Overall Australia provides an ideal environment for research into the public health effects of prostitution laws. The eight states and territories effectively provide eight 'natural experiments' in legal responses to prostitution - ranging from prohibition through almost complete decriminalisation, with varying degrees of regulation and control in between these extremes. This project will examine how different legal and police responses to prostitution may affect the health of sex workers. These ....Overall Australia provides an ideal environment for research into the public health effects of prostitution laws. The eight states and territories effectively provide eight 'natural experiments' in legal responses to prostitution - ranging from prohibition through almost complete decriminalisation, with varying degrees of regulation and control in between these extremes. This project will examine how different legal and police responses to prostitution may affect the health of sex workers. These variable legal contexts guarantee international interest in this research. in addition this research team has extensive experience - dating back up to 20 years - in successfully researching even the most marginalised elements of the sex industry in Australia. By the conclusion of the project we will have assessed sex worker access to health promotion programs, including health services, in three states. We will be able to provide authorities with insights into the effects of prostitution laws and the enforcement of those laws on the health and welfare of sex workers. This finding will inform future interventions with sex industries in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less
Indonesia's Constitutional Court: safeguarding democratic transition? This project analyses the Indonesian Constitutional Court's decisions in election-related cases. It examines the Court's role in maintaining democracy and, ultimately, the national unity of Indonesia. By explaining how Indonesian democracy 'works', this project will enhance Australia's economic, political and cultural engagement with Indonesia.
Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Courts: Making or Breaking Governance Reform? This project plans to help policy-makers and the community to understand Indonesia’s new regional anti-corruption courts. Indonesia has notoriously high levels of public-sector corruption which are undermining Indonesia’s post-Soeharto governance reforms, eroding support for democracy and decentralisation, and threatening stability. Regional anti-corruption courts were established from 2011, ostensibly to help curb corrupt ....Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Courts: Making or Breaking Governance Reform? This project plans to help policy-makers and the community to understand Indonesia’s new regional anti-corruption courts. Indonesia has notoriously high levels of public-sector corruption which are undermining Indonesia’s post-Soeharto governance reforms, eroding support for democracy and decentralisation, and threatening stability. Regional anti-corruption courts were established from 2011, ostensibly to help curb corruption. This project plans to examine how these courts operate and assess their effectiveness. Their performance is critical to the success of Indonesia’s broader governance reforms, including democratisation and decentralisation, which in turn help Indonesia sustain political stability and economic development, both of which affect the economic and security interests of Australia and the region.Read moreRead less
Open justice and open secrets: the cultural afterlife of criminal evidence. This project explores the consequences of using criminal evidence in the cultural field, after the conclusion of the trial. It investigates whether an appropriate regulatory or ethical framework can be developed in response to challenging or controversial re-deployments of this material by artists, curators, journalists, scholars and others.
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
Construing Statutes: The Interaction between a Statute’s Linguistic Content and Principles of Statutory Interpretation. This project aims to identify the factors that determine what legal effect a statutory provision has; what effect it has on the content of the law; in cases where its legal effect is modified by another legal rule or principle. Such cases are commonplace, but the way in which statutory provisions interact with other legal rules or principles is poorly understood. The outcome of ....Construing Statutes: The Interaction between a Statute’s Linguistic Content and Principles of Statutory Interpretation. This project aims to identify the factors that determine what legal effect a statutory provision has; what effect it has on the content of the law; in cases where its legal effect is modified by another legal rule or principle. Such cases are commonplace, but the way in which statutory provisions interact with other legal rules or principles is poorly understood. The outcome of this project will be a general methodology for construing Australian statutes which can resolve problems that existing methodologies cannot. This will provide much-needed guidance to judges, and will advance our understanding of important legal and political issues concerning the effect that statutory provisions have on the content of the law.Read moreRead less
A relational theory of procedural justice. This project aims to develop a relational theory of procedural justice, based on the quality of interactions between individuals and legal authorities. Just procedures maintain the public's trust in the legal system, but lawyers and philosophers have not studied what makes legal procedures morally justifiable. The project will use empirical studies about the public's understanding of procedural justice to enrich the normative analysis and demonstrate th ....A relational theory of procedural justice. This project aims to develop a relational theory of procedural justice, based on the quality of interactions between individuals and legal authorities. Just procedures maintain the public's trust in the legal system, but lawyers and philosophers have not studied what makes legal procedures morally justifiable. The project will use empirical studies about the public's understanding of procedural justice to enrich the normative analysis and demonstrate the value of the theory in the practical setting of tribunal proceedings. This research is expected to contribute to theoretical and practical debates about how to improve legal procedures.Read moreRead less
What is a Document? Evidentiary Challenges in the Digital Age. This project plans to investigate the changing nature and role of documentary evidence in modern Australian litigation. The transformation driven by digital technologies presents challenges to traditional distinctions in the law of evidence. Using case studies, interviews with court officials and legal professionals and observational fieldwork, the project plans to explore methods developed in the fields of information science and th ....What is a Document? Evidentiary Challenges in the Digital Age. This project plans to investigate the changing nature and role of documentary evidence in modern Australian litigation. The transformation driven by digital technologies presents challenges to traditional distinctions in the law of evidence. Using case studies, interviews with court officials and legal professionals and observational fieldwork, the project plans to explore methods developed in the fields of information science and the humanities, where understandings of material cultural in the digital age have advanced rapidly, to examine their potential for law. The project is expected to inform policy development in evidence law so that it remains relevant in the information and cultural economies of the digital age.Read moreRead less
Gender related harms in forced migration: a comparative international study. The recognition of gender-based persecution has been the single most important development in refugee law over the past 20 years. Through comparative analysis of cases and processes we aim to make refugee decision-making more sensitive to gender related harms and assist in developing consistent, coherent and transparent refugee law.
Copyright and Cartography: Understanding the past, shaping the future. This project investigates the history of copyright in maps. It aims to discover what is at stake when we seek to regulate the production and dissemination of geographic data, a field which sits at the highly contested intersection of private rights and public access. Making extensive use of historical archives and taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the project plans to produce a comprehensive history of copyright in ma ....Copyright and Cartography: Understanding the past, shaping the future. This project investigates the history of copyright in maps. It aims to discover what is at stake when we seek to regulate the production and dissemination of geographic data, a field which sits at the highly contested intersection of private rights and public access. Making extensive use of historical archives and taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the project plans to produce a comprehensive history of copyright in maps, charts and plans in Australia and the United Kingdom. It aims to highlight the ways in which copyright and the cultural field shape each other and the significance of this for geographic knowledge. The project is designed to engage with contemporary efforts to reform copyright law and policy relating to geographic data.Read moreRead less