Commercial and Property Law Research Centre

Solving real-world challenges

Welcome to the Commercial and Property Law Research CentreThe QUT Commercial and Property Law Research Centre is a specialist network of researchers with a vision of reforming legal and regulatory frameworks in the commercial and property law sector through high-impact applied research.

With a focus on published research that improves the understanding of policy makers, legislatures and professionals, the centre’s researchers are nationally and internationally recognised leaders in the field.

Since its inception in 2013, the centre has concentrated on promoting innovative legal and regulatory frameworks to solve real-world challenges. Centre directors have an established track record of collaborating with the profession and industry, including the federal and state governments, in reforming property law, insolvency law and competition and consumer laws.

Commercial and Property Law Research CentreCommercial and Property Law Research Centre

ResearchThe centre’s researchers undertake theoretical and doctrinal research into problems of national and international significance at the interface of law, the environment, technology, governance, public policy, and economics. Our research is highly relevant in Australia and increasingly relevant in the South-East Asian region as emerging economies tackle issues related to markets and the environment. Our researchers have made substantial contributions to knowledge, policy and practice in the areas of competition law, consumer and property law reform over many years.

Researchers in the centre have attracted significant national funding from external sources such as the Australian Research Council over the last six years. This has amounted to more than $900 000 in research income. Some of this research is profiled in this publication.

The research activities of the centre focus on three broad themes:

• market regulation and reform

• property law reforms

• insolvency and restructuring.

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The regulation of markets, including markets for financial products and services, is one of the most challenging issues for governments around the world. Changes to markets in areas such as energy, transport, telecommunications and the emergence of powerful monopolies or duopolies pose significant issues for governments seeking to promote competition to enhance consumer welfare. Major challenges within Australia include: allegations of unconscionable conduct and misuse of market power; the need for more regulation to protect small business; the inefficiencies and increasing complexity of the current regulatory regime for financial markets and the challenges within the digital economy of regulating information security.

Researchers within the centre undertake high impact research on the regulation of:

• conduct that restricts competition

• conduct that harms consumers acquiring goods and services in trade or commerce

• consumer credit

• the markets for financial products or financial services

• the market for legal services.

Market regulation and reformProfessor Stephen Corones, theme leader

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Theme LeaderProfessor Stephen Corones BCom LLB Qld, LLM London, PhD Qld, solicitor is a well-known researcher both nationally and internationally for his research in the areas of competition law and market regulation, consumer protection, investor protection and product liability.

Professor Corones’ recent books include Competition Law in Australia (5th ed) (Lawbook Co, Sydney) 2010 The Australian Consumer Law (2nd ed) (Lawbook Co, Sydney) 2013; and Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics in Queensland (2nd ed) (Lawbook Co, Sydney) (with Nigel Stobbs and Mark Thomas) 2014.

From 2005 to 2009, Professor Corones was Deputy Chair of the Competition and Consumer Committee of the Law Council of Australia. In 2007 he was engaged by the Productivity Commission to prepare a comparative study of State and Commonwealth Consumer Protection legislation and advise the Productivity Commission generally in relation to its terms of reference for the reform of Australia’s consumer protection laws. In 2008 Stephen was appointed by the Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs to the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council (CCAAC) for a three-year term. In 2009 he was appointed by the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs to undertake a review of the adequacy of existing laws on implied conditions and warranties, the existence of extended warranties and their interaction laws on implied conditions and warranties. Professor Corones is currently working on an ARC Linkage research grant, ‘The value of financial planning advice – process and outcome effects on consumer well-being’. An understanding of how financial advice contributes to consumer well-being is vital as industry and policy-makers strive to professionalise financial planning and to enhance the quality of advice. The outcomes of this research will inform policy debate and industry practices for improving the value of financial planning advice.

Professor Stephen Corones

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Research themes of national and international significance within this program include:

• Efficiency and effectiveness of legislative regimes dealing with insolvent individuals and corporations

• The legal response to situations of financial distress for both individuals and corporations

• The relationship of laws dealing with insolvency to other areas of regulation

• How the law might deal with financial distress of both individuals and corporations with assets and enterprises in more than one jurisdiction

• The role of courts, regulators and the law more generally in dealing with insolvency

• The regulation of conduct and reward of those who administer the insolvent individual’s estate and insolvent corporations

• The operation and role of secured lending in insolvency procedures

• The effectiveness of Australia’s insolvency and procedural laws in dealing with cross-border insolvency.

Insolvency and restructuringAssociate Professor Colin Anderson and Professor Rosalind Mason, co-theme leaders

Economic development and prosperity in any modern society depends upon an adequate supply of credit. That supply will not be provided in the most cost-effective manner without appropriate laws dealing with the insolvency of individual and corporate debtors. The ongoing financial difficulties around the world have meant that insolvency regimes are being examined closely to ensure they are appropriate. The centre is well positioned to lead research in this area in Australia. Uniquely QUT currently has a team of recognised researchers in the area of corporate and personal insolvency law with strong connections to the community of relevant stakeholders. There are specific connections to the national professional body of insolvency practitioners and to international groups of academics and professionals. Members of the research team have developed and taught units in the Insolvency Education Program of the national professional body for insolvency professionals in Australia. Professor Mason and Associate Professor Anderson have served on the academic executive of INSOL International.

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Associate Professor Colin Anderson, BCom Hons, LLB Hons Qld, LLM QUT, PhD Qld Associate Professor Anderson’s main research interests lie in corporate insolvency law and in particular in the area of corporate rescue of insolvent corporations. He has a specific interest in economic and legal approaches to evaluating insolvency law regimes. He is the general editor of the Insolvency Law Journal and has authored articles and presented papers at national and international conferences in the area of insolvency and related topics. He is also co-author of the several texts in the area of corporate law and is the co-author of Crutchfield’s Voluntary Administration.

Professor Anderson is a member of the Taxation Institute of Australia, the American Bankruptcy Institute, INSOL International, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and an Academic Member of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association

In 2013, Professor Anderson was a visiting scholar at the centre for Business and Insolvency Law at Nottingham Law School (UK).

Professor Rosalind Mason, BA LLB (Hons) Qld, LLM Syd, PhD Qld, FAAL Head of the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology since 2007, Professor Mason is a member of the Commercial and Property Law Research Centre as well as the Law and Justice Higher Education Research Network.

Professor Mason is a specialist in cross-border insolvency law. In 2006 Professor Mason was invited by Treasury to be a member of the Insolvency Law Advisory Group on changes to Australia’s Corporate Insolvency Laws. In 2010, she was invited to join an expert group established by the Australian Treasury and the New Zealand Department of Economic Development to work on enhancements to trans-Tasman cross-border insolvency arrangements. In 2013, she led a QUT research project on the ALI-III Transnational Insolvency: Global Principles for Cooperation in International Insolvency Cases for the Australian Academy of Law.

Professor Mason is a member of the Academic Group of INSOL International, a foundation member of the Course Advisory Group for the INSOL Global Insolvency Practice Course, and a current member of the Course Core Committee. She is a nominated member of the International Insolvency Institute.

Associate Professor Colin Anderson

Professor Rosalind Mason

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Property law frameworks underpin government approaches to the management of land and natural resources, regulation of land ownership and transactions, plus the impact on the ability of government to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters. In the past six years members have acquired over $900 000 in federal and state government research funding.

Members of the theme have made a significant contribution to national and international approaches to overcoming the challenges that exist in the use of property law frameworks for the sustainable management of land and natural resources. Traditional concepts of property ownership, increased regulation of land use and normative views of land owners create difficulties for the implementation of a sustainable land management framework. Professors Christensen and Duncan have been Chief Investigators on ARC Discovery Grants from 2006: “An Integrated Regime for a Sustainable Carbon Cycle”, “An Institutional Framework to Facilitate Sustainable and Integrated Natural, Cultural and Built Resources Governance” and “A Legal framework for Specifying and Defining Carbon Rights”.

Along with Amanda Stickley from the centre and others, they are Chief Investigators in the national Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre’s commencing project on “Connection Communities resilience: A multi-hazard study of preparedness, response and recovery communications”.

Property Law ReformProfessor Sharon Christensen and Professor Bill Duncan, co-theme leaders

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Professor Sharon Christensen, LLB (Hons) QIT, LLM QUT, solicitor is currently the Gadens Professor in Property Law and teaches in the Law School. Professor Christensen has a national reputation in the field of property law specialising in transactional property law (sales and leases), property law reform for emerging areas and property obligations. She has published articles in Australia, the UK and United States on conveyancing, land titles law, electronic contracting and conveyancing, and commercial and consumer transactions. Her recent co-authored books include Commercial and Retail Leases in Australia (Thomson Reuters, Sydney, NSW) with W. Duncan; Land Contracts in Queensland (3rd edition) with W Dixon, W Duncan & S Jones; Common Clauses in Commercial Contracts – Principles and Interpretation 2014 (with W Duncan); Joint Ventures Law in Australia (Ed.) (3rd ed, 2012).

Since 1999, Professor Christensen has attracted competitive and commercial research funding in excess of $1 300 000 and led research teams investigating and proposing changes to property law regimes for the integration of sustainability regulation within traditional property frameworks (ARC Discovery Grant) and reform of policies for an integrated regime to regulate carbon products connected to land (ARC Discovery Grant). She is also a leader in the field of new property frameworks for electronic land registration in Australia which are widely disseminated through national and international refereed publications.

Professor Bill Duncan, LLB Qld, LLM London is widely recognised as a lecturer, researcher and publisher in property law, particularly land contracts, commercial leases, real property mortgages and real estate agency law. He is an Academic Fellow of the Australian College of Community Association Lawyers and a Life Member of the Strata Community Australia (Qld). He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2012.

Professor Duncan’s recent co-authored books include Commercial and Retail Leases in Australia (Thomson Reuters, Sydney, NSW) with S. Christensen; Real Estate Mortgages in Australia (2nd edition) (with W Dixon); Common Clauses in Commercial Contracts – Principles and Interpretation 2014 (with S A Christensen) Joint Ventures Law in Australia (Ed.) (3rd ed, 2012). He co-authored the major loose-leaf service Property Law and Practice (with Anne Wallace).

Professor Sharon Christensen

Professor Bill Duncan

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Review of Property Law Professor Bill Duncan and Professor Sharon Christensen, and Associate Professor Bill Dixon and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, are undertaking a review of the Property Law Act 1974 and aspects of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997, in particular relating to lot entitlement allocation and governance.

The centre is investigating the feasibility of introducing greater vendor disclosure into Queensland property sales transactions in line with developments interstate. Currently there are at least 12 Queensland Acts that impose disclosure requirements in relation to property transactions all of which impose varying obligations on sellers and buyers of property at different times in the transaction and different consequences of inaccurate disclosure and non disclosure.

One of the purposes of the review of legislation is to bring legislation like the Property Law Act 1974, now almost 40 years old, to align with modern practices and technological advances to ensure effective, efficient and coordinated regulation of land transactions and where possible to reduce transactional complexity.

The centre is taking advice from various specialist stakeholders, an expert panel and the public at large who will all have an opportunity to comment by responding to a number of issues papers to be produced over the period of consultation.

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Postgraduate studyHigher Degree Research (HDR)The centre has a significant number of PhD students working on a variety of research topics. Centre researchers supervise research degrees across the fields of commercial and property law. Topics include regulating electronic contracts, land title registration systems, employee privacy rights and Australia’s legal regime for imposing liability on manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs.

Demand for commercial and property law research graduates is strong in the areas of public sector policy and insolvency due to the growing complexity in regulation arising from economic, social and environmental demands. Graduates with expertise in areas of global interest, such as market regulation, environmental markets, climate change and insolvency, underpinned by an in-depth knowledge of the impact of commercial and property law on these areas, are sought after by the legal profession, governments, and regulatory bodies.

Students also receive research development opportunities through the faculty research student training program, a regular seminar series and an annual HDR student colloquium.

ScholarshipsThe centre funds one research scholarship per year for a student undertaking a topic which falls within a major theme. The centre may also fund ‘top-up’ scholarships for students who successfully gain an Australian Postgraduate Award or a QUT Postgraduate Award, where the topic is in the centre’s areas of interest.

Contact us:Commercial and Property Law Research CentrePhone +61 7 3138 4475Fax +61 7 3138 1161Email enquiries.cplrc@qut.edu.auwww.cplrc.qut.edu.au

LocationLevel 3, C BlockGardens Point campus2 George StreetBrisbane Qld 4000

Postal AddressCommercial and Property Law Research CentreQUT Faculty of LawGPO Box 2434Brisbane Qld 4001

Centre DirectorsProfessor Sharon ChristensenDirectorCommercial and Property Law Research CentrePhone +61 7 3138 5204Fax +61 7 3138 1161Email s.christensen@qut.edu.au

Professor Bill DuncanDirectorCommercial and Property Law Research CentrePhone +61 7 3138 4643Fax +61 7 3138 1161Email w.duncan@qut.edu.au

CRICOS No. 00213J

© QUT 2014 20278