainability in Australia. How do these issues play out when thinking about public law?