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
National research study of the civil and family law needs of Indigenous people. This research will benefit Indigenous communities by improving access and equity in legal services. By identifying and addressing the civil and family law needs of Indigenous people, the research will make a key contribution to improving legal and social justice outcomes. Partner organisations in the research will actively implement the findings to the national benefit, creating more appropriate, accessible and bette ....National research study of the civil and family law needs of Indigenous people. This research will benefit Indigenous communities by improving access and equity in legal services. By identifying and addressing the civil and family law needs of Indigenous people, the research will make a key contribution to improving legal and social justice outcomes. Partner organisations in the research will actively implement the findings to the national benefit, creating more appropriate, accessible and better targeted legal services aimed at meeting identified needs. The research will make an important contribution to the Commonwealth's welfare reform and participation agendas, particularly its Access to Justice Framework as better access to legal services can play an important role in alleviating economic and social disadvantage.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
Freedom of speech in the post 9/11 era. This project will assess the place of freedom of speech in political attitudes in a post 9/11 world. It will show that, and how, liberal democracies both undermine and simultaneously assert the importance of the fundamental human rights that are the very basis for their perceived vulnerability to terrorists.
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.
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
Mine, yours, theirs, and ours: examining the tension between private and community interests in property. Property is increasingly characterised by a tension between private rights and broader community interests, such as those relating to the environment, heritage and the public cultural domain. This project will create a new understanding of the nature of property which takes into consideration the need to balance community and individual interests.