Rm 2.06, Ligertwood Building, North Tce
alex.wawryk@adelaide.edu.au
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/alex.wawryk

Students in this course are expected to attend all classes throughout the course. Classes in this course will be held as follows:

9.00am – 4.00pm, Room 103, Ligertwood Building, with a lunch break, on:

Tuesday 14 July, Thursday 16 July, Tuesday 21 July and Thursday 23 July.

Knowledge

To develop an understanding of the principles and concepts of law underpinning mining and energy law in Australia, including the following:

1.   the development of mining and petroleum legislation in Australia, including issues of constitutional law and international law;
2.   the regulation of onshore and offshore mineral and petroleum exploration and production;
3.   judicial arrangements and appeals, in particular the jurisdiction of the Warden’s Court;
4.   the relationship between mining and indigenous peoples, including Native Title law;
5.   environmental controls over mining and energy production, including mining in protected areas such as national parks and
reserves;
6.   the relevance and resolution of international boundary disputes, in particular the Timor Sea Treaty and legislation governing oil exploration and production in the Timor Sea;
7.   international arrangements for addressing climate change created under the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention; and
8.   national legislation to address climate change, by reducing greenhouse gas emission from energy industries and encouraging
renewable energy resources; and
9.   the regulation of the Australian electricity industry.

Intellectual and Social Capabilities

 To develop:

10. the cognitive skills to analyse evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources and experiences arising between participants and stakeholders in the mining and energy industries so as to identify and address as appropriate legal and related issues;
11. an awareness and appreciation of the continuous state of development of legal principles applicable to mining and energy exploration and production, and a capacity to respond to such change and assist such development as appropriate;
12. an awareness and appreciation of the political and socio-economic context of Mining and Energy Law;
13. critical thinking skills;
14. oral and written communication skills of a high order;
15. the capacity and commitment to learn and maintain intellectual curiosity, and to engage in life long personal and professional learning; and
16. familiarity and proficiency in legal research techniques, including in the appropriate use of modern research technologies.

Attitudes and Values

To develop:

17.   the capacity to be informed, responsible and critically discriminating in relation to the development and application of Mining and Energy Law;
18.   a commitment to the rule of law and social justice through the operation of Mining and Energy law, especially as between stakeholders affected by minerals and energy exploration and production; and
19.   an understanding of social and cultural diversity, and sensitivity of the operation of the law and legal structures in development and application of Minerals and Energy Law.

The required legislation and materials will be available accessible to students via MyUni. There may be some very few materials that need to be collected from the Law School Front Office.

Students will be expected to have downloaded/collected a copy of the prescribed readings prior to the commencement of classes on July 14. The materials should be available approximately 4-6 weeks prior to the commencement of classes.

There are no recent general textbooks on mineral and energy law specific to the laws in South Australia, although John Southalan’s recent book provides an excellent general introduction to the range of issues that are commonly addressed in mining law regimes, and has been placed on Reserve in the Law Library.

• John Southalan, Mining Law and Policy: International Perspectives (The Federation Press, 2012).

Two other older texts have also been placed on Reserve in the Law Library. These are:

• John Forbes and Andrew Lang, Australian Mining and Petroleum Laws (2nd ed, 1987); and
• Anne Fitzgerald, Mining Agreements: Negotiated Frameworks in the Australian Minerals Sector (2002).

Two key sources for relevant journal articles are the Australian Resources and Energy Law Journal (formerly the Australian Mining and Petroleum Law Journal), published by the Australian Energy and Resources Law Association (AMPLA), and the AMPLA Yearbook.

The Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) at the University of Dundee, Scotland, publishes freely available articles, book reviews and developments on its website: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cepmlp/journal.

The Law Library subscribes to an on-line publication called OGEL, the Oil, Gas and Energy Law Intelligence service, available at http://www.gasandoil.com/ogel. You can access high quality articles on oil, gas and energy law from this site. You can also access the site through the Law Library website athttp://law.adelaide.edu.au/library/research/subject_guides/environment.html. Consult the Law Librarian for User ID and Password

The Law Library’s website contains links for conducting legal research, both primary sources (legislation and case law) and secondary sources (articles and books), at
http://law.adelaide.edu.au/library/research/

For journal articles, the Law Library’s link is:
http://law.adelaide.edu.au/library/research/journals/

For legislation, the Law Library’s link is:
http://law.adelaide.edu.au/library/research/legislation/

Recommended internet sites for legislation, which can also be accessed through the Law Library’s website are:

• Commonwealth of Australia Law (ComLaw) - http://www.comlaw.gov.au/
• South Australian Legislation – http://www.legislation.sa.gov.au;

MyUni will be used to post announcements, post additional lecture materials (including slides, and where available, audio recordings of lectures) and announce assignment tasks. It will also contain electronic copies of the Course Profile, Lecture and Seminar Guides, and Course Materials.

Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up to date with these materials and additional learning resources throughout the course.

This course will be taught in a combination of lectures and seminars. The seminars will comprise discussion focussed around a set of reading materials and questions issued prior to the class. These may be designed to develop certain themes or topics covered in the lectures, or to provide critical discussion of stand-alone topics. The seminar guides contain a general introduction to the law and to the general problems addressed by the law.

Members of the legal profession will provide guest lectures on highly specialised topics of mining and energy law.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The University expects full-time students (ie those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies, or 12 hours per week over 12 weeks (144 hours total) for a 3-unit course.

Day	Date	Topic	Presenter
1	14 July	Introduction and course arrangements	Alex Wawryk
		Topic 1: Issues of constitutional and international law (seminar)	Alex Wawryk
		Topic 2: Development of mineral resources and regulation of onshore mining: Mining Act 1971 (SA) (lecture)	Alex Wawryk
2	16 July	Topic 3: Mining and the environment – overview of law (lecture)	Alex Wawryk
		Topic 4: Access to land: Mining in protected areas (national parks and reserves) and the Woomera Prohibited Area (seminar)	Alex Wawryk
		Topic 5: Mining and Native Title law (lecture)	Guest lecture
3	21 July	Topic 6: Development of petroleum - Petroleum Act 2000 (SA) and Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth) (lecture)	Alex Wawryk
		Topic 7: Boundary disputes and the Timor Sea (seminar)	Alex Wawryk
4	23 July	Topic 8: Electricity arrangements (lecture)	Guest lecture
		Topic 9: Climate Change: the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (seminar)	Alex Wawryk
		Topic 10: Renewable energy law (lecture)	Alex Wawryk

** This is a draft timetable and is subject to change. The guest lectures and final order of topics will be confirmed in 2015**

Assessment item	Type	% of final mark	Due date	Learning objectives
Class participation in seminars	summative, formative	10%	-	1, 5, 6, 8, 10-15, 17-19
Assignment: written answers to a seminar problem	summative, formative	20%	9.00am on the morning of the day that the relevant topic is to be taught.	5, 6, 8, 10-19
Major essay	summative	70%	Friday 5 September, 2pm	1-22

The written assignment and the major essay are compulsory. Failure to complete these items of assessment will result in course failure.

Students must achieve at least 50% in class participation to pass the course. Seminar questions are designed to improve students’ treaty interpretation skills, legal problem-solving skills, and their ability to engage in critical analysis of international energy law. Participation marks provide a basis for assessing students’ ability to intelligently discuss and debate the law and its application to basic problems Failure to achieve 50% will result in course failure.

Students who miss a seminar for medical or compassionate reasons may contact the Course Co-ordinator to arrange alternative, supplementary, written assessment in lieu of the participation mark for that seminar.

Class Participation: 10%

Each student will receive a grade at the conclusion of classes for their participation in class-room discussion during the course. This will be based on both their willingness to contribute comments and/or respond to questions and the quality of any contributions made.


Written answers to seminar problem: 20%

Each student is required to prepare and submit written answers to one relevant seminar question pertaining to one of the seminar topics  - i.e. topic 4, 7 or 9 - which will identified through MyUni no later than 4 weeks prior to the start of the Course.

Word limit: 1,500 words.

• Zero (0) – no evidence of preparation or contribution to small group or larger class discussion.

• Poor (1-4) – evidence of some preparation but no or very little contribution to small group or larger class discussion; poor quality of contribution displaying little understanding of the issues and demonstrating poor oral communication and legal skills.
  

• Good (5-7) – evidence of good preparation, active contribution to small group discussion; contribution of a quality that displays a reasonable to good understanding of the law, and good oral communication and legal skills.

• Excellent (7.5-10) – evidence of thorough preparation, active contribution to small group discussion and participation in the larger class; high level understanding of the law and critical analysis, evidence of excellent oral and legal skills.

Criteria for Written Answer to Seminar Problem: Each question is designed to promote critical thinking about an aspect of Mining and Energy Law.

• Structure – whether the paper is structured logically and flows well; the overall coherence of the paper.

• Content – level of critical analysis; ability to convey legal arguments effectively and persuasively; the ability to distinguish between stronger and weaker positions and arguments.

• Written communication skills – the expression and standard of writing, including the ability of the student to write clearly and concisely.

• Quality of resources used – appropriate use of primary and secondary legal resources; quality of legal resources used.

• Presentation – correct grammar, spelling and punctuation and the correct citation of references.

Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

All assignments in this course are to be submitted electronically through through MyUni. Details for electronic submission through MyUni will be provided with the assignment instructions.

By submitting your assignment electronically you are agreeing to the following:

All written work in the Law school is required to comply with the approved Law School style guide, The Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Students must not submit work for an assignment that has previously been submitted for this course or any other course without prior approval from the course co-ordinator.


Extensions: Requests for extensions must be made via email to the course coordinator. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not unexpected circumstances.


Penalties:

1. Late Submission: Submission penalties of 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is one hour late, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 25 hours late, etc.
2. Word Length: Assignments which exceed the allocated length (word length or page limit) will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks possible per 100 words or part thereof (ie with a word limit of 5,000, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is 5001 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 5101 words long, etc). Words are calculated including all headings and substantive footnoted within the text but excluding cover page information and footnotes that are references. Quotations are included in the word count.

Turnaround time: The written assignment will be returned to students within 2 weeks of the end of the course. The major essay will be returned electronically to students within 4 weeks of the due date with written feedback, unless otherwise notified by announcement on MyUni. Students will be notified by email when assessment is ready for collection from the Law School Front Office.

Plagiarism and other forms of cheating

Plagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the Bachelor of Laws 2012 Commencing Student Guide or Re-Enrolment Guide, and should note in particular the sections relating to plagiarism, grievance procedures and academic conduct within the Law School and the University.

Plagiarism is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Please be aware that “academic dishonesty” (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to refuse to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia.

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.