QCE Legal Studies 3&4 July 2026 Lecture – Transcript

00:07Hi everyone and welcome to our QC legal studies units three and four lecture for today. My name is Jess and I will tell you a little bit more about me. But first off I want to tell you a little bit about ATR notes for anyone who isn't familiar with us. So this lecture series uh that we have every year uh throughout the year is just one of our offerings.

00:33We've been doing the lectures since 2015, but our mission is to help students with as many free resources as possible. So we have a whole bunch of other resources that can help you if you feel like you need a little bit of a boost with any of your subjects. So let's have a look at some of the things that you can get access to. So, if you go to our website, you'll be able to

00:57find newsletters, ATR calculators, articles, videos, discussion notes, heaps of different resources that are about all of the different subjects that you may be doing. And our newer offering that we have is also called ATR Notes Plus. This gives you even greater access to even more resources.

01:20And we do have different textbooks that are dedicated to discussing the different uh syllabus requirements for all of your different subjects whether it's humanity subjects like legal studies or other subjects like your science subjects, maths, English, etc.

01:41So I definitely encourage you to to find out more about these things if you're interested. I wrote the accounting and the business notes for Queensland. And back in year 12, I also accessed all of the different notes for other subjects as well. Uh and that was really handy for my external exam preparation. So get

02:06around that if you are interested. So a little bit more about me before we go into our lecture for today. So, as I mentioned, my name is Jess. I graduated back in 2020, and I'm currently studying communication and journalism at the University of Queensland, and I love reading and writing. So, English and humanities subjects like legal studies,

02:33accounting, and business were all my favorites. And so, hopefully I'll be able to help you with some useful legal studies content today. So let's have a look at what we'll be covering in today's session. So the way that your uh your syllabus is arranged for legal studies is your your previous

02:57unit you may be doing now or you may have just completed will be an inquiry report that's based on topic one and topic two in unit 4. So um then part of your external exam which is your next piece of assessment after that is also on topic one again. So there's a bit of

03:21repetition there but then instead of on topic two it's also on topic three. So topic one is human rights and in that we'll be looking at describing different legal terms using the correct terminology. We'll be looking at the International Bill of Rights, principal treaties, treaty obligations, the role of reservations,

03:46and the role of different organizations and different pieces of legislation in human rights. And then in topic three, we're looking at human rights in an Australian context. So in the in with an Australian lens, what are the rights that Australians have in different contexts?

04:09What are the legal processes that are available for resolving human rights complaints in Australia? And what are the role of different groups um in protecting human rights or advocating for human rights in Australia?

04:26So let's get started. Topic one is human rights. So this is uh we'll we'll have a look throughout at the different syllabus requirements as we go through so you can see exactly what you're required to do and we'll cover all of that content uh so you have it all with you uh to help you prepare the best that you can for your exam. So

04:51the first aspect of topic one is being able to describe your key terms. And those key terms range from human rights to royal commissions and everything in between. So let's get stuck into looking at each of these.

05:07So human rights are the fundamental rights that all people have by virtue of being human beings. So just because we're humans, we we have these rights and it doesn't matter what race we are, uh our gender, our age, nationality, or religion. So everyone has the same rights. They're fundamental and they're equal for everyone. So they are defined

05:34as the supreme, inherent, and inalienable rights to life, to dignity, and to selfdevelopment. So human rights are defined internationally, nationally and locally.

05:49So different countries can have different human rights and different definitions of human rights um because we've got those different levels and different law makingaking bodies in each of those areas.

06:02So in terms of the Australian context, we've got a bunch of human rights that you're probably familiar with. Things like a fair trial, privacy, adequate standards of living, life and liberty, education and work are all our fundamental human rights. And we'll have a look soon as well at um the different types of rights in terms of express and

06:28implied rights. But these are those fundamental human rights that are are express Australia. So, states. Now, this is something that can be a little bit confusing because when we think of states, usually we think of um Australia as having lots of states within it. So, we've got

06:53Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, etc. And all of those uh districts are states, but uh in human rights, states have a different meaning. So states are actually countries that are recognized as having legal standing under international law. Um and the different criteria that are needed to be defined

07:19as having that that legal standing are these. So defined territory, one government and a permanent population. And they also need to have the ability to enter into relationships recognized by law with other states. So other countries.

07:37So territory is about the area. We know that uh the area that Australia covers is is defined that is defined as Australia. Uh one government we have uh one government in this country. We also have a permanent population. So people are permanently living here and we do enter into relationships and uh and negotiate with other countries as well.

08:04So those are the things that are required uh to be recognized as um as a state with legal standing in international law. So in human rights, Australia is a state.

08:20We have a bunch of different terms that are often used interchangeably, but it's important to to have an understanding of each of them. So, convents are binding agreements between states. So, they're a type of treaty and that's why um that's why these different terms are often used interchangeably. Now, treaties are also

08:42formal agreements between two or more states that define and modify their mutual duties and obligations. So, they're entering into an agreement and that agreement is uh putting into words what their obligations are, what that country is required to do uh for whatever it is that that agreement is on.

09:10So the term treaty is often used synonymously with con both convention and convent. And we can see there at the bottom those three terms all basically mean a legally binding agreement between states.

09:28So a convention as well is a binding agreement and it's also used synonymously with those other terms. But conventions are are stronger than declarations. So declarations is a is a different category because conventions are legally binding for any government that have signed them. Whereas a declaration when you think of that word

09:53it's about uh declaring something saying something but that's not uh that's not actually in in writing. It's not an official thing that's binding.

10:06So when the UN General Assembly adopts a convention, it creates international norms and standards and once that convention is adopted by the general assembly, member states can ratify the convention um which means that they're promising to uphold it. We'll have a more detailed look at ratification shortly, but

10:31governments that violate the standards set forth in a convention can um can face some kind of consequences from the UN as a result of that because they've um they've made this legally binding agreement. um they've introduced uh potentially legislation that upholds the ideas that are contained in the

10:57convention. But then if they violate that then uh they would face some kind of uh sanctions as a result. We have two different types of treaties.