This brief article details the latest in a long-running dispute between Timor-Leste and Australia over rights to resources in the seabed and subsoil below the sea between their coastlines. Having been closed out of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Timor-Leste is now seeking to arbitrate its dissatisfaction with current arrangements under a provision in the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS). Potential claims of fraud, breach of good faith, and unlawful intervention mean that it is possible; perhaps likely, that CMATS will be declared invalid or void. Much will depend on the evidence, however. Australia now finds itself in a difficult situation and the dispute is likely to continue and fester absent good will on the part of both parties. The most just course of action at this point could be to allow an independent third party to finally make a judicial determination of the seabed boundaries of between Timor-Leste and Australia in order to achieve and equitable solution, create certainty about rights, and bring an end to this continuing saga.

The excellent book that Professors Abate and Kronk have brought together as an edited collection is an important addition to an ongoing search for legal remedies for indigenous peoples facing existential threats on account of climate change harms. It picks up on a 2009 report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that examined the linkages between climate change and indigenous peoples for the first time, at least by an international human rights body. Abate and Kronk write in the opening chapter, their book “recognizes that indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to climate change, both physically and legally” and the book specifically “addresses the challenges that these communities face in responding to climate change impacts.”

So what is artificial photosynthesis and why is it important? Most of us knew that photosynthesis is the process whereby plants and certain bacteria have used sunlight as a source of energy to split water to create energy fro the production of food (starches) with the addition of atmospheric carbon dioxide, while producing atmospheric oxygen. Our policy makers seem to think that only plants will ever 'do' photosynthesis. This is a bit like the men at the end of the 19th century who were convinced that only birds could ‘do’ controlled flight. If they were alive today their solution for long distance air travel might be to genetically engineer huge homing pigeons, capable of carrying passengers on their back.

Artificial photosynthesis began in the Cold War. It really was part of what was known in the 'Dr Stangelove' film as the 'mine-shaft' gap, part of the plan to enhance the capacity of the United States to keep its politicians, senior industrial and military people alive during a nuclear winter. Although artificial photosynthesis on some definitions includes synthetic biology (for example the genetic engineering of bacetria to produce lipid-based fuels) its core research involves nanoscale engineering. The nanoscale involves manipulating matter at the level of about a billionth of a metre, it involves making objects atom by atom. Some examples of how nanotechnology is already improving the light capture, electron transport and water splitting and energy storage aspects of artificial photosynthesis will be presented later.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of artificial photosynthesis is the prospect that nanotechnology may allow the global domestic production of cheap, 'off-grid' solar fuels and food. With timely and coordinated government, academic, corporate encouragement, artificial photosynthesis may become a global phenomenon, deriving inexpensive, local (household and community) generation of fuels and basic foods from simple raw materials – sunlight, water and carbon dioxide – just like plants do, only better.

One way governance principles (such as those derived from international human rights) can assist this process is by assisting to create the normative architecture for a Global Artificial Photosynthesis project (GAP) (or Global Solar Fuels and Foods (GSF)) project. Such a macroscience GAP or GSF project can be regarded as the moral culmination of nanotechnology. It could advance existing foundational virtues of international human rights such as justice equity and respect for human dignity, as well as emerging virtues such as environmental sustainability. In other words, this is one area where we need to have law and science rapidly and efficiently working side by side if it's going to work in time to make a difference and assist humanity to move from what (as we will see) is now no longer being called the Holocene, but the Anthropocene, towards the Sustainocene epoch.

One hitherto largely unexplored area of international human rights that could be significant in this context concerns the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications.

The rapid development of nanotechnology over the last decade has resulted in a widespread introduction of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) into the consumer products of developed countries. Because of the potential toxicity of ENMs, however, concerns for health and environmental safety have led to controversial public debates in many countries as to whether and how the safety of products containing ENMs should be specifically ensured. In these regulatory debates, however, the role nanotechnology plays in addressing various contemporary security challenges is given little, if any, attention. This perspective article proposes that these contemporary security challenges should be more clearly incorporated into regulatory decision-making about nanotechnology, while protecting the public from potential health and environmental security threats that may result from exposure to a widespread and uncontrolled release of ENMs. It demonstrates the significance of enhancing this security perspective to nanotechnology regulation by: (1) highlighting international legal obligations relevant to nanotechnology; and (2) examining the current regulatory approaches adopted in Europe in light of various security considerations relevant to the implementation of those international legal obligations.

A policy case is made for a global project on artificial photosynthesis including its scientific justification, potential governance structure and funding mechanisms.

This article analyses the options available to the High Court in defining the phrase 'officer of the Commonwealth' in the context of modern mixed administration. The various tests used in Australian administrative law are explored, with a focus on the "public function" test developed in Datafin. We argue that these administrative law tests are largely unhelpful and inappropriate for defining the scope of section 75(v) of the Constitution. Instead, we suggest that the High Court could find inspiration for the most appropriate and adapted solution from an unlikely place: Canadian human rights law. We argue that by adapting the 'control' used by Canadian courts to determine the scope of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Australian High Court could find an appropriate balance for reviewing the actions of private sector actors, while simultaneously achieving consistency with existing precedent.

Over the last 18 months the legal profession has seen unprecedented growth in the operations of global law firms in Australia. Recent mergers between top-tier and leading Australian law firms demonstrate the importance of Asian markets and the shifts in economic power from the West to the East. For such firms there are clear market and competitive drivers for expansion into Australia including proximity to rapidly developing Asian economies and increased opportunity to expand the firm’s global brand. Yet understanding the role played by Australian law firms in these developments can be tricky. For some newly merged global firms, the Australian operations are central to the firm’s regional and global expansion, allowing the firm to draw upon the strong performance and reputational capital of the Australian offices. For other global firms their alliances with Australia firms provide a strategic foundation for their expansion into Asia. And for third group of firms Australia remains a destination in its own right, sitting within the firm’s overall global network of international offices.

Throughout much of the Twentieth Century there was an ongoing debate within Canada as to the status of its territorial claims in the Arctic. Following the voyage of the SS Manhattan in 1969 that debate was joined to also encompass consideration of Canadian Arctic maritime sovereignty. With the exception of the disputed Hans Island, over which Canada and Denmark have agreed to disagree, there is no direct challenge to Canadian Arctic sovereignty in 2013. Nevertheless, it has been a persistent theme in Canadian academic and political discourse for much of the past decade that Canada’s Arctic sovereignty is threatened. Canada, along with all of the Arctic states, is also beginning to face the reality that the Arctic is facing rapid globalization partly as a result of climate change and the melting of the Arctic ice but also because of the growing interest of non-Arctic states in accessing the Arctic. This paper seeks to challenge some of the perceptions that have developed with respect to Canadian Arctic sovereignty from the perspective of international law. Consideration will be given to the status of Canada’s territorial and maritime claims in the Arctic, and the rights and obligations that Canada has in the Arctic as a party to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). Particular attention will be given to Canada’s claims to an Arctic outer continental shelf, the regulation and management of the Northwest Passage, and the freedoms of navigation enjoyed by non-Arctic states within Canada’s exclusive economic zone.

Regulating lawyer dishonesty is a key focus of professional misconduct cases in most jurisdictions. And rightly so. In any legal system aimed at the just resolution of disputes between citizens, it is essential that lawyers’ words and behaviour can be relied upon by the courts, clients, other lawyers and the public. Yet research into seven years of disciplinary cases in New South Wales (NSW), Australia suggests that only a narrow range of dishonest conduct is actioned, often with harsh results for the practitioners involved. Research outlined in this article shows that 65% of the cases decided in this jurisdiction between 2004-2010 involved findings of practitioner dishonesty, 80% of the practitioners involved in those cases were disbarred and 89% of the total number of lawyers disciplined worked as solo and small firm practitioners.

The Australian research reported in this article may be emblematic of similar issues that occur in the regulation of lawyer dishonesty in both the United States and Canada. It is therefore argued that, for disciplinary cases to be seen as legitimate and just, it is important for the profession and regulators to consider the way dishonesty is being characterized and the harshness of the penalties imposed. When these questions are asked in the Australian context, the research suggests there is a tendency to treat small and sole firm practitioners particularly harshly even where small instances of dishonesty are involved. In addition, the dominant regulatory approach is still to link dishonesty with poor character, a connection that is unsupported by empirical research in psychology. Finally, there appears to be limited appreciation by regulatory authorities of the links between dishonesty, stress and psychological conditions.