Allegations of unlawful discrimination in education: parents taking their fight for Auslan to the courts

This paper examines the use of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992) by parents seeking access for their deaf children to native sign language in the classroom. It reviews a number of cases in which Australian parents have claimed indirect discrimination by educational authorities over their children's lack of access to instruction through Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and discusses the outcomes of such litigation. The policies endorsed by deafness organizations are contrasted with those of state educational authorities. The author discusses the limitations of a complaints-based system to address systemic discrimination and suggests the need for legislation to protect the linguistic rights of deaf children.

Professional issues related to allegations and assessment of child sexual abuse in the context of family court litigation

This article focuses on the challenge of dealing with allegations of child sexual abuse in the context of the Family Court of Australia. Of all cases that come before the Court, those involving such allegations are relatively uncommon. they tend to be the most difficult cases, however, and are more likely to require a trial and the involvement of qualified practitioners. The review establishes that parental separation is a special circumstance in which sexual abuse may be more likely to occur, and many allegations of sexual abuse are found to be true. There is evidence, however, that a proportion of allegations made by people other than the child concerned may be false. Whether these false allegations are well intentioned and genuinely believed, or maliciously motivated has been a contentious issue. Issues considered include the mishandling of cases, the failure by professionals to consider equally plausible alternative hypotheses than the sexual abuse of a child, confirmation bias, and the profound repercussions of allegations for all members of the family. It is concluded that all allegations of child sexual abuse must be evaluated in a thorough and sensitive manner to separate the few false allegations from the many that are true.

Trapped in white space : the allegations and denials of organ trafficking

Allegations of body parts trafficking implicating the West have been surfacing persistently in the media of many non Western countries for almost 20 years. Western media has responded to the allegations with denials and denunciations. This thesis considers the competing accounts and places them in a framework for analysis.

Human rights and the right to development : insights into the Myanmar government's response to rights allegations

Myanmar is ruled by a military government that is strongly condemned for human rights abuses. In responding to these allegations, the Myanmar government repeatedly adopt the language of Right to Development as a counter perspective and counter allegation. The Right to Development is not well reflected in the Western human rights discourse, and both its development and Myanmar's position in the Right to Development dialogue are considered. This paper looks at the differing perspective that an understanding of the official public Myanmar response to rights allegations brings to the human rights debate surrounding Myanmar, highlighting contested ideas concerning the identity of rights duty-bearers, conceptions of those duties, and allegations of double standards. While the Myanmar position that sanctions violate the Right to Development is rejected, it is suggested that this difference in perspective is a contributor to the impasse and communication gap between the West and the Myanmar regime over human rights.

Delayed allegations of sexual abuse, complainant credibility and juror verdict

This study investigated laypersons' perceptions of memory evidence in a mock childhood sexual abuse trial. Results indicated that delay, memory type (continuous vs. recovered) and the nature of the alleged sexual assault (penetrative vs. fondling) influenced both how witnesses were perceived and the outcome of the trial.

Deficient cognitive control fuels children's exuberant false allegations.

In eyewitness studies as in actual investigations, a minority of children generate numerous false (and sometimes incredulous) allegations. To explore the characteristics of these children, we reinterviewed and administered a battery of tasks to 61 children (ages 4-9 years) who had previously participated in an eyewitness study where a man broke a "germ rule" twice when he tried to touch them. Performance on utilization, response conflict (Luria tapping), and theory of mind tasks predicted the number of false reports of touching (with age and time since the event controlled) and correctly classified 90.16% of the children as typical witnesses or exuberant (more than 3) false reporters. Results of a factor analysis pointed to a common process underlying performance on these tasks that accounted for 49% of the variability in false reports. Relations between task performance and testimony confirmed that the mechanisms underlying occasional intrusions are different from those that drive persistent confabulation and that deficient cognitive control fuels young children's exuberant false reports.

Corruption in the media's gaze

This paper examines a government's incentive to engage in corruption in the presence of independent media. Different versions of a sequential-move game show how collusion between a media-firm and a government as well as a government's ability to ‘spin’ the media allegations can undermine corruption deterrence. Further, because of gains from exposing scandal, the media-firm can face incentives to raise false allegations. The paper shows how such false allegations can provide perverse incentives that favor corruption.

The nature of corruption deterrence in a competitive media sector

This paper compares the deterrence provided by a competitive media sector towards government induced corruption with that of a media monopoly in a setting where the media might raise both true as well as false allegations of corruption. It finds that competition’s impact on corruption deterrence is not necessarily better than a monopoly but rather hinges on a delicate balance between government’s kickback from corruption and the media’s potential benefit from exposure. While the paper does identify conditions in which a competitive media sector would improve upon the deterrence provided by a monopoly, it also find conditions under which it would do no better than a monopoly and in some situations its strategic response could be even worse especially when it intensifies effort towards justifying false allegations.

Spiritual direction and survivors of sexual abuse

In recent years, both catholica and protestant churches in Australia, the US and elsewhere have found themselves embroiled in allegations of sexual abuse-allegations which have often been substantiated.  Reports in the secular and the religious press of these allegations have been so numerous as to have become a constant blur on the horizon.  We have heard much about investigations, about the tragedies affecting individuals and communities, about financial settlements, and about clergy being ousted from pastoral roles.  But after the public scandals have died down, the paim for many lives on.

Who speaks on footballers and sexual assault? A gender analysis of sports reporting

The recent spate of sexual assault allegations made against Australian Football League (AFL) players has generated intense media scrutiny and public concern. Following from similar highly publicised allegations directed at the National Rugby League, these incidents have engendered significant debates around sexism and football culture in the popular press. It is the media’s response to allegations of sexual assault made against AFL footballers that will be analysed here. This study offers a content analysis of articles from the sport sections of two major Australian newspapers, The Age and the Herald-Sun, with the aim of assessing the prevalence of women’s perspectives on the issue of player misconduct and whether the gender of the reporter has any bearing on gender stereotyping in sport reporting. By assessing how the phenomenon of player misconduct has been covered in sport news, this paper evaluates the media’s role in changing dominant attitudes and perceptions of gender relations in Australian society.

Child testimony in custody cases: a review

The authors provide a brief historical review of judicial trends in child custody placement. In contrast to the start of the 19th century, by its end, courts took into consideration children's best interests, maternal rights, and prevailing sex role ideologies. Statutory changes began to reflect similar concerns by the end of that century. Modern practices, relying on the best interests of the child standard, also include consistent consideration of children's preferences in making custody determinations. An important factor in this context is the accuracy with which a child describes domestic relations, especially in contested cases with contradictory allegations by parents. Research dealing with children's report accuracy and techniques to enhance it are reviewed, and a description of various practical considerations when questioning children is provided.

`Silly, soft and otherwise suspect`: doctoral education as risky business

This article investigates how certain doctoral practices come to count as scandalous and with what effects on universities. To do so, it engages with a number of recent media allegations that relate to doctoral practice in Australia and elsewhere. The analysis of these allegations is developed in terms of three broad categories, namely allegations of silliness in relation to thesis content, allegations of softness in relation to entry, rigour and assessment, and allegations of suspect conduct and/or credentials. The impact of such allegations on university governance is then addressed.

Rogue men and predatory women : female fan's perception of Australian footballers' sexual conduct

The 2004 Australian Football League and National Rugby League seasons started amidst claims made by women about players behaving inappropriately towards them. A raft of allegations surfaced in the media, prompting nationwide debate on the issue of sportsmen and violence. While sport sociologists have made important inroads toward understanding sexual misconduct by male athletes, much of this research appears to focus on the socio-cultural factors informing the perpetrators' actions. This study takes a different approach, analysing the perspectives of female Australian rules football fans to consider gendered narratives of sexual misconduct. Our findings demonstrate that discourses of individualism, along with a mix of socio-cultural and biological arguments, are used by women to reconcile players' misconduct with continuing support of their sport.

Processes for disciplining nurses for unprofessional conduct of a serious nature : a critique

Aims: This paper critiques the deliberative processes used by the discipline panels of an Australian statutory nurse regulating authority when appraising the alleged unprofessional conduct of nurses and determining appropriate remedies.

Background: Little is known about the nature and effectiveness of the deliberative processes used by nurse regulating authorities (NRAs) disciplinary panels established to appraise and make determinations in response to allegations of unprofessional conduct by nurses.

Methods: A qualitative exploratory descriptive/pragmatic research approach was used. Data were obtained from two case-orientated sampling units: (1) 84 Reasons for Determination made between 1994 and 2000 and (2) a purposeful sample of 12 former and current nurse regulating authority members, nurse regulating authority staff and a nurse regulating authority representative who had experience of disciplinary proceedings and/or who had served on a formal hearing panel. Data were analysed using content and thematic analysis strategies.

Results: Attitudinal considerations (e.g. whether a nurse understood the 'wrongness' of his or her conduct; accepted responsibility for his or her conduct; exhibited contrition/shame during the hearing; was candid in his or her demeanour) emerged as the singularly most significant factor influencing discipline panel determinations. Disciplinary action is taken appropriately against nurses who have committed acts of deliberate malfeasance. NRAs may not, however, be dealing appropriately with nurses when disciplining them for making honest mistakes/genuine practice errors.

Conclusion: Traditional processes used for appraising and disciplining nurses who have made honest mistakes in the course of their work need to be substantially modified as they are at odds with the models of human error management that are currently being advocated and adopted globally to improve patient safety and quality of care in health care domains.

The Carey 'king hit' : journalists and the coverage of domestic violence

In recent years Australia’s football codes have been rocked by allegations that star players, both past and present, have acted inappropriately off-field. In some instances these allegations have involved violence towards partners. This paper explores one such case, involving former AFL great Wayne Carey. In so doing, it explores the so-called ‘cult of celebrity’ and the impact this has both on the players and the media who cover such stories. People caught up in traumatic situations labelled as domestic violence have been vulnerable to media misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Coverage of these events and issues surrounding such violence has undergone change in line with social change. Work by community groups has produced calls for further shifts in thinking and suggestions for a name change to family violence. The so‑called ‘Wayne Carey Affair’ has demonstrated that journalists have their own vulnerabilities to the cult of celebrity, with extended interviews and coverage often centred on possible explanations/ “excuses” for the behaviour patterns of this one individual avoiding the wider social policy implications. By examining coverage surrounding Wayne Carey, this paper will explore the issues surrounding this major social problem and will question the role of journalists vis a vis the particularly vulnerable individuals caught up in family violence.