Never again? The nature and effectiveness of Australian regulatory responses to terrorism, the Esso Longford Explosion and the collapse of HIH Insurance. Industrial disasters, terrorist attacks and corporate collapses create increased demands by Australians for safety and financial security. This project will trace the effects of three such events on regulatory frameworks and compliance efforts by our airports, ports and major hazard facilities. It will ascertain whether regulatory reform follow ....Never again? The nature and effectiveness of Australian regulatory responses to terrorism, the Esso Longford Explosion and the collapse of HIH Insurance. Industrial disasters, terrorist attacks and corporate collapses create increased demands by Australians for safety and financial security. This project will trace the effects of three such events on regulatory frameworks and compliance efforts by our airports, ports and major hazard facilities. It will ascertain whether regulatory reform following disasters does increase protection for Australians, or whether multiple and competing demands mean that significant gaps are created. This work will be an invaluable resource for investigators, regulators and policymakers charged with preventing corporate disasters and terrorist attacks. Read moreRead less
Improving online case law within the constraints of free access through heuristic linking and resulting discovery mechanisms. Better interconnections between cases and between cases and other documents, will improve the work of the judiciary, lawyers and legal researchers. Improved speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of assessment of the legal implications of previous cases should result in better quality client advice and judicial decisions. The general public and business, for whom AustLII ....Improving online case law within the constraints of free access through heuristic linking and resulting discovery mechanisms. Better interconnections between cases and between cases and other documents, will improve the work of the judiciary, lawyers and legal researchers. Improved speed, accuracy and comprehensiveness of assessment of the legal implications of previous cases should result in better quality client advice and judicial decisions. The general public and business, for whom AustLII is the principal means of accessing law, will also benefit from better understanding of, and easier access to, the interconnections between the sources of law. Free access via AustLII's increasingly comprehensive coverage of Australian Courts and Tribunals means these innovations will be of immediate broad national benefit.Read moreRead less
Rethinking Mental Health Laws: An Integrated Approach. Mental health is one of the Commonwealth Government's national health priority areas. This research program will ensure the best possible outcomes for the Government's five-year action plan for better mental health services by developing model legal frameworks that will help shape the way in which individuals with mental illnesses can access the highest attainable standard of mental health care. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and th ....Rethinking Mental Health Laws: An Integrated Approach. Mental health is one of the Commonwealth Government's national health priority areas. This research program will ensure the best possible outcomes for the Government's five-year action plan for better mental health services by developing model legal frameworks that will help shape the way in which individuals with mental illnesses can access the highest attainable standard of mental health care. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and through developing model frameworks for both civil commitment and sentencing laws, this program will enable Australia to set the international agenda as to how countries can best respond to the mental health needs of their citizens.Read moreRead less
Regulatory power and corporate misconduct. This project aims to map and critically analyse the shift towards negotiated enforcement in response to corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is growing concern within the community, consumer advocates, elected representatives and the finance industry itself about the increasing use by regulators of negotiated enforcement mechanisms rather than litigation to counter serious corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is concern tha ....Regulatory power and corporate misconduct. This project aims to map and critically analyse the shift towards negotiated enforcement in response to corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is growing concern within the community, consumer advocates, elected representatives and the finance industry itself about the increasing use by regulators of negotiated enforcement mechanisms rather than litigation to counter serious corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is concern that these practices may lack transparency, be inefficient, fail to deter corporate misbehaviour, and operate to subvert individual justice and the rule of law. This project aims to address these concerns by developing detailed recommendations for reform based on an examination of the theory and practices of Australian and United States of America financial regulators.Read moreRead less
Counter-terrorism policing for culturally diverse communities. Counter-terrorism policing will be investigated by focusing on the impact of counter terrorism measures on the police, community, media and legislative/policy framework. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to the first ever examination of how counter terrorism is changing both the policing function and linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It will produce a counter-terrorism policing model that challenges traditiona ....Counter-terrorism policing for culturally diverse communities. Counter-terrorism policing will be investigated by focusing on the impact of counter terrorism measures on the police, community, media and legislative/policy framework. An interdisciplinary approach is taken to the first ever examination of how counter terrorism is changing both the policing function and linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It will produce a counter-terrorism policing model that challenges traditional paramilitary responses to terrorism that centrally locates diverse communities/policing relationships at the heart of the counter-terrorism policing effort. With cross jurisdictional application, the qualitative and quantitative data, will inform a broad scholarship with wide ranging policy implications at both the state and federal level.Read moreRead less
New Initiatives in Enforcing Employment Standards: Assessing the Effectiveness of Federal Government Compliance Strategies. The well-being of more than eight million Australian employees is underpinned by statutory workplace entitlements. For the large majority of those employees, these are set by federal legislation. The statutory entitlements are meaningful only in so far as they are complied with, and improving the effectiveness of the federal enforcement agency, the Workplace Ombudsman, is t ....New Initiatives in Enforcing Employment Standards: Assessing the Effectiveness of Federal Government Compliance Strategies. The well-being of more than eight million Australian employees is underpinned by statutory workplace entitlements. For the large majority of those employees, these are set by federal legislation. The statutory entitlements are meaningful only in so far as they are complied with, and improving the effectiveness of the federal enforcement agency, the Workplace Ombudsman, is therefore of crucial public importance. This project provides the first comprehensive scholarly empirical evaluation of the Workplace Ombudsman. Its findings will identify multiple ways in which enforcement practices can be improved, not only for the Workplace Ombudsman, but also for comparable compliance agencies domestically and overseas.Read moreRead less
Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials of Japanese Defendants. Contemporary war crimes trials regularly refer to historical precedent - particularly post-WWII war crimes trials. One virtually unknown group of trials were those conducted by Australian Military Tribunals - the primary sources for which are readily available (Australian War Memorial and National Archives) but under-studied. Australian Tribunals sat in judgment over 814 Japanese Defendants in 296 separate trials and yet th ....Australia's Post World War II War Crimes Trials of Japanese Defendants. Contemporary war crimes trials regularly refer to historical precedent - particularly post-WWII war crimes trials. One virtually unknown group of trials were those conducted by Australian Military Tribunals - the primary sources for which are readily available (Australian War Memorial and National Archives) but under-studied. Australian Tribunals sat in judgment over 814 Japanese Defendants in 296 separate trials and yet there has never been a systematic study of this chapter of Australian Legal and Military History. This project is intended to provide the first study of the trials and will also "unlock" the under-utilised but vast documentary resource for future researchers.Read moreRead less
Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia. Law is at the heart of Islam and the absence of a distinction between religion and law creates inherent tension between Islamic law (syariah) and the modern nation state. As the Indonesian state struggles to redefine itself post-Soeharto, syariah's role has again become contested. Modern scholarship has, however, ignored contemporary Indonesian Islamic law. Working with leading Indonesian Muslim scholars this project will investigate Islamic legal institu ....Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia. Law is at the heart of Islam and the absence of a distinction between religion and law creates inherent tension between Islamic law (syariah) and the modern nation state. As the Indonesian state struggles to redefine itself post-Soeharto, syariah's role has again become contested. Modern scholarship has, however, ignored contemporary Indonesian Islamic law. Working with leading Indonesian Muslim scholars this project will investigate Islamic legal institutions, substantive law and jurisdiction, surveying lawyers, judges and litigants. It will build bridges between Western, Indonesian and Middle-Eastern Islamic jurisprudence to expand Australian understandings of Indonesian Islam at a critical moment in bilateral relations.Read moreRead less
Islam and Modernity: Syari'ah, Terrorism and Governance in South-East Asia. Our region faces major political and legal challenges in the post-Cold War era, one of the most important of which is militant Islam. Australia has historically paid little attention to the implications of its location immediately to the south of the world's largest Muslim populations but 9/11 and Islamic terrorism in SE Asia have shown that regional Islam is of direct strategic and security importance for our welfare. T ....Islam and Modernity: Syari'ah, Terrorism and Governance in South-East Asia. Our region faces major political and legal challenges in the post-Cold War era, one of the most important of which is militant Islam. Australia has historically paid little attention to the implications of its location immediately to the south of the world's largest Muslim populations but 9/11 and Islamic terrorism in SE Asia have shown that regional Islam is of direct strategic and security importance for our welfare. There is, however, a significant gap in Australian understandings of Islam and Islamic law (syari'ah) and their implications for regional governance. This program addresses this gap, updates scholarship on SE Asian syari'ah, informs Australian foreign policy and builds bridges with SE Asian Muslim scholars and lawyers.Read moreRead less
Islamic Law in Contemporary Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei: The Anglo-Malay Madhhab. Islam is a fundamentally legalistic religion: law and religion are largely inseparable. In the last decade radical Islamic interpretations of sharîah (Islamic law) in SE Asia have led to increasingly militant responses to modernity and the secular state, that have come to threaten Australians. Through a detailed examination of legal theory, current intellectual debates, legal institutions and substantive law in ....Islamic Law in Contemporary Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei: The Anglo-Malay Madhhab. Islam is a fundamentally legalistic religion: law and religion are largely inseparable. In the last decade radical Islamic interpretations of sharîah (Islamic law) in SE Asia have led to increasingly militant responses to modernity and the secular state, that have come to threaten Australians. Through a detailed examination of legal theory, current intellectual debates, legal institutions and substantive law in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, the project offers a more complete understanding of Islam and law in the archipelago to Australia's North. It will update current knowledge but will also build bridges with Muslim scholars and lawyers in the regionRead moreRead less