http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

Click here if you are having trouble viewing this message.

Newsletter Issue 12 | April 2021

This newsletter is published by the Constitution Transformation Network (ConTransNet) based at Melbourne Law School.

We are a network of expert scholars sharing our latest research and experiences regarding the development of

constitution-making processes, content and implementation.

New "Constitutional Cafe" podcast series launched by Melbourne LawSchool Centre for Comparative Constitutional Law

On 15 April, the Centre for Comparative

Constitutional Law (CCCS) at Melbourne Law

School launch their groundbreaking new

podcast, Constitutional Café. The podcast is a

place for scholarly but informal and fun

conversations about constitutions and

constitutional law with a global focus.

Episodes will be released each fortnight and can be listened to or downloaded at www.constitutional-

cafe.org. Alternatively, subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The podcasts are brought to you by the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies and the Laureate

Program in Comparative Constitutional Law at the Melbourne Law School.

The first episode discussed Post-Soviet Eurasian Constitutionalism and was hosted by Will Partlett, one

of the Constitution Transformation Network Convenors.

Below is a list of the remaining episodes scheduled for this semester:

Episode 2 (29 April) - "Languages and Comparative Constitutional Method", hosted by Erika

Arban.

Episode 3 (13 May) - "The Global South in Comparative Constitutional Law", hosted by Dinesha

Samararatne, one of CTN's Convenors.

Episode 4 (27 May) - "Reinventing Yourself as a Scholar", hosted by Scott Stephenson.Episode 5 (10 June) - "Constitutional Dimensions of Academic Freedom" hosted by Adrienne

Stone

http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

The Bougainville referendum and beyond: issues for transition

In November 2019, the people of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea (PNG)

voted on whether to pursue ‘greater autonomy’ within PNG or independence. The vote showed 97% of

the people were in favour of independence. The outcome is subject to ratification by the PNG

Parliament and in 2020, the governments of Bougainville and PNG began consultations about the way

forward. The PNG National Research Institute commissioned CTN to prepare two studies to help inform

the work of leaders in Bougainville and Papua New Guinea on future governance arrangements for

Bougainville. The first study was launched in mid-2019. The report, titled Greater Autonomy and

Independence for Bougainville: Institutional Options and Issues for Transition, compared five aspects of

governance for Bougainville under the existing arrangements, ‘greater autonomy’ and independence.

More recently, CTN has produced a second study for the National Research Institute, which was

launched in early 2021. The report is titled Institution Building in Post-Referendum Bougainville.

The Report outlines the new institutions and

governance arrangements which might be

needed to implement self-determination for

Bougainville, whatever form it takes.

Institution-building is understood broadly and

covers institutions for the internal governance

of Bougainville as well as institutions to conduct

relations with the rest of the world and PNG.

Research on Constitutional Implementation for Sustainable Peace

Peace agreements made in conflict-affected settings often call for constitutional change. As such, it is

recognised that constitutions can play an important part in sustaining peace. While it is important for

some kinds of commitments made in peace agreements to be reflected in the text of the constitution

through a process of ‘textual implementation’, these constitutional provisions must themselves be given

practical effect, through ‘substantive implementation’.

Since 2019, CTN has been implementing a project, funded by the Folke Bernadotte Academy, exploring

whether, and if so how, the implementation of constitutional aspects of peace agreements is significant

to sustainable peace and if so, in what ways and to what end. Through the Project, CTN produced a

report in 2019 which developed an analytical framework for understanding the connections between

Peace Agreements and Constitutions and tested the framework using Bougainville as a case-study. The

Report, ‘Constitutional Implementation for Sustainable Peace’ (SSRN id 3442666) examined the textual

and substantive constitutional implementation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement until mid-2019.

Since the 2019 report was released, Bougainville held a referendum to choose between "greater

autonomy" and "independence" in late 2019. Voters overwhelmingly voted in favour of independence.

http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

ConTransNet has now provided an Addendum to the Report on Constitutional Implementation for

Sustainable Peace, which updates the case study to take into account events to the end of 2020.

The paper revisits the conceptual problem of

the relationship between peace agreements and

constitutions. The study suggests that one

reason for the relative success of constitutional

implementation in Bougainville lay in carefully

and explicitly managing the links between the

Peace Agreement and the Constitutions of both

PNG and Bougainville at the points of peace

making and constitution making. Others may be

able to learn from this experience.

CTN convenor Dinesha Samararatne has

published an article on Groundviews Sri Lanka

titled, "The Port City Bill: Legislative Carving

Out from a Constitutional Democracy?". The

article examines a new Bill being proposed in Sri

Lanka which seeks to carve out the proposed

Colombo Port City Economic Commission for

differentiated treatment from other such

bodies. She agues that the Bill's approach is

inconsistent with the Sri Lankan Constitution.

CTN Convenor Will Partlett published an article

analysing Kyrgyzstan’s new Constitution,

adopted on 10 April 2021. It argues that the

most important changes are structural and move

Kyrgyzstan away from a checks-and-balances

system of semi-presidentialism toward a form of

presidentialism that is close to authoritarian-

style “crown-presidentialism” in the post-Soviet

Eurasian space. From a historical perspective,

the new Constitution returns Kyrgyzstan to its

tradition of executive centralism.

CTN Regional Affiliate Carlos Arturo Villagran

Sandoval has published an edited collection of

essays on constitutionalism in Guatemala.

Constitucionalismo Guatemalteco frente a lo

http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

Global: Estudios de una nueva generación de

voces (Guatemalan Constitutionalism in the Face

of the Global: Studies from a New Generation of

Voices) features essays from young Guatemalan

practitioners and scholars examining current

issues in constitutional law from an

interdisciplinary, comparative and critical

perspectives. The collection includes a Spanish

translation of a pathbreaking essay by CTN

Convenor Cheryl Saunders ’Towards a Global

Constitutional Gene Pool’ published in 2009.

CTN Convenor Tom Daly published an article on

"Understanding Multi-directional Democratic

Decay: Lessons from the Rise of Bolsonaro in

Brazil" in the Law and Ethics of Human Rights

Journal. The article argues that the Brazilian

experience is an important case-study for three

reasons: (1) any analysis of liberal democracy as

the perceived object of attack must be

cognizant of the history of a given state; (2) an

excessive focus on executive-led assaults on

democratic rule can impede fuller analysis of a

broader suite of relevant factors; (3) authori-

tarianism is a more appropriate analytical lens

than populism for identifying potential

democratic threats, especially in Brazil.

On 29 July 2019 the Australian Senate referred

an inquiry into nationhood, national identity and

democracy to the Legal and Constitutional

Affairs References Committee for review and

report. CTN Convenor Tom Daly, along with

Melbourne School of Government Principal

Fellow Nick Reece, made multiple submissions

to the inquiry in writing and orally. The Senate

Committee completed its inquiry in February

2021. Tom and Nick's submissions have been

widely cited in the Committee's final report on

nationhood, national identity and democracy.

http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

CTN Convenor Tom Daly has published a chapter

in a new publication "Towering Judges: A

Comparative Study of Constitutional Judges",

edited by Rehan Abeyratne. His chapter is titled

"Hugh Kennedy: Ireland’s (Quietly) Towering

Nation-Maker", and reflects on the contribution

made by the first chief justice of independent

Ireland.

Webinar: "Loss of Majority inParliament & Forming a NewGovernment - Constit-tional Principles& Conventions"

On 25 February 2021, Anna Dziedzic, one of

CTN's Convenors, was invited to present at the

Constitutional and Rule of Law Webinar Series,

jointly organised by LawAsia, the South PAcific

Lawyers Association, the Commonwealth

Lawyers Association and the Law Council of

Australia. Anna presented comparative insights

on the topic of no confidence votes, with a

focus on developments in the Pacific, at the

panel on 'Loss of Majority in Parliament &

Forming a New Government: The Guiding

Constitutional Principles & Conventions”. A

recording of the panel is available here.

Technical advice on establishing a newAfrican Judicial Network In 2017, CTN Convenor Tom Daly undertook a

consultancy for the African Court on Human and

Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), examining options for

establishing an African Judicial Network as a

platform for formal collaboration between

courts and other judicial bodies on the African

continent. The new ACHPR Strategic Plan (2021-

2025) commits the Court to implementing the

African Judicial Network to link the Court with

regional and national apex courts, drawing on

the design options in the concept paper.

http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

Workshop: "Hybridity & Legal Identity"CTN conveners Cheryl, Anna, Tom and Jayani all

participated in the 'Hybridity and Legal Identity'

workshop, which took place online in mid-

February 2021. The workshop was generously

funded by the University of Melbourne's Peter

McMullin Centre on Statelessness and the

Statelessness Hallmark Research Initiative.

The project team consist of Cheryl, Jayani, Dr

Anne Carter, Dr Zim Nwokora and Associate

Professor Patrick Emerton. Professor Kevin

Clements and Dr Volker Boege delivered a joint

keynote on which Cheryl commented. Speakers

included Dr Anna Dziedzic, Dr Sarah Phillips, Dr

Alisa Arcioni, Dr Samantha Balaton-Chrimes, Dr

Marika Sosnowski and Professor Ihsan Yilmaz.

Webinar: "Court-Packing as a CaseStudy of Democratic Reform" CTN Convenor Tom Daly presented on court-

packing as a case-study for analysing the

democratic propriety of reforms at Masaryk

University, Prague on 21 April 2021. His

presentation was titled ‘What Makes a Reform

Democratic? Court-Packing as a Case-Study?’ and

was a contribution to a bigger conference on

Changing the Architecture of Separation of

Powers without an Architect'.

Guest lecture to Victorian ministerial advisors On 29 March 2021, Jayani Nadarajalingam delivered a guest class as part of the Melbourne School of

Government's Specialist Certificate in Public Administration (Advanced), a course designed for

ministerial advisers. This is the world's first dedicated postgraduate qualification for political staff.

Jayani's class was on ethics and governance with a particular focus on "wicked problems". The guest

class is part of the "Public Sector Governance" subject, convened by Melbourne School of Government

Senior Fellow Hamish Park, former deputy chief of staff of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

http://elink_cd.unimelb.edu.au/m/1/57729267/02-t21129-00a9213c7f5e400aa4d6f17393de5800/1/1/1[11/05/2021 10:37:49 AM]

Hot Topics in Public Law (LAWS90217)

Jason Varuhas and Cheryl Saunders will teach a

Masters subject in Semester 2 of 2021 which

discusses 11 cutting edge topics in public law.

Its primary focus will be Australia, but many of

the issues are also relevant in common law

systems elsewhere. The issues range across

constitutional and administrative law and

include, for example, proportionality, non-

statutory executive power, outsourcing and suits

in negligence against government.

Click hereto unsubscribe or to change your Subscription Preferences. CRICOS ProviderCode: 00116K