The Administrative Law Project brings together UNSW Law scholars concerned with different methods for ensuring that those exercising administrative powers act lawfully, fairly, rationally and with integrity. The project is particularly interested in the accountability challenges presented by changes in the scope, nature and exercise of executive power across a range of areas of substantive law. The project will examine a range of questions including:
- What issues does technological development (eg automated decision-making; online court and tribunal processes) pose for administrative law? And how can they be solved?
- What challenges do the modern methods designed to limit executive accountability (eg no invalidity clauses, very broad executive discretions, use of soft law instruments, restriction of merits review, claims of public interest immunity in response to document requests by Parliament or under FOI laws etc) present for our systems of law and government?
- To what extent are traditional administrative law mechanisms capable of adapting to adequately supervise modern mixed-government (public and private) decision-making structures?
- Are existing administrative law mechanisms accessible to and capable of meeting the diverse needs of those affected by the increasingly broad range of administrative decisions? If not, how do they need to adapt?
- How do different communities interact with administrative law, and what impacts does administrative law have on communities?
- Is there a need for new accountability and integrity mechanisms to be introduced to respond to changes in the way government decision-making is occurring?