Law, order and federalism in Australia. In a series of recent cases the High Court has emphasised the constitutional imperatives of judicial independence and impartiality in State court systems. These developments provide minimum human rights protections to individuals confronting criminal justice in the States. But what has not been considered is the cost of these developments. This project will investigate the uncertainty of the constitutional restrictions confronting State governments when re ....Law, order and federalism in Australia. In a series of recent cases the High Court has emphasised the constitutional imperatives of judicial independence and impartiality in State court systems. These developments provide minimum human rights protections to individuals confronting criminal justice in the States. But what has not been considered is the cost of these developments. This project will investigate the uncertainty of the constitutional restrictions confronting State governments when responding to law and order priorities, and the extent to which these have led to the frustration of policy development and experimentation across the Australian federation.Read moreRead less
Analysing interactions within the criminal deportation system. This project aims to investigate the convergence of migration control and criminal justice by analysing pathways to criminal deportation. The project expects to generate new criminological understandings of deportation as a means of promoting community safety using interdisciplinary approaches that capture regional and metropolitan practice. Expected outcomes include knowledge of how information flows between migration control and cr ....Analysing interactions within the criminal deportation system. This project aims to investigate the convergence of migration control and criminal justice by analysing pathways to criminal deportation. The project expects to generate new criminological understandings of deportation as a means of promoting community safety using interdisciplinary approaches that capture regional and metropolitan practice. Expected outcomes include knowledge of how information flows between migration control and criminal justice agencies, and the implications for policing, courts, and prison administration. This should provide significant benefits for policy-makers and practitioners, by articulating emerging and unexplored practices that have major consequences for community safety, social cohesion and the rule-of-law.Read moreRead less
The court as archive: rethinking the institutional role of federal superior courts of record. This project examines the institutional role of federal superior courts of record to ground an analysis of their responsibilities as curators of a significant national archive. It will provide principles for the administration of court records that respond to the competing legal and civic demands of contemporary Australian society.
Improving International Law Regulation of Maritime Autonomous Vessels . The use of maritime autonomous vessels (MAVs) is creating regulatory and enforcement opportunities and challenges under international law. The aim of this project is to fill a critical gap in current responses in international law in focusing on the challenges posed by MAVs to international maritime security law. MAVs are increasingly useful for states in peacetime military operations, in response to transnational crime, mar ....Improving International Law Regulation of Maritime Autonomous Vessels . The use of maritime autonomous vessels (MAVs) is creating regulatory and enforcement opportunities and challenges under international law. The aim of this project is to fill a critical gap in current responses in international law in focusing on the challenges posed by MAVs to international maritime security law. MAVs are increasingly useful for states in peacetime military operations, in response to transnational crime, maritime cybersecurity, and in promoting broader national security goals, but non-state actors may also use them for terrorist and transnational criminal activity. International law has not kept up with this technology so this project will redress that problem and propose law reform to enhance global maritime security.Read moreRead less
Formal approaches to legal reasoning. This project aims to use formal epistemology to improve understanding of existing legal practices and to propose recommendations for improving the consistency and accuracy of legal proceedings. Since judges and juries rarely know all the relevant facts, they must make the best decision possible in the face of uncertainty. Formal epistemology employs probabilistic reasoning to advance understanding of how to form beliefs and make decisions in response to unce ....Formal approaches to legal reasoning. This project aims to use formal epistemology to improve understanding of existing legal practices and to propose recommendations for improving the consistency and accuracy of legal proceedings. Since judges and juries rarely know all the relevant facts, they must make the best decision possible in the face of uncertainty. Formal epistemology employs probabilistic reasoning to advance understanding of how to form beliefs and make decisions in response to uncertain evidence. The project has potential to influence the relevant policy and will result in improved legal reasoning and risk reduction in legal decision making.Read moreRead less
Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss ....Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss. The proposed model, an international first, will be a powerful tool to comprehensively model the cost impacts of illness and simulate policy options related to health and productivity. This will provide answers to critical policy questions for government with potential significant economic benefits.Read moreRead less
The fundamental importance of foreign direct investment to Australia in the 21st century: Reforming treaty and dispute resolution practice. This project will evaluate the economic and legal risks associated with the Australian Government’s current policy on investor-state dispute settlement through multidisciplinary research, namely econometric modeling, empirical research through stakeholder surveys and interviews, as well as critical analysis of case law, treaties and regulatory approaches. Th ....The fundamental importance of foreign direct investment to Australia in the 21st century: Reforming treaty and dispute resolution practice. This project will evaluate the economic and legal risks associated with the Australian Government’s current policy on investor-state dispute settlement through multidisciplinary research, namely econometric modeling, empirical research through stakeholder surveys and interviews, as well as critical analysis of case law, treaties and regulatory approaches. The aim of this project is to identify optimal methods of investor-state dispute prevention, avoidance and resolution that efficiently cater to inbound and outbound investors as well as Australia as a whole. The goal is to promote a positive climate for investment inflows and outflows, while maintaining Australia's ability to take sovereign decisions on matters of public policy.Read moreRead less
Rich Cousin, Poor Cousin - What Controls the Formation and Size of Orogenic Gold Deposits? What are the geological and geochemical factors that control the formation and size of gold deposits in Phanerozoic mountain belts (?orogens?)? The answer to this question lies in a combination of methods we will use to establish the importance of source, absolute timing of mineralisation, genetic links to magmas, and geochemical processes that result in the transport, and deposition of gold in three separ ....Rich Cousin, Poor Cousin - What Controls the Formation and Size of Orogenic Gold Deposits? What are the geological and geochemical factors that control the formation and size of gold deposits in Phanerozoic mountain belts (?orogens?)? The answer to this question lies in a combination of methods we will use to establish the importance of source, absolute timing of mineralisation, genetic links to magmas, and geochemical processes that result in the transport, and deposition of gold in three separate, geologically young orogens. The wider implications of this research include a greatly improved understanding of lesser known Phanerozoic orogenic gold provinces, ore genesis at convergent plate margins, and the formation of gold deposits in older terrains.Read moreRead less
Small firms' finances: effects on employment, wages and growth. The project aims to estimate how difficulties in accessing financial and credit markets affect small and medium enterprise (SME) decisions about employment, wages, entry and exit. Although the SME sector is Australia’s largest employer, the extent to which financial constraints affect these firms' market performance and their ability to create and sustain employment is unknown. The project plans to use an econometric analysis of fir ....Small firms' finances: effects on employment, wages and growth. The project aims to estimate how difficulties in accessing financial and credit markets affect small and medium enterprise (SME) decisions about employment, wages, entry and exit. Although the SME sector is Australia’s largest employer, the extent to which financial constraints affect these firms' market performance and their ability to create and sustain employment is unknown. The project plans to use an econometric analysis of firm level panel data to fill this gap. The intended outcome is micro-econometric findings tailored to improve targeted labour and financial policy. The expected benefit is to provide input to policy responses that support employment, productivity and wages in volatile market conditions.Read moreRead less
Assessing absolute sustainability of global cities. The project aims to create a quantitative modelling framework for assessing the absolute sustainability of cities by combining global multi-region input-output analysis with the 'safe and just space' concept for human development. The model will allow assessment of the full supply chain environmental and social impacts of urban economic activities against biophysical planetary limits as well as social foundation thresholds defined in the litera ....Assessing absolute sustainability of global cities. The project aims to create a quantitative modelling framework for assessing the absolute sustainability of cities by combining global multi-region input-output analysis with the 'safe and just space' concept for human development. The model will allow assessment of the full supply chain environmental and social impacts of urban economic activities against biophysical planetary limits as well as social foundation thresholds defined in the literature. The project will advance sustainability science methodology and will greatly benefit worldwide initiatives for urban sustainability. Case studies on Australian cities will assess where interventions can be most practically, realistically and effectively implemented.Read moreRead less