Ignorance, risk and reward: examining the accessibility and utility of discrimination prohibitions for Australia’s legal interns
Date
2026
Authors
Covark, K.
Henderson, S.
Hewitt, A.
Nosworthy, B.
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Journal Title
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Journal article
Citation
Australian Journal of Human Rights, 2026; 1-21
Statement of Responsibility
Kylie Covarka, Stacey Hendersonb, Anne Hewitta and Beth Nosworthy
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Abstract
Professor Beth Gaze has made an enormous contribution to Australia’s quest for equality through her critical scholarship considering legal prohibitions of discrimination, her teaching of anti-discrimination law to new generations of practitioners and by facilitating work placements for students studying discrimination to enable them to develop practical legal skills, professional connections and enhanced legal knowledge. This paper will focus within that legacy on the growing importance of equitable access to quality internships and work experience to facilitate a law graduate’s transition into professional employment. It will examine the legal, knowledge, process and social issues, which limit the capacity of student and graduate interns to utilise prohibitions of discrimination to seek redress for prohibited discrimination and harassment. The paper will outline a pilot project run by Adelaide University Law School to assist law students in overcoming some of these issues. That project aims to support both interns and supervisors by educating current students (who constitute current and future cohorts of legal interns) about their workplace rights and available complaint mechanisms and providing resources and training for legal supervisors to encourage conversations about appropriate workplace behaviours and responses to inappropriate behaviours. Together, these initiatives are intended to help minimise some of the obstacles for diverse law students and graduates in the Australian legal profession. While the project is insufficient to transform the legal profession from its history as ‘white, heterosexual, able-bodied, middle class
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Dissertation Note
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OnlinePubl
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© 2026 Australian Human Rights Institute.