Speech: Third party/inter-organisation & supply chain risk

Abstract

Traditional methods of managing risk make complex systems sick. Recent case studies suggest it is time to take new approaches to foster healthy systems.

Australian Defamation Law Reform

One of the most important speeches of my legal career was one on behalf of Attorney-General Collarey and with the strong support of Justice Kelly, President of the Community Law Reform Commission. The speech was made at a conference on defamation reform at the Institute of Ethics in Perth and was followed by a specific conference calling for national reform a couple of months later in Canberra. In the years after this conference, the pressure for reform never stopped growing.

Peter Quinton, photo credit David Dare Parker

Speech: Key elements in designing risk based regulation

After 50 years of regulation review we should be pretty close to wrapping things up and getting on with something more important.

The reality is that we probably have not even scratched the surface.

Why have we failed so badly at this?

Slavery – right here, right now

When Arthur Philip was appointed as the first governor of NSW in September 1786, he set out his plans for the legal structure of the colony, writing: 

"The laws of this country (England) will of course be introduced in New South Wales, and there is one that I would wish to take place from the moment his majesty's forces take possession of the country: That there can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently no slaves."

Governor Arthur Philip

Making sense of Risk

Precis: Risk comes in many different forms.  Understanding the basic types can help your organisation deal with challenges more effectively.  However, charting risk is not enough.  Sometimes you have to change direction to avoid the reefs.  If you are stuck in one, spending time working out how to avoid the reef is wasted time.

Presentation in 2014 to students and professional groups.

Successful policy makers and entrepreneurs have one thing in common - they are alert to risk, and understand how it comes wrapped.  They are prepared, where necessary, to adapt.

On Legal Theory in Practice

Precis: It is fashionable to use to legal or economic theories to explain or justify events.  Examines how legal or economic theories can be useful in attempting to explain or justify events. While legal theories can illuminate events, they are not reliably used for predictive purposes.

[These notes are for a series of lectures on jurisprudence.  I have singled out the 'Marxist theory of law', but could have applied the same treatment to other economic or legal theories.]

The research set out in the notes on the prosecution of governors has been a passion of mine for many years - which has seen me squeezed into all manner of small spaces around the world studying fading manuscripts.

A variant of the issues came to a head in the confrontation between the ACT and the Commonwealth in relation to civil union law.  The Commonwealth Governor-General disallowed ACT law.  The Governor-General's power to disallow ACT legislation was later removed from the Governor-General's office.  The notes refer to those developments.]

William III of England - Was he acting against class interests when he signed into law 11&12 William III ch12 - Crimes by Colonial Governors ?

An Economic Theory

Today we are going to put one of the older economic theories to test.