The 'fair dealing' provisions within Australian copyright law allow copying for the purpose of criticism or review, whether of that work or another work, or for the purpose of research or study, provided there is sufficient acknowledgement of the work copied.
In an academic context acknowledgement is usually a matter of creating a reference to the materials you are discussing. Referencing needs to follow an accepted referencing scheme as used at the University.
Other jurisdictions such as the United States have a "fair use" provision in their copyright law. Fair use and fair dealing allow for slightly different uses and the terms are not interchangeable.
Please view the Copyright Guide on the University Library website for more information about the above topic as well as other areas of Copyright.