James
Cook University
School of Law
Cairns, Australia
6- 8 July 2008
The 63rd Australasian Law Teachers’ Association
Conference was proudly hosted by James Cook University from 6-9
July 2008. The theme for the 2008 Conference was ‘The Law,
the Environment, Indigenous Peoples: Climate for Change?’
The Conference Welcome Reception was held on campus on Sunday 6
July and delegates were invited to view an art exhibition, On
the Edge – Visions of a Tropical Coastline. The formal
Conference proceedings began on Monday 7 July. Seven keynote
speakers presented on various aspects of the Conference theme
throughout the 3 day period. The keynote speakers were Justice
Nicola Pain of the New South Wales Land and Environment Court,
Mr Stephen Keim SC, Barrister at Law, Mr Parry Agius, Executive
Officer, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, Ms Nicole Watson,
Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, Mr Noel Pearson,
Director, Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, Dr Mary
Heath, Flinders University, and Professor Sally Kift, ALTC
Senior Fellow.
As
well as hearing from the keynote speakers, delegates were
offered the opportunity to attend a wide variety of interest
group concurrent sessions throughout the duration of the
Conference. In excess of 140 presentations were scheduled in
interest group sessions. A big thank you to the interest group
conveners for reviewing abstracts, assisting with the
timetabling and the hosting of the sessions.
Delegates also enjoyed two conference dinners. The formal
conference dinner, Rainforest Elegance, kindly sponsored by
Lexis Nexis was held on the Monday evening. On the Tuesday night
delegates enjoyed fire explosions, special effects, music and
dance as well as a buffet dinner at the Tjapukai by Night.
The Conference would not have been possible without the generous
contributions made by our sponsors and exhibitors – LexisNexis,
CCH Australia Ltd, The Federation Press, Thomson Legal &
Regulatory Ltd, Oxford University Press, the Australian Learning
and Teaching Council, James Cook University Bookshop, Kuranda
Scenic Railway, Pearson Education Australia, Skyrail Rainforest
Cableway and The University of Melbourne. Thankyou for your
generous support.
Finally, we would like to wish the 2009 Conference Committee
well with their planning and organising for this year’s
Conference.
2008 ALTA Conference Committee
School of Law,
James Cook University
