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Bernard Dunne

Profile

Areas of Interest

  • Environmental Law
  • Environmental Impact
  • Assessment Law
  • Local Government Law
  • Legal Sociology
  • Legal Philosophy
  • Environmental Philosophy
  • Legal History

Courses Taught

Undergraduate:

  • Introduction to Environmental Law
  • Torts
  • Law, Lawyers and Justice (Legal Ethics)
  • Legal Institutions

Postgraduate:

  • Environmental Impact Assessment Law
  • Environmental Law and Policy
  • Legal Reasoning and the Common Law System

Brief Biographical Detail

Bernard has served on the board of the Environmental Defenders Office and the New South Wales Legal Aid Commission’s Public Interest Environmental Law Committee as the representative of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He has published in the areas of environmental impact assessment, environmental philosophy, and regulatory theory. His current research focuses on the use of procedural and substantive law to regulate development, the further democratisation of environmental impact assessment, and court appointed experts. Bernard provided legal advice to the Mirrar people (the traditional owners) in relation to the Jabiluka Uranium mine proposal in the Northern Territory; prepared the submission for the Mirrar people to the World Heritage Bureau for the protection of cultural and natural values threatened by the Jabiluka uranium mine; and prepared a submission on Commonwealth environmental impact assessment procedures to the Senate Committee on Uranium Mining.

Publications

Book chapters

  • Dunne, B, "The Historical Significance and Political Potential of Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation" in N Rogers (ed), Green Paradigms and the Law, Southern Cross University Press: Lismore (1998), 32-64.
  • Dunne, B, "Environmental Planning", The Law Handbook (1987) Sydney: Redfern Legal Centre Publishing

Journal Articles

  • "Uranium Mining and Environmental Impact Assessment: The Jabiluka Project and the Application of the Environment Protection (Impact of Proposals) Act 1974 (Cth) (1996) 13 Environmental Planning Law Journal 341
  • Uranium Mining and the Commonwealth EIA Process, Australian Environment Review Volume 11, No 5, June 1996
  • "Recent Environmental Legislative Reforms" May 1987 Impact 3
  • "Environmental Impact Assessment in Australia" (1986) 2 Northwest Environmental Journal 107
  • “Community Justice Centres: A Critical Appraisal” (1985) 10 Legal Service Bulletin 188

Other Publications

  • "Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation in Australia: Legal Theory and the Environment Movement" in Ecopolitics X Proceedings, Proceedings of the Tenth Ecopolitics Conference held at the Australian National University Canberra 26-29 September 1996. Published in 1998 by the Australian National University Printing Service

Seminars, Conferences & Presentations

  • Understanding Environmental Impact Assessment as a Form of Procedural Law. 1993, Staff Seminar, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
  • Environmental Impact Assessment: Purpose, Evolution, Pitfalls. 1994 New South Wales State Forests Environmental Impact Assessment Workshop
  • "Environmental Philosophy Social Movements and the State" 1994 Australian Society of Legal Philosophy Seminar, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
  • The Jabiluka Uranium Mine and Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation May 23, 1996. Public Forum on Uranium Mining, New South Wales Parliament House
  • Law and Modernity: Implications for Environmental Regulation. Environmental Justice: Global Ethics for the 21st Century. International Academic Conference at the University of Melbourne, Australia October 1-3 1997

Submissions & Legal Advice

  • Understanding Environmental Impact Assessment as a Form of Procedural Law. 1993, Staff Seminar, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
  • Environmental Impact Assessment: Purpose, Evolution, Pitfalls. 1994 New South Wales State Forests Environmental Impact Assessment Workshop
  • "Environmental Philosophy Social Movements and the State" 1994 Australian Society of Legal Philosophy Seminar, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
  • The Jabiluka Uranium Mine and Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation May 23, 1996. Public Forum on Uranium Mining, New South Wales Parliament House
  • Law and Modernity: Implications for Environmental Regulation. Environmental Justice: Global Ethics for the 21st Century. International Academic Conference at the University of Melbourne, Australia October 1-3 1997