Harry Hobbs
Harry Hobbs
PhD Candidate, University of New South Wales; Lionel Murphy Postgraduate Endowment Scholar
BA LLB (Hons 1), GDLP (ANU); LLM in International Legal Studies (NYU)
Contact details:
Email: h.hobbs@unsw.edu.au
Biography
Harry is a PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales, and Lionel Murphy Postgraduate Endowment Scholar. Before starting his PhD, Harry was a Principal Research Officer in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. He has also worked as a Human Rights Legal and Policy Adviser at the ACT Human Rights Commission and as the Legal Research Officer at the High Court of Australia. He has taught public law, international law, and private law subjects as a Sessional Tutor at the Australian National University, and public law as the Garth Nettheim Doctoral Teaching Fellow at UNSW.
Harry’s doctoral thesis draws on the contemporary debate concerning constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but examines this issue from the perspective of democratic theory. It explores what political and legal institutions and processes democratic theory suggests should exist to provide Indigenous peoples with the capacity to have their interests heard in the processes of government. It then assesses these against the aspirations of Indigenous peoples, asking whether theory is sensitive to their distinctive position. Comparative study of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the Norwegian Sami Parliament, and the territory of Nunavut in Canada builds on this theoretical discussion. The combination of theory and practice will suggest principles to design Indigenous-specific legal and political institutions.
Selected publications
Harry Hobbs, Andrew Lynch and George Williams ‘The High Court under Chief Justice Robert French’ (2017) 91 Australian Law Journal 53-71
Harry Hobbs, ‘Revisiting the Scope of the Race Power after McCloy’ (2016) 27 Public Law Review 264-270
Harry Hobbs, ‘Locating the Logic of Transitional Justice in Liberal Democracies: Native Title in Australia’ (2016) 39 UNSW Law Journal 512-552
Harry Hobbs and Andrew trotter, 'How far have we really come? Civil and political rights in Queensland' (2013) 25 Bond Law Review 166-203
You can find Harry’s publications here.