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Volume 19, Issue 11  Dear Peeved with their Penultimate Peers,
It is an amazing feat for the class of 2020 to be associated with anything beyond beginning a law degree during a global pandemic, and yet this cohort has done just that. While law school is already known for being clique-y, second years have gone above and beyond (cute lil over-achievers). But don’t fret! It’s not just the first years being shunned, but also a large proportion of their own cohort.
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Volume 19, Issue 6
Melbourne Law School has won its bid to host Season 11 of the post-apocalyptic horror television series. The quiet Parkville building has beaten out a desert hideout in Death Valley and an abandoned medical facility in Chernobyl for the honour. Director Julius Joyce told De Minimis that location scouting for this sort of thing doesn’t usually involve university campuses, since residents tend to be too upbeat. “But that wasn’t an issue with this place,” said Joyce. “The law building is great because we don’t have to look far to find zombie extras. You students really know how to play the part.” A little hurt, I raised my eyebrows and asked what he meant by that. Volume 19, Issue 6 Winston Baker The hearts of the MLS community go out today to our very own Professor Jason Varuhas. The beloved Remedies teacher suffered dual puncture wounds to his neck after a scuffle on the mist-shrouded MLS Moor. This reporter visited the home of the Professor, as he takes time off to recover. What many people don’t know about ‘Big V’ (or Count Varuhas, as he is formally known), is that he hails from a long line of New Zealand nobility. He was kind enough to receive me at his family home – a beautiful building of undressed stone, set in the frigid North Island countryside. I was admitted past the heavy front door by Fushnchup, an austere man who helps the family tend to the house and grounds. Fushnchup showed me into a candle-lit drawing room, where I was graciously received by my host.  Volume 19, Issue 5 Tim Irving 5 Stars Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019), available on Amazon Prime, is the most joyous film you’ll ever see. While the film did earn $200 million at the box office, and also received six Academy Award nominations, I’m of the opinion the film is underrated and underappreciated. To me, there are two possible reasons for this: Firstly, this is the seventh film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel of the same name, and I think this causes a degree of ambivalence towards any subsequent adaptation. Secondly, 50% of the population, and I think it’s pretty obvious who I’m talking about here, have either never read the novel or never seen one of the films. Further, this segment of the population likely has a certain apprehensiveness to a film with this title, and certainly an apprehensiveness to a film concentrating on four sisters.  Volume 19, Issue 5 Matt Harper Margaret Thatcher once said that there is no such thing as society, only individuals. While Thatcher’s credentials as a sociologist might be doubted, former vice-president of the Fair Work Commission Graeme Watson seems to have taken her specious aphorism to heart in his crusade against collective bargaining in the Australian industrial relations system. The Australian Financial Review last week spruiked Watson’s recent appointment as a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, with his stated purpose to “lead a push by business into agreements with staff that go around the failing enterprise bargaining system” – a move symptomatic of the Right’s increasing willingness to once again make industrial relations ‘reform’ a hot topic on the political and economic agenda, and break what remains of the already vastly reduced influence of unions and collective worker power in Australia.  In response to media enquiries we have received regarding a recent piece which appeared in De Minimis (‘On China’ published 18/3/2021), we have prepared the following statement:
De Minimis does not, nor has it ever, taken a stance on the opinions published in our pages. It is not our role to do so. Per our Constitution, our foremost purpose is to ‘facilitate the free and open exchange of ideas relevant to the Melbourne Law School (MLS) community.’ All articles are published with that purpose in mind. It is our job to allow the opinions and experiences of MLS to come to the fore, to be read by those who are interested. We have always taken this job seriously, and we pride ourselves on giving an unbiased platform to the diverse voices of our School. For example, last year we published a series titled International Perspectives, in collaboration with the Melbourne Law Students’ Society. This series of articles focussed on elevating the experiences of our international student peers. We understand that some members of our community find some of the opinions expressed in our pages distasteful. Strong disagreement is sometimes inevitable. No matter the topic, we welcome students to respond to articles they disagree with, and to advance an article that champions their values. Our inbox is always open. We look forward to continuing our work with the student body. Max Ferguson Editor-In-Chief Volume 19, Issue 4 Anonymous  “So, you have chosen violence.”
The JD student glowered, feet planted, knees slack, shoulders taut and ready for battle. A textbook lay sprawled on the table a few metres behind her, its page number irrelevant, because on her frozen laptop screen was the pained face of Try Guy Keith Habersberger. He glared at the student’s empty seat, begging her to return to his Taco Bell Eat-The-Menu. The sorry scene was hidden by the blue fabric partition pressing in on the student’s heels. Volume 19, Issue 4 This semester, the Admin Law team – not content with their subject’s already horrific reputation – decided to teach the first part of the course partly online through the online learning and assessment module (the OLAM). In this brave new world of dual-delivery learning, we’ve all had to get a bit creative. But some ideas are definitely better than others.  Volume 19, Issue 4  Dear Unmotivated, I have good news for you, motivation is high-key a scam. To expect that you’ll enthusiastically skip into the law library at 9am each morning, complete all your required readings with a grin, and then decide to treat yourself with the extension articles is not only unrealistic, but suspicious. Uni is rough, law school is worse and online law school is simply the worst. Add into that the mental fatigue of being in zoom calls all the time, probably having no friends (unless you’re extroverted and did a BA at UniMelb, in which case you know half the cohort), and doing at least one compulsory unit each semester that you barely tolerate, and it’s a wonder you have the energy to write in. Give up on motivation. Instead, aim for discipline. Printing Class Materials For Students Still Not Worth The Risk, Confirms Melbourne Law School.18/3/2021
Issue 3, Volume 19 Joe Aharfi  “Dear Professor Dean, I write to ask about the class materials that in past years were printed for students by the university. I heard it through the grapevine that they were one of a few casualties in the whole COVIDSafe campus thing. But bars, clubs, and even sporting events are open – surely such reasoning starts to wear a bit thin?” Bruce Badley’s hands were steady as he set down a path of self-ruin. The third year JD student was only 24 - but in scepticism and general world weariness, a kind of carbon dating of the soul, he was about three thousand years old. And he was very, very disappointed. “It seems to me that the budget-cutters are closing in on all sides at Melbourne Law School. The sour-faced bureaucrats, with their blue tongues and darting eyes. Tell me, did they really save this place much money when they scribbled out ‘hard-copy of class materials’ in the long list of law school amenities? I think not!” His fist swung down, slammed hard on his desk. “It all feels so unfair! I pay a lot of money to study here. In fact, in the first week I was so happy to be back on campus that I let the whole thing slide. But enough is enough. It’s been three weeks and I need something to bleat about. So, consider this a demand to print and bind our readings again. Please.” Bruce was struck with the realisation that he had never really read them anyway, but judged this to be an irrelevant detail. “And don’t even get me started on the piano…” Joe Aharfi is a first year JD student The views in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of De Minimis or its Editors. Issue 3, Volume 19 Every piece of plastic ever produced, unless burnt, is still around (1). If you think about it, that’s a lot of plastic (approximately 8.3 billion metric tons!) (2). That’s why last Sunday, on Clean Up Australia Day, the Victorian Environmental Law Student Network (more affectionately known as VELSN) partnered with the Australian Conservation Foundation and volunteers including Federal and Victorian MPs to clean-up the river mouth of the Yarra, a known catchment for river pollution. Standing under the bridge in Westgate Park on a beautiful Sunday morning, it was easy to forget that we were gathered to pick up trash along the Yarra River. From where we stood, the park was pristine, with people enjoying the morning sun and taking walks along the river. And yet, we would soon have collected a whopping 71Kg of waste in less than two hours. At points, it felt as if there was more styrofoam than sand, bottle caps than shells, plastic soy sauce fishies than Bass, Grayling or catfish combined. There was a myriad of other single use plastic items coming from the streets, including hazardous used syringes. That was extremely depressing and heartbreaking. Despite the grimness of finding so much waste in such a small area, there is much within the waste management sphere that we can be hopeful about. We noticed very few single use plastic bags (compared to previous years). And contrary to some pundits, these have largely not been replaced with the reusable ones. This is proof of the positive impact corporate and consumer efforts can have on the environment, if we just try.  A Review of the NGV Triennial Exhibition by Someone Who Knows Absolutely Nothing About Art18/3/2021
Issue 3, Volume 19 Tim Irving To reiterate that title, I know nothing about art. Van Gogh’s the guy that cut his ear off, Pollock’s the guy that looks like he’s spat all over his paintings, and Monet really needs to visit an optometrist and get himself a glasses prescription. Wandering around a gallery sounds exhausting and extremely boring to me, but the current NGV Triennial exhibition only happens every three years, so I guess that means it's good? In attempt to prove that I’m a man of substance and personality, I ventured down Swanston Street to have a look at the 2020 Triennial exhibition. Free with a booking, and closing on April 18, the exhibition is the talk of the town and the current must have Insta-story. My cynical expectation for the exhibition was that it was a place you visited in order to look and feel cool, and not a place you would especially enjoy visiting. Others pretend to like it, and when coupled with the desire to look and feel cool, you pretend to like it too – aka visiting a club (The Swan on a Saturday is the worst place in the world, but I digress).  Image Courtesy of NGV (www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/triennial-2020) While at the exhibition I saw a “photographer” taking photos of a likely try-hard insta-model in front of exhibits, so my suspicions remain somewhat correct. I’m happy to report however that I was largely proven wrong, and I have no reservations in recommending going and viewing the exhibition. If you’re like me and know nothing about art I can assure you that you’ll have a good time.
The types of art that I’m most familiar with are paintings by the big names that we’ve all seen before, so I have very limited ability to evaluate the contemporary art, design, and architecture that is featured in this exhibition. Thus, take the following thoughts with a grain of salt:
I saw the 2018 Triennial (#imsocoolivebeentothengvmultipletimes), and in my humble opinion 2018 was better than the 2020 exhibition. From memory, 2018 had a greater number of exhibits that were generally more creative and exciting, likely due to differing themes and intentions of the two exhibitions. 2020 features a number of large, entire room occupying pieces that, again in my ignorant opinion, are mostly just fine. I’d prefer to have a greater number of smaller pieces, rather than the chosen larger curation, but you can’t always get whatcha want. This Triennial is interwoven with the permanent collection on the upper floors, perhaps due to the larger size of the ground floor pieces. The signs are not especially helpful in guiding you through, and identifying the Triennial pieces from amongst the permanent collection is not speedily accomplished. This is not necessarily a criticism, more that as a time-sensitive law student it is worth noting that to view the entire Triennial you have to wander through the entire NGV, which can take quite a chunk of time. Grab a mate and head on down to the NGV for the Triennial before it closes April 18. Tim Irving is a first year JD student The views in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of De Minimis or its Editors. Issue 3, Volume 19
Anonymous *Content warning: genocide, sexual assault, racial violence, anti-China sentiment.* From the early 1960s, until the end of Apartheid in 1991, governments, institutions, and individuals stood against the disgusting racism of a white supremacist South African system. Something that I did not know until I started researching this article was that this University was at the forefront of the anti-apartheid movement in Australia, with an activist group called Student Action founded after the Sharpeville massacre. It was recognised that apartheid was an abomination, and that every civilized human being had a moral responsibility to resist it in whatever way they could. Students and faculty boycotted South African cricket matches and South African economic products. Universities and academic journals around the world prevented South African participation in their institutions and publications. Of course, they were accused of politicising sports, and science, and art. However, it was not the anti-apartheid movement politicising the world – it was the South Africans, by politicising our common humanity. The brave activists who walked through these halls ahead of us did this even when the Australian Government cravenly supported South Africa. However, over the decades, their few voices rose to a crushing volume, and eventually forced a change here and around the world. It is now recognised that the political pressure exerted on South Africa, particularly from close trade partners, was essential in ending apartheid, in the last country in Africa under white minority rule. It is my belief that a similar situation has arisen in the world today. An Uncivil Union? Family Court and Federal Circuit Court Merger to Go Ahead Despite Opposition11/3/2021
Issue 2, Volume 19
Matthew Harper-Gomm With the Morrison government’s federal court structural reform bill receiving royal assent on the 1st of March, a separate Family Court and Federal Circuit Court are set to become a thing of the past, with the two to be merged into a single new court – the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFC). The passage of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act brings to an end the 45-year history of the Family Court, first established by the Whitlam government in 1976 in the face of fierce resistance from the Liberal Opposition. Now, almost half a century later, the tables are turned with the Liberals abolishing the court and rolling it into the Federal Circuit Court in the face of strong Labor criticism. The new court will contain two divisions – Division 1 will be a continuation of the Family Court and comprise the same judges, and Division 2 will do the same for Federal Circuit Court, but both will be under the direction of a single Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice. The reforms in their final iteration promise a slight increase in the number of specialist judges in each division, as recently noted in a fastidiously neutral media release from the Family Court itself, but the statement also notes that the Court will continue to “seek further resources” to implement the reforms and reduce current delays and backlogs. Max Ferguson
As the 2021 EIC of De Minimis, it falls to me to write a pithy and cocksure introduction to the new uni year. You might already know me from my classic hits, such as running an extremely unsuccessful campaign for LSS President, or doing my hair like Ted Cruz. In any case, I am in my third year at this Dickensian joy-factory known as MLS, and still kicking. That’s got to count for something. Joe Aharfi  The peace of a quiet Carlton share house was shattered this evening when feedback for LMR’s second assignment was sent out.
Tim Irving 4.5 / 5 Stars Director and writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, The West Wing) is a great writer of enthrallingly energetic dialogue and especially entertaining films. His latest, The Trial of the Chicago 7, is no exception. Aaron Sorkin believes in an America that never existed and much of his work can be described as centrist pornography featuring dreamy righteous men doing the right thing. His latest, The Trial of the Chicago 7, is no exception.  Issue 0, Volume 19 The De Minimis Team In response to the Media Bargaining Code enacted by the Morrison Government, Facebook has this morning restricted the publication of all news stories on its site. The Facebook pages of major news services in Australia (as well as, apparently accidentally, several state government departments) are bare of posted content as of this morning. The move came with little warning.
The Media Bargaining Code sees websites such as Google and Facebook forced to pay media companies for content which is hosted or shared. It met with strong pushback from Big Tech, with Google threatening to withdraw services from Australia entirely. However, in recent weeks, Google has inked deals worth tens of millions of dollars with various media interests, and is expected to operate in Australia as normal. The deal with Nine Entertainment alone is reportedly worth $30 million. Facebook has evidently taken a more muscular approach, and it is unclear when, if ever, news will be allowed to be shared freely on the platform. Facebook users logging in on Thursday morning were greeted with the following statement: “In response to Australian government legislation, Facebook restricts the posting of news links and all posts from news Pages in Australia. Globally, the posting and sharing of news links from Australian publications is restricted.” Issue 0. Volume 19
A bright-eyed group of LMR students have been left feeling awkward this week, as it became apparent that their LSS-appointed pathfinders had been engaging in some ‘extracurricular activities’. Third-year JD students Jim Yang (23) and Ally Binsley (24) had been tasked with helping the incoming cohort of MLS students get to know the Law School, but apparently got to know each other pretty well along the way. “It started on day one, I reckon,” said a member of the pair’s Pathfinder group, on condition of anonymity. “They arrived to every event together, five minutes late and looking rumpled.” “It’s been really nice of Ally and Jim to show us around this week,” said Billie Jims (21). “I reckon I’ll enjoy law school, if it’s half as much fun as these two are having.” Issue 0, Volume 19  Hello friends! Welcome to the hallowed halls of Melbourne Law School. May you find the perfect balance between academic challenges and social comforts inside its relatively new, purpose built walls. For all you first years, allow me to introduce you to De Minimis, the official unofficial media outlet of MLS. The Managing Editor (that’s me) and the Publications Team release articles written by you fine young students in weekly (covid-safe) print and online editions for the enjoyment of all. Alongside the paper, De Minimis also runs a podcast on our website, deminimis.com.au, that covers a whole range of law-related topics. First up, our trusty Podcast Editor has secured interviews with Ian Malkin, Will Partlett, and another to-be-confirmed MLS legend to talk you through Torts, Principles of Public Law, and Obligations, respectively. All of us are watched and guided by our Editor in Chief, who will make his address in the coming edition. Our goal is to give all students a platform to share ideas and talk about issues that matter to them. You can send us anything you like (email below), be it an analysis of the latest High Court ruling, a report on an MLS networking night you heard about in the corridors, or an opinion piece about the quality of the tap water on the mezzanine floor. Issue 0, Volume 19 The following is an extract from Vol.II. No.7 of “De Minimis...Fortnightly News Sheet of the Law Students Society of Victoria” on the football inter-faculty matches at Melbourne University in July 1949. Reports of this nature were a regular part of De Minimis for the many decades of its initial conception.  Print published in The Australasian sketcher., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Football
Law Reaches Semi-Finals After two brilliant victories, (and, of course, the memorable Farrago match) Law are playing at top form and are combining well to achieve meritorious results. Issue 0, Volume 19 The first extract is from a 1963-4 edition and the second from 1968. They exemplify De Minimis’ transition towards light-heartedness and Mean Girl-esque gossip. Hard news was old news and satire was on trend. RUMORS TO BE QUASHED
~ that someone was found working in the Law Library last week. We have been told that this will not be allowed to happen again. Indeed if necessary, workmen will be brought in, fans left running, books thrown all over the desks and lights broken to prevent any further such outbursts. ~ Dr. Brett says De Minimis does not always misquote him - but only sometimes when its facts are not correct does he think so when in fact the facts are correct but may later be proved to be wrong although this cannot be started dogmatically unless this statement itself is reported incorrectly or unless it is read correctly although not in fact correct. Anyone who can follow this advanced process of reasoning, would be welcome to work as an associate of Dixon C. J. ~ Marcia Forsters IQ is not 17. Recent tests established that it is well into the twenties. ~ Mr. [__]althams hobby is learning Latin phrases by rote. Issue 0, Volume 19
Here we see another news-style report in a 1968 edition of De Minimis. Considering the class of 2018 will be having their Valedictory dinner in the very near future (covid restrictions pending) we thought we’d share some...insights into the Valedictory of 1968. VALEDICTORY DINNER 1968 This dinner was undoubtedly the best function run by the L.S.S. during the year - 168 professors, lecturers, judges and other assorted student dregs were unanimous in praise of the speeches, food and spiritus fluids (red, white and amber plonk). Special thanks must go to Brian Slattery, Ed Larkin, Ian McEachern and John Clements for efficient organisation of the occasion. The food was followed by a short break during which everyone socked down a few beers in the usual way. … |
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