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Professor Graeme Orr
Professor

Graeme Orr

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 53014

Overview

Background

The law of politics, in particular electoral law, is Professor Graeme Orr's primary research expertise. He has authored The Law of Politics (1st edn 2010, 2nd edn 2019) and Ritual and Rhythm in Electoral Systems (2015), co-authored The Law of Deliberative Democracy (2016), co-edited Realising Democracy (2003), Electoral Democracy: Australian Prospects (2011) and The Cambridge Handbook of Deliberative Constitutionalism (2018) and edited 3 symposia on the law of politics. His doctoral thesis explored the nature and regulation of electoral bribery. In the field of the law of politics, he does consultancy and pro bono work, and regular media commentary. Graeme has published over 100 commentary pieces in both the traditional press and online outlets.

Graeme has also published extensively in labour law, the law of negligence and on issues of language and law. Currently he is the legal adviser on the NSW Electoral Commission’s iVote panel and was recently part of the Australian Republican Movement’s Constitutional Advisory Board that drafted a model for an elected Head of State.

An Associate to two judges in the Federal Court of Australia and solicitor of the Queensland Supreme Court, prior to joining UQ Graeme was also an Associate Professor at Griffith University, where he taught for 13 years. In recent times he has been international editor of the Election Law Journal and board member of the Australian Journal of Labour Law. He was formerly managing editor of the Griffith Law Review, columnist with the Alternative Law Journal on sport's links to law, and employment law columnist with the Australian Journal of Administrative Law. He currently authors the entry on Australia for The Annual Register, a 257 year old almanac of world affairs.

He has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (2014) and the Australian Academy of Social Sciences (2020).

Availability

Professor Graeme Orr is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Law, The University of Queensland
  • Masters (Coursework) of Law, University College London
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Education, Griffith University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University

Research interests

  • Law of politics: parliamentary law and electoral law

  • Non-instrumental approaches to Law and Politics (ritual, symbols, language)

  • Labour and employment law

Works

Search Professor Graeme Orr’s works on UQ eSpace

226 works between 1995 and 2024

21 - 40 of 226 works

2022

Journal Article

Referendums, Misinformation and the Law

Orr, Graeme (2022). Referendums, Misinformation and the Law. Public Law Review, 33 (1), 13-18.

Referendums, Misinformation and the Law

2022

Journal Article

Contempt Convictions and Membership of Parliament

Orr, Graeme (2022). Contempt Convictions and Membership of Parliament. The Australian Law Journal, 96 (5), 303-307.

Contempt Convictions and Membership of Parliament

2022

Other Outputs

Why party preselections are still a mess, and the courts haven’t helped

Orr, Graeme (2022, 04 13). Why party preselections are still a mess, and the courts haven’t helped The Conversation

Why party preselections are still a mess, and the courts haven’t helped

2022

Book Chapter

Australia

Orr, Graeme (2022). Australia. The Annual Register: World Events 2021. (pp. 348-350) Ann Arbor, MI, United States: ProQuest.

Australia

2022

Conference Publication

Conventions in determining parliamentary qualifications

Orr, Graeme (2022). Conventions in determining parliamentary qualifications. Constitutional Conventions Workshop, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, 21-22 February 2022.

Conventions in determining parliamentary qualifications

2022

Other Outputs

Stronger Laws on ‘Foreign’ Election Influence were Rushed through this Week – Limiting Speech but Ignoring our Billionaire Problem

Orr, Graeme (2022, 02 18). Stronger Laws on ‘Foreign’ Election Influence were Rushed through this Week – Limiting Speech but Ignoring our Billionaire Problem The Conversation

Stronger Laws on ‘Foreign’ Election Influence were Rushed through this Week – Limiting Speech but Ignoring our Billionaire Problem

2022

Book Chapter

Qualifications to be an elected representative

Orr, Graeme (2022). Qualifications to be an elected representative. Comparative election law. (pp. 305-321) edited by James A. Gardner. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing . doi: 10.4337/9781788119023.00028

Qualifications to be an elected representative

2021

Other Outputs

Federal voter ID laws

Orr, Graeme, Dixon, Rosalind, Larkin, Dani, Brent, Peter and Green, Antony (2021). Federal voter ID laws. ERRN and Democratic Audit of Australia Working Paper Series. Number 76. Electoral Regulation Research Network, The University of Melbourne.

Federal voter ID laws

2021

Other Outputs

Voter ID is a bad idea: here's why

Orr, Graeme (2021, 11 04). Voter ID is a bad idea: here's why The Conversation

Voter ID is a bad idea: here's why

2021

Other Outputs

Who’s Liberal? What’s Labor? New bill to give established parties control of their names is full of holes

Orr, Graeme (2021, 08 16). Who’s Liberal? What’s Labor? New bill to give established parties control of their names is full of holes The Conversation

Who’s Liberal? What’s Labor? New bill to give established parties control of their names is full of holes

2021

Book Chapter

Australia

Orr, Graeme (2021). Australia. The Annual Register: World Events. (pp. 344-346) edited by DS Lewis and Wendy Slater. Cambridge, United Kingdom: ProQuest.

Australia

2021

Journal Article

Islands in the storm? Responses to foreign electoral interference in Australia and New Zealand

Orr, Graeme and Geddis, Andrew (2021). Islands in the storm? Responses to foreign electoral interference in Australia and New Zealand. Election Law Journal, 20 (1) , 82-97. doi: 10.1089/elj.2020.0656

Islands in the storm? Responses to foreign electoral interference in Australia and New Zealand

2021

Book Chapter

‘Choice of the manner in which thou wilt die’: the Australian courts on compulsory voting

Orr, Graeme (2021). ‘Choice of the manner in which thou wilt die’: the Australian courts on compulsory voting. A century of compulsory voting in Australia. (pp. 141-164) edited by Matteo Bonotti and Paul Strangio. Singapore: Springer Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-33-4025-1_8

‘Choice of the manner in which thou wilt die’: the Australian courts on compulsory voting

2020

Other Outputs

Why this Queensland election is different - states are back at the forefront of political attention

Orr, Graeme (2020, 10 28). Why this Queensland election is different - states are back at the forefront of political attention The Conversation - .

Why this Queensland election is different - states are back at the forefront of political attention

2020

Other Outputs

Clive Palmer’s ‘death tax’ scare campaign isn’t new. But it’s still outrageous

Orr, Graeme (2020, 10 28). Clive Palmer’s ‘death tax’ scare campaign isn’t new. But it’s still outrageous Guardian Australia - .

Clive Palmer’s ‘death tax’ scare campaign isn’t new. But it’s still outrageous

2020

Other Outputs

Funding Questions have Interrupted the Queensland LNP’s Election Campaign: What Does the Law Say?

Orr, Graeme (2020, 10 14). Funding Questions have Interrupted the Queensland LNP’s Election Campaign: What Does the Law Say? The Conversation

Funding Questions have Interrupted the Queensland LNP’s Election Campaign: What Does the Law Say?

2020

Other Outputs

Swallowing a huge spider to catch foreign relations flies

Orr, Graeme (2020, September 08). Swallowing a huge spider to catch foreign relations flies. Pearls and Irritations, .

Swallowing a huge spider to catch foreign relations flies

2020

Other Outputs

Speaking freely in special clothing: what happens when sport moves from the back pages to the front?

Orr, Graeme (2020, 06 25). Speaking freely in special clothing: what happens when sport moves from the back pages to the front? Inside Story 1-1.

Speaking freely in special clothing: what happens when sport moves from the back pages to the front?

2020

Journal Article

Polling in a pandemic: electoral dynamics, administration and law

Orr, Graeme (2020). Polling in a pandemic: electoral dynamics, administration and law. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 34 (2), 54-71.

Polling in a pandemic: electoral dynamics, administration and law

2020

Journal Article

Voting in a pandemic: lessons from international experience

Orr, Graeme (2020). Voting in a pandemic: lessons from international experience. GlobalCit (Global Citizenship Observatory)

Voting in a pandemic: lessons from international experience

Funding

Past funding

  • 2017
    Comprehensive free access to Australian industrial and workplace law (ARC LIEF project administered by University of Technology Sydney)
    University of Technology Sydney
    Open grant
  • 2013 - 2015
    The Law of Deliberative Democracy: Theory and Reform
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    Dollars and Democracy: The dynamics of Australian political finance and its regulation (ARC Discovery Project Administered by The University of Melbourne)
    University of Melbourne
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Professor Graeme Orr is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Representative Democracy and Political Constitutionalism in Practice: Opposition to Indigenous Representative Bodies in Australia

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, Dr Dylan Lino

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Proposed PhD - Disability within the judiciary: An analysis of the barriers for lawyers with visual disabilities to be appointed to the judicial branch of government in New Zealand and Australia.

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Paul Harpur

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Professor Graeme Orr directly for media enquiries about:

  • constitutional law
  • Employment and labour law
  • Language and law
  • Law of elections
  • Law of politics
  • Political Parties and Finance

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au