In this week’s blog, Simon Katterl writes about Victoria’s proposed anti-vilification laws and their implications for vilification in mental health.
Read More
Marcella Brassett from Democracy in Colour argues the national anti-racism strategy cannot be just another tick-a-box, saying “Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) have done our bit for diversity and inclusion ‘way out’ for white people with power. We need to act on every level to make Australia a safe place to live, work, build families and futures for everyone, not just Anglos.”
Read More
As the Women’s Policy Action Tank has documented over the course of 2020, women have had unique impacts and challenges as a result of COVID-19, and they also have unique recovery requirements following this unprecedented year. In today’s analysis, Shorna Moore of the Federation of Community Legal Services (@CommunityLawVic) provides insight into women’s experiences through their interactions with community legal services, and shares a recovery roadmap. This analysis is drawn from the newly-released report, A Just and Equitable COVID Recovery – A Community Legal Sector Plan for Victoria.
Read More
While women are slowly making headway in achieving senior ranks in the workplace, does title override gendered unconscious bias? Today’s insightful analysis from Amelia Loughland (@AmeliaLoughland) reports on her empirical research which finds that female judges on the high court are more likely to be interrupted by male counsel than their male counterparts. This analysis draws from an article soon to be published in the Melbourne University Law Review; an advance copy is available here.
Read More
While there is growing consensus that domestic and family violence is an expression of power that utilises coercive control, Australia’s legal system is designed to respond to incidences of physical aggression. This approach means victims are often mis-identified as perpetrators, and tragically that legal action can sometimes not be taken until it is too late. In today’s analysis, Paul McGorrery (@PaulMcgorrery) of Deakin University (@DeakinLaw) shares a summary of his research, conducted with Marilyn McMahon, on the U.K. experience of criminalising coercive behaviour.
Read MoreRecent research published by Melbourne Law School offers new insight into the contrasting circumstances of men and women in bankruptcy. In it, Lucinda O’Brien, Professor Ian Ramsay and Associate Professor Paul Ali, each from Melbourne Law School find that public data does not fully reflect the differences between men and women in the bankruptcy system, or the extent to which women’s bankruptcies are caused by gender-specific factors.
Read More
We spend a lot of time as a local, national and global community considering the wellbeing of children and what is in ‘the best interest of the child’ when they are at risk of abuse and neglect. We spend much less time considering the rights and responsibilities of parents and other family members who have children in the care of child protection services. It is time for a Charter of Rights for Parents and Families, argues Sharynne Hamilton from the Telethon Kids Institute at the University of Western Australia.
Read MoreToday’s post explains tensions between the National Disability Insurance Scheme - a system that aims to facilitate choice and control for people with disability - and the socio-legal conception of disability that perceives people with disability as legitimate subjects of coercive medical intervention. Noting that competing notions of political rights, autonomy, agency, and the role of the state often play out in the form of social policy reform, the author argues that the creation of the NDIS could be a starting point for new claims and calls for legislative activity in the area of disability law. The post is published under a pseudonym at the author’s request.
Read More