LAWS11070 - Australian First Nations Peoples and Law

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit introduces students to major legal and policy issues relevant to First Nations Peoples in Australia. Topics will include colonisation, racial and intersectional discrimination, criminal justice, land rights and native title, Treaty-making, Indigenous Voice, and international law under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Debates around contemporary issues and law reform will be considered.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Co-requsite: LAWS11057 Introduction to Law.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026


Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 3 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 47.37% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 24.68% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 Textbook could be improved

Recommendation:
 The unit textbook will be reviewed

Action Taken:
 The textbook was reviewed
Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 Assessments were too difficult and challenging

Recommendation:
 Assessments will be reviewed

Action Taken:
 Assessment was reviewed and it incorporated a practical research task on the Voice referendum
Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 The unit needs to be taught by a First Nations person

Recommendation:
 Will be considered by the Law discipline

Action Taken:
 This was reviewed
Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 The unit should have a prerequisite

Recommendation:
 Difficult to implement given this is a first year unit

Action Taken:
 This was reviewed
Source: Head of Law
Feedback:
 Content on First Nations Peoples and Law

Recommendation:
 Some of the course content will be integrated into the curriculum across core units

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate awareness of First Nations perspectives on contemporary legal and/or policy issues
  2. Demonstrate understanding of key laws and legal procedures relevant to First Nations Peoples in Australia, such as those relating to racial discrimination, criminal justice, land rights and/or native title
  3. Examine policy and/or law reform debates relating to the rights of First Nations Peoples in Australia
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Communication • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10