MACQUARIE LAW SCHOOL POLICY ON ASSESSMENTS 

Applications for a Special Consideration Policy are made electronically via ask.mq.edu.au and should be accompanied by supporting documentation.  Students should refer to the Special Consideration Policy for complete details of the policy and a description of the supporting documentation required.

Word limits will be strictly applied and work above the word limit will not be marked. 

All assessments in the unit are to be submitted electronically. Plagiarism detection software is used in this unit.

MODERATION POLICY

Detailed marking rubrics will be made available on iLearn.  All Fail papers are double marked. 

DELIVERY

EXTERNAL STUDENTS

Students are expected to and complete the essential readings and listen to one two hour lecture which will be available online each week.

Students are expected to attend the OCS sessions for this unit. Attendance at the OCS is necessary for all external students. Please carefully check the dates, times and rooms for these sessions. Materials for discussion, including tutorial questions, will be posted online in Week 3.

INTERNAL STUDENTS 

Students are expected to listen to one two hour lecture each week which will be posted online.

Lectures begin in week one. Lectures are also available on ilecture, but students are reminded that if they have not either attended a lecture or completed the ilecture prior to the tutorial they will not understand the tutorial discussion, will not benefit from it, and will not be able to participate in the discussion.

Tutorials will commence in week two. Questions for tutorials will be posted on the iLearn page regularly. Students are expected to have prepared for the tutorials. 

TECHNOLOGY

Students are encouraged to check the unit webpage regularly, which can be accessed through http://ilearn.mq.edu.au Unit materials, including tutorial questions, are available through the unit webpage. 

The assignment and the final assessment are to be submitted using the Turnitin portal on the unit webpage.

PC and internet access are required, as are basic computer and word processing skills.

REQUIRED READING

Texts 

• For Consumer Law

Coorey, A.  Australian Consumer Law  2015,  Lexis Nexis

• For Competition Law   

Bruce, A  Australian Competition Law 2018, Lexis Nexis

NB A full reading list will be posted online prior to the commencement of the semester once the text books have been released from the publisher.

​Please note that the earlier editions of Bruce's text are not adequate.  The latest edition included the comprehensive changes brought about when the Harper Review changes and recommendations which have now been enacted.

Legislation

• You will need access to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). As we will see, this legislation is the subject of heavy and almost constant amendment, so it is critical to have access to an up-to-date version. The versions on line are usually up to date, but not as helpful as the printed, annotated legislation. Two versions of the annotated legislation are available - one by Miller and one by Steinwall. Both are excellent, and it will be advantageous if you obtain a copy of the annotated legislation of your choice. Second hand copies are available, but as the legislation changes frequently, any annotated legislation older than 2015 will be of little use and will need to be checked against the current text of the legislation. It should be clear from lectures which sections have been the subject of recent amendment.  I also note that Steinwall 2017 edition does NOT include the Harper Review amendments.  I do not believe an updated annotated Act has been published yet but we will keep you updated in this respect.
• the legislation was changed during the later part of 2017 - especially the Competition provisions and this must be kept in mind when using older annotated Acts.

Useful websites

• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission www.accc.gov.au 
• Australian Federal government consumer site www.consumer.gov.au
• Australian Productivity Commission www.pc.gov.au
• Consumers Federation www.consumersfederation.com
• European Union consumer materials www.europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/ 
• Home Page of Recalled Items www.recalls.gov.au 
• Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs www.consumer.gov.au
• New Zealand Consumer Affairs www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/productsafety/ 
• Office of Fair Trading New South Wales www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au 
• Standards Australia www.standards.org.au

 GRADING CRITERIA

GRADING CRITERIA FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENTS

1.    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR ASSIGNMENT

FAIL (49% AND BELOW)

• does not answer question;
• few if any identifiable arguments;
• inappropriate and/or irrelevant content;
• plagiarism, use of other students’ work, ‘recycling’ own work from other units;
• difficult to read and/or understand through poor grammar, spelling, expression or structure.

PASS (50% - 64%)

• attempts to answer question, but does not answer the entire question, or follow through with reasoned argument;
• does not demonstrate engagement with the issues;
• descriptive summary of material relevant to question;
• superficial use of material and tendency to paraphrase and/or quote heavily;
• minimal analysis and evaluation;
• adequate expression.

CREDIT (65%-74%)

• mostly answers the question;
• contains no significant errors and covers relevant issues fairly well;
• articulates own argument including critical evaluation of the issues;
• good use of material relevant to question;
• has clear structure and clear expression

DISTINCTION (75%-84%)

• completely answers the question;
• articulates own argument including critical evaluation of the issues;
• excellent use of material relevant to question;
• excellent expression and free from errors

HIGH DISTINCTION (85% and above)

• satisfies all the criteria for a Distinction; and
• contains striking originality in analysis;
• innovative use of material relevant to the question;
• exceptionally well written and exceptionally well-structured.

2.    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR PROBLEM QUESTIONS

FAIL (49% AND BELOW)

• fails to identify  and discuss relevant issues of law raised by facts;
• contains incorrect statements of law;
• does not provide relevant authorities for propositions of law;
• inappropriate and/or irrelevant content;
• plagiarism, use of other students’ work, ‘recycling’ own work from other units;
• difficult to read and/or understand through poor grammar, expression or structure
• fails to comply with formatting instructions.                                    

PASS (50% - 64%)

• correctly identifies and discusses a limited number of issues of law raised by the facts
• contains no significant errors of law;
• provides correct authorities for propositions of law;
• attempts to apply relevant law to the given facts;
• adequate expression.

CREDIT (65%-74%)

• correctly identifies and discusses most of the issues of law raised by the facts;
• contains no errors of law;
• provides correct authorities for propositions of law;
• successfully applies relevant law to the given facts;
• identifies differences between facts in the question and fact patterns in cases, and attempts to discuss relevance of this to the solution;
• identifies discrepancies/inconsistencies within the law, and attempts to resolve these where they are relevant to the given facts;
• attempts to explain which outcome is more likely where there is more than 1 possible solution to the problem;
• has clear structure and clear expression

DISTINCTION (75%-84%)

• correctly identifies and discusses all of the issues of law raised by the facts;
• contains no errors of law
• provides correct authorities for propositions of law;
• successfully applies relevant law to the given facts;
• identifies differences between facts in the question and fact patterns in cases, and successfully discusses the relevance of this to the solution;
• identifies discrepancies/inconsistencies within the law,  and successfully resolves these where they are relevant to the given facts;
• successfully explains which outcome is more likely where there is more than 1 possible solution to the problem;
• has very clear structure and clear expression

HIGH DISTINCTION (85% and above)

• satisfies all the criteria for a Distinction;
• is exceptionally well written and exceptionally well-structured.
• demonstrates superior and original analytical skills.  

New texts have been prescribed.  Consumer law been taught first and competition law being taught second