Family law issues and schools : guidance for Australian educators

A substantial number of Australian children are now living in separated families, with many moving between their parents’ homes. This has led to educators being confronted with an increasing number of family law issues. This article discusses the key aspects of family law that involve children. It highlights the need for schools to be aware of all family law orders that relate to children in their care, including family court, domestic violence and child protection orders. It also provides guidance in relation to how schools can adopt child focused approaches in some common scenarios, where parents are in dispute. In particular, we will recommend that educators take a child-focused approach, consistent with the principal provision of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) that ‘the best interests of the child’ be the paramount consideration. We will highlight how this contrasts starkly with what can be described as a ‘parental rights’ interpretation, which has unfortunately been taken by some since the 2006 amendments to the Family Law Act, and is, in our view, directly at odds with the intention of the legislation.

Exploring perceived legitimacy of traffic law enforcement

The purpose of traffic law enforcement is to encourage compliant driver behaviour. That is, the threat of an undesirable sanction encourages drivers to comply with traffic laws. However, not all traffic law violations are considered equal. For example, while drink driving is generally seen as socially unacceptable, behaviours such as speeding are arguably less so, and speed enforcement is often portrayed in the popular media as a means of “revenue raising”. The perceived legitimacy of traffic law enforcement has received limited research attention to date. Perceived legitimacy of traffic law enforcement may influence (or be influenced by) attitudes toward illegal driving behaviours, and both of these factors are likely to influence on-road driving behaviour. This study aimed to explore attitudes toward a number of illegal driving behaviours and traffic law enforcement approaches that typically target these behaviours using self-reported data from a large sample of drivers. The results of this research can be used to inform further research in this area, as well as the content of public education and advertising campaigns designed to influence attitudes toward illegal driving behaviours and perceived legitimacy of traffic law enforcement.

Sport and the law implications for the nonprofit corporation

Sports associations constitute a large portion of the nonprofit sector. The past 15 years have witnessed substantial changes in the overall legal environment in which they operate. This paper will examine selected aspects of those changes with a view to identifying considerations which may be relevant to the way in which nonprofit corporations in sport ought to be regulated

The iatrogenic reflex and belief that repression can coercively suppress asymmetric coercive violence : does very robust action by the government decrease functional support for insurgents?

Non-state insurgent actors are too weak to compel powerful adversaries to their will, so they use violence to coerce. A principal objective is to grow and sustain violent resistance to the point that it either militarily challenges the state, or more commonly, generates unacceptable political costs. To survive, insurgents must shift popular support away from the state and to grow they must secure it. State actor policies and actions perceived as illegitimate and oppressive by the insurgent constituency can generate these shifts. A promising insurgent strategy is to attack states in ways that lead angry publics and leaders to discount the historically established risks and take flawed but popular decisions to use repressive measures. Such decisions may be enabled by a visceral belief in the power of coercion and selective use of examples of where robust measures have indeed suppressed resistance. To avoid such counterproductive behaviours the cases of apparent 'successful repression' must be understood. This thesis tests whether robust state action is correlated with reduced support for insurgents, analyses the causal mechanisms of such shifts and examines whether such reduction is because of compulsion or coercion? The approach is founded on prior research by the RAND Corporation which analysed the 30 insurgencies most recently resolved worldwide to determine factors of counterinsurgent success. This new study first re-analyses their data at a finer resolution with new queries that investigate the relationship between repression and insurgent active support. Having determined that, in general, repression does not correlate with decreased insurgent support, this study then analyses two cases in which the data suggests repression seems likely to be reducing insurgent support: the PKK in Turkey and the insurgency against the Vietnamese-sponsored regime after their ousting of the Khmer Rouge. It applies 'structured-focused' case analysis with questions partly built from the insurgency model of Leites and Wolf, who are associated with the advocacy of US robust means in Vietnam. This is thus a test of 'most difficult' cases using a 'least likely' test model. Nevertheless, the findings refute the deterrence argument of 'iron fist' advocates. Robust approaches may physically prevent effective support of insurgents but they do not coercively deter people from being willing to actively support the insurgency.

Teamwork in first year law units : can it work?

Since the 1980s, higher education in Australia has undergone significant change which has led to the belief that universities should cultivate students’ generic skills and attributes. For example, Achieving Quality states that generic skills ‘should represent the central achievements of higher education as a process’ (Higher Education Council, 1992, p 20). The CALD Standards for Australian Law Schools also recognise that tertiary curricula should ‘seek to develop knowledge, understanding, skills, and values’ (Council of Australian Law Deans, 2009, [2.3]. See also AQF Council, 2010, pp 32-5, 40-2; AQF Council, 2011, p 45-50). This more instrumentalist view of education is similarly exhibited by students (Saulwick and Muller, 2006, pp 7, 34). No longer does the modern graduate expect their university degree to equip them solely with the content knowledge of their discipline, but also with the skills and attributes relevant to their career and prospective employment.

Managing distraction and attention in diverse cohorts : 21st century challenges to law student engagement

It is imperative that we consider the use of current and emerging technologies in terms of the nature of our learners, the physical environment of the lecture theatre, and how technology may help to support appropriate pedagogies that facilitate the capturing of student attention in active engaging learning experiences. It is argued that a re-evaluation of pedagogy is required to address the tech-savy traits of the 21st century learner and the extent to which their mobile devices are capable of not only distracting them from learning but also enhancing face-to-face learning experiences.

What do emergency physicians think of law?

What do emergency physicians think of law? Do they know the law? What role does it have in the practice of emergency medicine? Emergency physicians in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are being asked about these issues in a study by the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, titled ‘Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity: The role of law in medical practice’. The study aims to examine the role that law plays in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity.

Should law have a role in end-of-life care?

What do physicians think of law? Do they know the law? What role does it have in the provision of end-of-life care? Physicians in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are being asked about these issues in a study by the Queensland University of Technology entitled ‘Withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity: The role of law in medical practice’. This research aims to examine the role that law plays in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity.

Review: Barbara T. Hoffman (ed) - Art and Cultural Heritage : Law, Policy and Practice

In Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy and Practice Barbara Hoffman as editor brings together an impressive array of practitioners from a variety of fields (from archaeologists to lawyers), to present in single volume aspects of policy, law and practice relevant to cultural heritage, which are not normally addressed in such texts. The book is indeed a comprehensive work to be recommended to policy makers, practitioners, students and other interested readers...

Identification of bone morphogenetic proteins 2 and 4 in commercial demineralized freeze-dried bone allograft preparations : pilot study

BACKGROUND: Demineralized freeze-dried bone allografts (DFDBAs) have been proposed as a useful adjunct in periodontal therapy to induce periodontal regeneration through the induction of new bone formation. The presence of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) within the demineralized matrix has been proposed as a possible mechanism through which DFDBA may exert its biologic effect. However, in recent years, the predictability of results using DFDBA has been variable and has led to its use being questioned. One reason for the variability in tissue response may be attributed to differences in the processing of DFDBA, which may lead to loss of activity of any bioactive substances within the DFDBA matrix. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine whether there are detectable levels of bone morphogenetic proteins in commercial DFDBA preparations. METHODS: A single preparation of DFDBA was obtained from three commercial sources. Each preparation was studied in triplicate. Proteins within the DFDBA samples were first extracted with 4M guanidinium HCI for seven days at 40 degrees celsius and the residue was further extracted with 4M guanidinium HCL/EDTA for seven days at 40 degrees celsius. Two anti-human BMP-2 and -4 antibodies were used for the detection of the presence of BMP's in the extracts. RESULTS: Neither BMP-2 nor BMP-4 was detected in any of the extracts. When recombinant human BMP-2 and -4 were added throughout the extraction process of DFDBA extraction, not only were intact proteins detected but smaller molecular weight fragments were also noted in the extract. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that all of the DFDBA samples tested had no detectable amounts of BMP-2 and -4. In addition, an unknown substance present in the DFDBA may be responsible for degradation of whatever BMPs might be present.

Deforestation, REDD and international law

International environmental law governing conservation and management of forests has been largely limited to soft-law instruments. Nevertheless, increasing attention has been given to forest issues, most recently in the context of the climate change regime and the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) mechanism. The current law impacting upon the protection of forests and the contribution of emissions from deforestation will be considered in this chapter. The way forward will be explored, including the current options being considered for the post-Kyoto period.

Data mining traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) lessons learnt from mining in law and allopathic medicine

Key decisions at the collection, pre-processing, transformation, mining and interpretation phase of any knowledge discovery from database (KDD) process depend heavily on assumptions and theorectical perspectives relating to the type of task to be performed and characteristics of data sourced. In this article, we compare and contrast theoretical perspectives and assumptions taken in data mining exercises in the legal domain with those adopted in data mining in TCM and allopathic medicine. The juxtaposition results in insights for the application of KDD for Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Australian Media Law [4th ed.]

"This book covers media law subjects for legal practitioners and for tertiary law students or students in tertiary media courses." -- Libraries Australia.

Promoting student well-being and resilience at law school

University can be a psychologically distressing place for students, particularly those studying law. Legal academics have been concerned about this for some time. In the United States, in particular, it has been found that symptoms of psychological distress rise signifi cantly for students in their fi rst year of law (compared to levels in the general population at that time), and persist throughout the degree to post-graduation. Recognised symptoms include depression, obsessive compulsive behaviour, feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, anxiety, hostility, paranoia, and social alienation. Many students experience law school as an isolating, adversarial and competitive environment, which impacts negatively on their values and motivation...