Iberia-Latin-American Symposia of Morphological Terminology (SILAT). First Two Years and Statute

On the occasion of meeting the first two years of life, it makes a review of SILAT as scientific and educational program that serves as a tool to analyze and solve the problems of morphological medical terminology in the countries of Hispanic and Portuguese-speaking America. It describes the basis of its creation, strategy and scope in the region, the founding years and its immediate future. Finally, some conclusions are indicated and it Statute is annexed.

The times are they a-changin'? Can the Commonwealth parliament legislate for same sex marriages?

This article considers whether the marriage power contained in the Australian Constitution could support a Commonwealth law that recognised same sex marriages. To this end and after outlining the current constitutional meaning according to the High Court, three methods used for interpreting constitutional terms (connotation/denotation, moderate originalism, non-originalism) are examined to ascertain whether they could source such a law to the marriage power. It is submitted that none can do so without betraying their own core interpretative principle or the text and structure of the Constitution. However an alternative method for interpreting [*2] constitutional terms is proffered which may be able to establish a sufficient connection between a law that recognises same sex marriages and the marriage power. It involves recognising 'marriage' as a constitutionalised legal term of art whose meaning can be informed by developments since federation in common law and statute.

So far no good: the regulatory failure of criminal racial vilification laws in Australia

This article considers the efficacy of the two main legislative models in Australia which make racial vilification a crime. To this end, it considers whether the laws are compatible with the protection and promotion of freedom of speech; whether they sit comfortably within the existing criminal law frameworks; and whether the text of the offences is sufficiently clear and precise. It considers that the current models are fundamentally flawed and ought to be repealed, arguing, instead, for a particular kind of penalty enhancement statute.

Civil penalties : emphasising the adjective or the noun

In this article the writer argues that recent civil penalty cases demonstrate that a hybrid third way is evolving where the procedure shares some of the features of criminal and civil proceedings. The writer notes the recommendation of the Australian Law Reform Commission that Federal Parliament enact a Regulatory Contraventions Statute of general application and argues that such a statute might assist to provide greater consistency and clarity. The writer notes the debate about whether the courts’ approach is in line with legislative intention, but argues that where there are substantive law protections such as the privilege against a penalty, Parliament must do more than merely refer to the “rules of evidence and procedure for civil matters” and must expressly abrogate these protections if they are not to be available to defendants in such hearings.

Does Australia's treatment of non-citizens accord with its international human rights obligations? with specific reference to the treatment of on-shore refugees

The son of immigrants, I was motivated to write a paper addressing the issues of alienation and discrimination which confronts non-citizens upon arriving in Australia. Apart from descendants of Australia's indigenous population, the common bond shared by all citizens and permanent residents of Australia is that they are either themselves immigrants or are descended from immigrants. In this paper I will look at whether Australia's law and practice meets its international human rights treaty and convention obligations vis-a-vis non-citizens. To investigate this issue I trace the history of immigration to Australia and look at the political policies which influenced the treatment of non-citizens from 1788 to present times. In 1958 when my parents stepped upon Australian soil as displaced persons, Australia was a very different place from Australia in the 1990s. At that time Australia was still firmly under the influence of the 'White Australia Policy' which openly encouraged discrimination against non-anglo saxons. Since those times Australia has advanced to become one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world where multiculturalism is encouraged and a non-discriminatory immigration program is supported by both Australia's major political parties. However, notwithstanding the great social advances made in Australia in recent decades the traditional legal sources of law, namely, judicial pronouncements, statutes and the Commonwealth Constitution have not kept pace and it is my submission that Australia's body of law inadequately protects the rights of non-citizens when compared to Australia's international human rights convention and treaty obligations. This paper will consider these major sources of law and will investigate how they have been used in the context of the protection of the rights of non-citizens. It will be asserted that the weaknesses exposed in the Australian legal system can be improved by the adoption of a Bill of Rights1 which encompasses Australia's international human rights treaty and convention obligations. It is envisaged that a Bill of Rights would provide a framework applicable at the State, Territory and Federal levels within which issues pertaining to non-citizens could be resolved. The direction of this thesis owes much to the writings, advice and supervision of Dr. Imtiaz Omar who was always available to discuss the progress of this work. Dr. Omar is a passionate advocate of human rights and has been a tremendous inspiration to me throughout my writing. I owe a debt of thanks to the partners of Coulter Burke who with good nature ignored the sprawl of books and papers on the boardroom table, often for days at a time, thus enabling me to return to my writing from time to time as my inspirational juices ebbed and waned. Thanks also go to my typists Julie Pante, Vesna Dudas and Irene Padula who worked after hours and on weekends always without complaint, on the various versions of this thesis. My final acknowledgement goes to my wife Paula who during the years that I was working on this thesis encouraged me during my darker moments and listened to all my frustrations yet never doubted that I would one day complete the task successfully. I wish to thank her wholeheartedly for her motivation and belief in my abilities. The law relied upon in the thesis is as at the 30th June, 1998. Bill or Charter of Rights 'are taken to be enactments which systematically declare certain fundamental rights and freedoms and require that they be respected'. See Evans, G. 'Prospect and Problems for an Australian Bill of Rights' (1970) 3 Australian Year Book of International Law 1 at 16. Some such notable exception is the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, contained in an ordinary statute.

Statutory verification of water rights: the 'insuperable' difficulties of propertising water entitlements

The abolition of riparian entitlements in the early stages of colonial Australia and the vesting of these rights in the Crown represented a turning point for the evolution of private water rights. The extinguishment of common law rights connected to vested land interests and the introduction of new, unaligned statutory entitlements provided a new and fundamentally different system for the creation and regulation of private water entitlements. Unlike riparian entitlements, in the absence of express definition, statutory water entitlements may only be verified as property where such a construction is consistent with the nature and scope of the entitlement. In this respect, the statutory framework has disaggregated the propertisation of water rights from land ownership and linked the process to broader statutory interpretation principles. The shift away from institutional property has generated concerns about the interpretive approaches appropriate for the verification of legislative water entitlements. This article examines the existing interpretive approaches and argues that the blurring of the propertisation process with the separate issue of whether any change or modification of such water rights attracts s 51(xxxi) of the Commonwealth Constitution has produced a situation where core property indicia is increasingly overshadowed by legislative defeasibility. In the recent High Court decision of ICM Agriculture Pty Ltd v Commonwealth, the focus of the majority judgements upon the inherent susceptibility of legislative entitlements to variation or extinguishment acted as a catalyst for the non-propertisation of statutory bore water licences in New South Wales. The emphasis the majority judgements gave to legislative defeasibility precluded a full and balanced assessment of other highly relevant property indicia, in particular the expectation interests of the holders. Conflating property and constitutional evaluation in this way is inappropriate in an era where entitlements to natural resource interests are increasingly statute based and the verification process has significant social and economic repercussions. Determining whether a statutory entitlement constitutes property requires a careful balancing of legislative intent, social and environmental context and individual expectation and the vicissitudes of a regulatory context should not eclipse this process.

An analysis of police officers decisions about whether to refer cases of child abuse for prosecution

In many jurisdictions, police officers are responsible for deciding whether cases of child abuse are referred for potential prosecution. Such discretion justifies the need to scrutinise these professionals' decisions to determine if they are consistent with the scientific eyewitness memory literature. Prior research has shown that interviewer questioning is one of the most critical factors impacting the reliability of child witness statements. Hence, we asked: 'To what degree do officers' consider the quality of interviewer questions when making case authorisation decisions?'. In order to answer this question, we conducted a thematic analysis to identify issues referred to in a sample of documented police correspondence (n=33) about potential prosecution of child abuse cases. Two key themes emerged: the existence of corroborative evidence and whether the suspect denied the allegations. Questioning technique, however, was not considered. All but one decision that referred to interview process focused on the presentation of the witness, even though the witness interviews (as a whole) did not adhere to recommended best-practice guidelines. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Mental reinstatement of context with child witnesses : does it matter whether context is reinstated 'out loud'?

In this study we examined the impact of two types of mental reinstatement of context instructions in facilitating children's recall of a staged event across two stages of development. Specifically, a 2 times 3 factorial design was utilised incorporating two age groups (6- and 12-year-olds) and three interview conditions (standard recall, mental reinstatement where the child was instructed to reinstate the context 'out loud', and mental reinstatement without the explicit 'out loud' instruction). Overall, mental reinstatement instruction led to more correct and fewer incorrect responses than the standard recall instruction. The effect of mental reinstatement was similar across the age groups and irrespective of whether the child was asked to reinstate 'out loud'. Beneficial effects of the technique, however, were only evident for cued-recall questions as opposed to free-narrative responses. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Parents' and children's views on whether active video games are a substitute for the 'real thing'

Background:
Research has examined the energy cost associated with playing seated and active video games (AVGs), but not whether AVGs may benefit fundamental movement skills (FMS) in typically developing children. Improving FMS proficiency is a priority given its association with physical activity. This study aimed to identify children’s and parents’ perceptions of: (1) AVGs as a tool for developing FMS and (2) whether any skills gained during AVG play had potential to transfer to real life.

Methods:
This qualitative descriptive study included 29 parents of children aged 9–10 years who participated in semi-structured telephone interviews and 34 children who participated in six group discussions at school. Interview and discussion group data were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically.

Results:
Parents and children had different perspectives on the potential of AVGs for FMS, which largely rested on different views of ‘reality’. Parents felt AVGs were not a substitute for the ‘real thing’, and therefore had limited FMS benefits. Overall, parents thought any FMS gained through AVGs would have poor transferability to ‘real life’. In contrast, children had a more fluid and expansive view of reality which incorporated both ‘real life’ and ‘virtual’ space. Whilst children could articulate limitations of AVGs for skill learning, they still reported extensive use of AVGs as a learning tool for movement skill, and considered that skill acquisition was highly transferable.

Conclusions:
Despite contrasting beliefs from parents and children, children used AVGs for FMS learning. Future research needs to determine whether actual FMS benefits are gained through AVGs.