Regulating Relations: Forming Families Inside and Outside of Law's Reach. Australia is wrestling with the complex challenges posed by the increase in cross-border reproductive care. This project asks: what are the causes and consequences of Australians being excluded from, or choosing to evade, regulated assisted reproductive treatment? The research aims to identify barriers to the pathways to licensed assisted reproductive treatment and motivations for evasion of regulation. It entails a series ....Regulating Relations: Forming Families Inside and Outside of Law's Reach. Australia is wrestling with the complex challenges posed by the increase in cross-border reproductive care. This project asks: what are the causes and consequences of Australians being excluded from, or choosing to evade, regulated assisted reproductive treatment? The research aims to identify barriers to the pathways to licensed assisted reproductive treatment and motivations for evasion of regulation. It entails a series of interlinked case studies reflecting the life-cycle of family formation in assisted conception. The aim is to develop solutions for more responsive legal frameworks that encourage beneficial clinical and ethical practices and contain harmful ones through inclusion rather than exclusion.Read moreRead less
Winners and losers: Examining tax justice in tax disputes in Australia. Little is known about the important process of tax dispute resolution in Australia. The project seeks to determine whether tax dispute resolution in Australian is effective, whether or not taxpayers with greater resources come out ahead in tax litigation, and whether or not alternative dispute resolution is a cost effective way for resolving tax disputes. The project also examines the costs and benefits of independent tax di ....Winners and losers: Examining tax justice in tax disputes in Australia. Little is known about the important process of tax dispute resolution in Australia. The project seeks to determine whether tax dispute resolution in Australian is effective, whether or not taxpayers with greater resources come out ahead in tax litigation, and whether or not alternative dispute resolution is a cost effective way for resolving tax disputes. The project also examines the costs and benefits of independent tax dispute resolution, and the legal and justice implications of accessibility to such dispute resolution. Through its analysis, the project aims to arrive at concrete policy recommendations to improve the functioning of the present system in terms of accessibility, operating costs and perceived procedural justice.Read moreRead less
The regulation of labour disputes in Southeast Asia. This project aims to investigate the complex regulation of labour disputes in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Effective rules and institutions for the resolution of collective labour disputes are integral features of a sound industrial relations system. Yet in many developing countries, formal channels for the resolution of such disputes are largely ineffective. This heightens the risk of industrial disruption and encourages reliance o ....The regulation of labour disputes in Southeast Asia. This project aims to investigate the complex regulation of labour disputes in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Effective rules and institutions for the resolution of collective labour disputes are integral features of a sound industrial relations system. Yet in many developing countries, formal channels for the resolution of such disputes are largely ineffective. This heightens the risk of industrial disruption and encourages reliance on informal modes of regulation. The project will provide an empirical analysis of existing models of labour regulation, and inform policy development and the activities of agencies involved in labour dispute resolution in the region. It will better equip researchers, legal practitioners, policy makers and NGOs engaging transnationally in the Asia Pacific region.Read moreRead less
Developing a rational law of misleading conduct. This project aims to investigate and promote the reform of the current laws of misleading conduct. Such laws are critical to maintaining a fair and efficient market economy, yet have become a range of disparate statutory and general law rules. In that context, the project proposes an integrated analysis to support the development of a rational law of misleading conduct. The project outcome will include a taxonomy of the existing law that will info ....Developing a rational law of misleading conduct. This project aims to investigate and promote the reform of the current laws of misleading conduct. Such laws are critical to maintaining a fair and efficient market economy, yet have become a range of disparate statutory and general law rules. In that context, the project proposes an integrated analysis to support the development of a rational law of misleading conduct. The project outcome will include a taxonomy of the existing law that will inform an innovative model for judicial and legislative law reform in Australia and overseas. This work will offer significant legal, economic and social benefits by promoting more just, effective and efficient regulation of misleading conduct.Read moreRead less
The legal framework of public administration: a comparative study. This project explores the relationship between administrative law and public administration in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It's main aim is to give Australians generally and Australian public administrators in particular a clearer understanding of the way law frames and regulates the day-to-day implementation of public policy and programmes.
The Legal Regulation of Behaviour as a Disability. People who exhibit socially challenging behaviour are increasingly defined in law as having a disability. This project explores the problem of how law should respond to this growing cohort, a problem that becomes more acute as advances in genetics and the brain sciences expand the set of socially unacceptable behaviours that are identified as biologically based. Using detailed case studies of the regulation of genetic screening of embryos for di ....The Legal Regulation of Behaviour as a Disability. People who exhibit socially challenging behaviour are increasingly defined in law as having a disability. This project explores the problem of how law should respond to this growing cohort, a problem that becomes more acute as advances in genetics and the brain sciences expand the set of socially unacceptable behaviours that are identified as biologically based. Using detailed case studies of the regulation of genetic screening of embryos for disability and the application of disability discrimination law to behavioural traits, the project is expected to determine how, if at all, law should regulate variant personality and behaviour.Read moreRead less
Rights Defence Lawyers and Constitutionalism in China. Scholars have argued that rights lawyers have played key roles in advancing social and political change in a reforming society through defining and defending citizen rights, developing civil society, and seeking to moderate state power. However, few studies have examined the political roles or aspirations of lawyers in contemporary China. This project aims to demonstrate how Chinese 'rights defence' lawyers have drawn together diverse strand ....Rights Defence Lawyers and Constitutionalism in China. Scholars have argued that rights lawyers have played key roles in advancing social and political change in a reforming society through defining and defending citizen rights, developing civil society, and seeking to moderate state power. However, few studies have examined the political roles or aspirations of lawyers in contemporary China. This project aims to demonstrate how Chinese 'rights defence' lawyers have drawn together diverse strands of social protest to become an articulating voice for constitutional reform. The project aims to make both empirical and theoretical contributions to the world-wide debate on the interaction between rights lawyers, rule of law, social activism and political reform.Read moreRead less
Reshaping employment discrimination law: towards substantive equality at work? The Australian employment discrimination law system comprises long standing anti-discrimination law and novel discrimination provisions from the Fair Work Act 2009. This project studies the operation and effectiveness of the reshaped system, to assess whether it is likely to be effective in supporting a more substantive version of equality at work.
Reconceptualising Indigenous access to justice in civil law. The project aims to research enhanced Indigenous access to justice in civil and family law, specifically in areas of housing, discrimination, social security, consumer matters, credit and debt and child protection. The research will identify and examine Indigenous understandings of access to justice and the ways that these may differ from non-Indigenous society. The research is centred on 24 male and female focus groups in Indigenous c ....Reconceptualising Indigenous access to justice in civil law. The project aims to research enhanced Indigenous access to justice in civil and family law, specifically in areas of housing, discrimination, social security, consumer matters, credit and debt and child protection. The research will identify and examine Indigenous understandings of access to justice and the ways that these may differ from non-Indigenous society. The research is centred on 24 male and female focus groups in Indigenous communities, and stakeholder interviews in a range of geographic contexts across Australia. It will investigate Indigenous-specific frameworks that most appropriately reflect Indigenous perspectives of access to justice, and the way that these can be applied in certain civil and family law contexts.Read moreRead less
Deathscapes: Mapping Race and Violence in Settler States. This project seeks new ways to document, understand and respond to the critical issue of racialised deaths in sites of state custody such as police cells, prisons and immigration detention centres. It plans to examine the conditions under which Indigenous and border-related deaths occur, and to explore how legal and social accountability for them is assigned. Moving away from individual national contexts, it seeks to identify and map, at ....Deathscapes: Mapping Race and Violence in Settler States. This project seeks new ways to document, understand and respond to the critical issue of racialised deaths in sites of state custody such as police cells, prisons and immigration detention centres. It plans to examine the conditions under which Indigenous and border-related deaths occur, and to explore how legal and social accountability for them is assigned. Moving away from individual national contexts, it seeks to identify and map, at global as well as local levels, the shared institutional practices, technologies and explanatory frameworks that characterise custodial deaths in the key settler states of Australia, Canada and the United States. This may inform policy-making with the aim of preventing deaths in custody.Read moreRead less