The next generation rural landscape governance: the Australian dimension. The project team in collaboration with Industry and regional stakeholders will undertake innovative research to develop the next generation of natural resource governance in Australia. This project will focus on the reforms required to improve the sustainability performance of primary industries through reduced transaction costs, co-regulatory structures and stewardship.
Compliance and enforcement of non-urban water extraction in New South Wales. This project will examine the compliance and enforcement practices of regulators and regulated communities in the water context. Results will provide legal and policy guidance to reshape compliance and enforcement strategies to effectively and efficiently enhance the legitimacy of water law, protect water resources and prevent overuse.
Preventing and addressing environmental harm through restorative justice. This project aims to develop a knowledge base on how Restorative Justice (RJ) principles and practices can prevent and address environmental harm. Research has demonstrated that RJ is a powerful response to a wide variety of governance challenges and could provide a useful alternative paradigm for environmental regulation. This project aims to apply the processes and values of RJ to environmental regulation with a focus on ....Preventing and addressing environmental harm through restorative justice. This project aims to develop a knowledge base on how Restorative Justice (RJ) principles and practices can prevent and address environmental harm. Research has demonstrated that RJ is a powerful response to a wide variety of governance challenges and could provide a useful alternative paradigm for environmental regulation. This project aims to apply the processes and values of RJ to environmental regulation with a focus on harm prevention, advancing theory into a new domain of application. This should lead to immediate and long-term benefits, including better prevention of environmental harm, better relationships with communities, and stronger commitments by those who have caused harm to rehabilitate, repair and reform.Read moreRead less
Local Capacity Regulation: Facilitating Participatory Environmental Policy. This project aims to develop a participatory strategy capable of substantially improving the environmental performance of small and medium sized enterprises. Its outcome will be to show how local knowledge and capacity can be mobilized to fulfill regulatory and other environmental goals. Its significance will be (i) to develop principles for, and a broader model of local capacity regulation that is robust, sustainable an ....Local Capacity Regulation: Facilitating Participatory Environmental Policy. This project aims to develop a participatory strategy capable of substantially improving the environmental performance of small and medium sized enterprises. Its outcome will be to show how local knowledge and capacity can be mobilized to fulfill regulatory and other environmental goals. Its significance will be (i) to develop principles for, and a broader model of local capacity regulation that is robust, sustainable and easily reproduced, and capable of being applied to a wide range of other environmental and regulatory contexts and (ii) to develop an institutional framework that can facilitate effective community intervention in other domains of governance.Read moreRead less
Analysis of legislation and policies affecting the development of Indigenous wildlife-based enterprises. Entrepreneurial enterprise development by Indigenous people in remote regions is being encouraged as part of government policy to move people off welfare and into work. Indigenous knowledge of wildlife makes it a logical source of wealth generation but a range of legal and policy constraints add to substantial existing social and logistical problems. An understanding of the legal processes in ....Analysis of legislation and policies affecting the development of Indigenous wildlife-based enterprises. Entrepreneurial enterprise development by Indigenous people in remote regions is being encouraged as part of government policy to move people off welfare and into work. Indigenous knowledge of wildlife makes it a logical source of wealth generation but a range of legal and policy constraints add to substantial existing social and logistical problems. An understanding of the legal processes involved in establishing and maintaining sustainable and ongoing wildlife-based enterprises will improve their chances of success, and will also offer the opportunity to change regulatory frameworks to ensure consistency, remove contradictions and encourage workforce participation. The research will have national and international implications.Read moreRead less
Australian Jurors' Perspectives on Expert Evidence. This inter-state, industry and research collaborative project will shed light on how courts, lawyers and experts can best work together to assist juries in their decision-making task. With the cost of a criminal jury trial running well in excess of $20,000 per day, policy-makers are keen to find ways of improving the efficiency of criminal trials. Improving the performance of the jury system will benefit the Australian community by enhancing th ....Australian Jurors' Perspectives on Expert Evidence. This inter-state, industry and research collaborative project will shed light on how courts, lawyers and experts can best work together to assist juries in their decision-making task. With the cost of a criminal jury trial running well in excess of $20,000 per day, policy-makers are keen to find ways of improving the efficiency of criminal trials. Improving the performance of the jury system will benefit the Australian community by enhancing the quality and reducing the cost of the criminal justice system. By intimately involving the judges and forensic scientists in this project we maximise the potential for the results of our research to be adopted by those in a position to improve the jury system.Read moreRead less
Internal Regulation: Overcoming the Disconnect between Corporate Objectives and Health, Safety, Environmental and Community Performance. This research will enable corporations to identify the points of greatest leverage over corporate and facility level health, safety, environmental and community (HSEC) performance and to develop strategies that successfully achieve their HSEC objectives. It will provide broader national benefits in (i) reducing workplace injury and environmental degradation at ....Internal Regulation: Overcoming the Disconnect between Corporate Objectives and Health, Safety, Environmental and Community Performance. This research will enable corporations to identify the points of greatest leverage over corporate and facility level health, safety, environmental and community (HSEC) performance and to develop strategies that successfully achieve their HSEC objectives. It will provide broader national benefits in (i) reducing workplace injury and environmental degradation at multiple facilities across Australia and (ii) increasing productivity and economic benefits (by doing so at reduced cost to companies). The study will also benefit the Australian and regional communities by identifying strategies that facilitate better community-company relations. Read moreRead less
Juries and interactive visual evidence: impacts on deliberation processes and outcomes. Australia confronts new types of security threat in the form of terrorist networks, sophisticated money-laundering and people-smuggling operations. The AFP and prosecutors are developing new display technologies to explain complex information to jurors, in the process simplifying court processes and shortening trials. At the cutting edge of this development are interactive displays, including computer simulat ....Juries and interactive visual evidence: impacts on deliberation processes and outcomes. Australia confronts new types of security threat in the form of terrorist networks, sophisticated money-laundering and people-smuggling operations. The AFP and prosecutors are developing new display technologies to explain complex information to jurors, in the process simplifying court processes and shortening trials. At the cutting edge of this development are interactive displays, including computer simulations and 360o crime scene reconstructions. Judges will use empirical information about how juries use such information in order to develop appropriate guidelines for admitting interactive visual evidence, while court planners and architects will use the project data to identify implications for court procedures and design.
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Beyond Compliance - Safety, Health and Environmental Regulation in the Mining Sector, An Empirical Analysis. Through empirical research on the mining sector, this study will enrich our understanding of the motivators of corporate safety, health and environmental performance. It will explain how regulation, social licence pressures, economic constraints and internal management style, affect outcomes and cause some, but not others, to go 'beyond compliance'. Its significance will be to explain and ....Beyond Compliance - Safety, Health and Environmental Regulation in the Mining Sector, An Empirical Analysis. Through empirical research on the mining sector, this study will enrich our understanding of the motivators of corporate safety, health and environmental performance. It will explain how regulation, social licence pressures, economic constraints and internal management style, affect outcomes and cause some, but not others, to go 'beyond compliance'. Its significance will be to explain and model the pathways to better corporate safety, health and environmental performance and thereby advance regulatory theory and contribute to effective policy design. By facilitating and rewarding industry for going beyond compliance it will enable better policy outcomes at less cost.Read moreRead less
Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. This project aims to develop an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data about how eBooks are used in libraries. EBooks have tremendous beneficial potential, particularly for Australians in remote areas and those with impaired mobility or vision. However, libraries’ rights to acquire and lend them are more restricted than for physical b ....Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. This project aims to develop an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data about how eBooks are used in libraries. EBooks have tremendous beneficial potential, particularly for Australians in remote areas and those with impaired mobility or vision. However, libraries’ rights to acquire and lend them are more restricted than for physical books. Libraries and legal, social and data science researchers will investigate eBook lending practices and understand their social impacts. The project will identify ways of reforming policy, law, and practice to help libraries fulfil their public interest missions. This project is expected to enable libraries to extract more value from existing public investments.Read moreRead less