Happy 2012! I hope everyone is enjoying their break and had a great Christmas and New Years.
In the past month...
Working Party
All four Working Parties have held successful teleconferences. Full agendas and minutes are to be made available for your perusal on the ALSA website very shortly. All enquires in regards to working parties should be directed to
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.
Upcoming Summary Report
ALSA was privy to a conference held in Melbourne to discuss the graduate qualifications and specifically the work experience components of the Diploma of Law. I am currently in the process of furnishing a Report in Summary for members which will be made available also on the website.
Portfolio Review
I have now conducted a full review of the Education Portfolio as we near the midway point of my term. This review has drawn to my attention certain areas within the portfolio which I will be looking to amend and/or change to strengthen the policy drive and position of ALSA. Of particular note is the changes to the current working party structure. With the minimal attendance by students at the teleconferences and the cost of running such teleconferences alternative means of communication is preferred to best allocate the resources of ALSA. Accordingly I strongly encourage members and their LSS's members to join and participate in the online discussions on each of the respective Facebook pages. Furthermore email communication will be more forthcoming to those who have joined the membership lists. We encourage all LSS's to encourage students to join and remind you that membership does not entail an automatic workload membership can be for merely informative purposes and each individual drives their own involvement.
To sign up, please click on the following links:
or email Naomi to join Depression and Mental Health or Social Justice at
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.
Stay updated by following our facebook groups:
Higher Education: http://www.
Curriculum Review: http://www.facebook.
Depression & Mental Health: http://www.facebook.
Social Justice: http://www.facebook.
Media Release on Changes to HECS
A stronger focus needs to be placed on increasing the dissemination of information to students, LSS's, Law Schools and bodies affiliated with Education and the study of Law specifically such as the Law Council and DEEWR in preference to external newspaper sources. Accordingly please click here to the internal media release for dissemination to all students regarding important changes to HECS. I strongly urge you to email this to all students as it affects the vast majority and will help clear up any inconsistent advice they may have received regarding the 2012 changes.
ALSAtv
ALSAtv is an under utilised resource that is poorly received by LSS's and members. Accordingly I am seeking further feedback as to whether we continue this production or not. I am proposing to use ALSAtv as a vodcast series from Council. It is my belief that if we were to film and produce useful snippets from Council and Conference to be posted online universities that are affiliated but may not be able to attend may get great benefit. Furthermore it would be a resource that other members of your executives can constantly access for information and ideas that were unable to attend, or not the designated ALSA representative to share the benefits of ALSA Council.
Policy Submissions
Furthermore I will be placing a stronger emphasis on policy writing and submission for the remainder of my term. In this regard I would like each LSS to provide me the relevant details (including contact names and emails) of any law journals, student publications etc that I will be able to include in a mailing list to disseminate policy to as it is released. I am also calling for submissions from LSS's and students as to educational issues they believe should be at the forefront of ALSA's policy. The current issues I believe to be at the forefront in need of discussion are: 1. The AQF, 2. Base Funding and the cost of the study of law (inclusive of the new HECS changes), 3. The JD and FEE HELP, 4. Social Justice and law students - Incorporating RRR into academia. I would also like to prepare a report for your members to be released in O-week on What is ALSA Education? These are the topical issues I believe need to be addressed during my term. I am therefore calling for open submissions from students on previously submitted discussion papers, or merely information and perspective that can be considered by myself in preparing these documents during the remainder of my term. It is my goal to workshop policy at April Council and therefore this will be largely driven by the demand and interests of LSS's. I welcome all comments via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Lastly, I am currently writing a presentation on the introduction of a capstone unit to the LLB degree which will be presented at a conference in Brisbane next month. Should any student/LSS wish to espouse views they would like to be considered to contribute to my presentation could they please be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by no later than Friday 13 January 5pm.
I look forward to hearing from Council over the next few months in regards to the abovementioned matters.
Best,
Aimee Riley
