Introduction and Overview
| Author | Robin Creyke |
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | 10.22145/flr.24.2.1 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
INTRODUCTION
AND
OVERVIEW
Robin Creyke*
This special edition of the
Federal
Law
Review,
in
the
50th
Anniversary
year
of
the
Australian
National
University, contains a
study
of recent
developments
in
administrative
law. The conference
at
which
these
papers
were
presented
was
part
of
the
first Public
Law
Weekend
hosted
by
the
Centre for International
and
Public
Law
in
the
Law
Faculty,
and
held
on
30-31
August
1996. Speakers
included
eminent
administrative
law
academics from
the
Australian National University, the University
of
Sydney
and
the University of Western Australia, together
with
legal practitioners
and
prominent
figures from State
and
Commonwealth
public administration. The
conference
had
been
preceded
by
ahalf-day
seminar
to celebrate
the
25th
anniversary
of
the
Report
of
the
Commonwealth
Administrative Review Committee (the "Kerr
Committee"), one of the foundation documents setting
out
the
blueprint
for
Commonwealth
administrative law.1
Speakers
at
the
Public
Law
Weekend
were
asked to identify significant
developments
over
the
range of
government
activities
which
are subject to
administrative
law. The four sessions, therefore, covered decisions
by
the
newer
investigative
and
inquisitorial bodies;
by
courts exercising judicial review;
by
the
now
firmly entrenched,
but
disparate, family of tribunals; and, finally,
by
those
bodies
creating
the
jurisprudence
relating to access to
government
information.
There
was
surprisingly
little overlap
between
the
papers,
indicating the
breadth
of activities
now
subject to administrative
law
remedies. The resulting collection of
papers
is avaluable
study
of administrative
law
jurisprudence
and
of
the
importance
which
it
holds
both
for
members
of the public
and
for
the
country's
nearly
1.6 million
administrators
who
comprise
some
25
per
cent of
the
workforce.2This introduction highlights
and
comments
on
some
of
the
principal themes
and
issues
in
the papers.
INVESTIGATIVE BODIES
The first issue facing a
writer
examining investigative bodies is adefinitional one.
Clearly
the
class includes criminal investigation bodies like
the
New
South
Wales
1
2
Senior Lecturer
in
Law,
Australian
National
University,
and
co-director
of
the
conference
at
which
the
papers
were
delivered.
The
proceedings
of
the
seminar
on
the
Kerr
Report
will
shortly
be
published
as
R
Creyke
and
JMcMillan (eds),
The
Kerr
Vision
ofAustralian Administrative
Law
-
at
the
Twenty-Five
Year
Mark
(CIPL, ANU).
As
at
March
1995,
there
were
363,400
Commonwealth
public servants; 1,064,100 State
and
Territory
public servants;
and
155,800 public
servants
employed
by
local
government
(Employed
Wage
and
Salary Earners
in
Australia,
March
1995, ABS, Series
No
6248.0).
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