Civil applications in the Magistrates Court are often set down for hearing by a judicial registrar, but there is now some uncertainty on the limitation of this practice

The decision of the District Court of Queensland in Mark Treherne & Associates -v- Murray David Hopkins [2010] QDC 36 will have particular relevance for early career lawyers. This decision raises questions about the limits of the jurisdiction of judicial registrars in the Magistrates Court.

Practice and procedure : an application under r367 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules may be of use in obtaining copies of otherwise unavailable documents held by government agencies.

In Bowenbrae Pty Ltd v Flying Fighters Maintenance and Restoration [2010] QDC 347 Reid DCJ made orders requiring the plaintiffs to make application under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (“the FOI Act”) for documents sought by the defendant.

ICT for blended learning Queensland University of Technology, Australia

This report focuses on blended learning within the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) which is one of Australia’s largest public universities. Although the university in its current format was established in 1989, it contains several previous institutions that can be traced to the earliest forms of technical and teacher education in Queensland in the 19th century (Kyle et al., 1999). The focal point of the report is the experience of QUT’s Faculty of Education which was formed from the amalgamation of several teacher training colleges servicing pre-school and kindergarten, primary and secondary teacher education. While the broader university currently employs approximately 4,000 staff and has about 40,000 students, QUT’s Faculty of Education employs around 170 staff and has approximately 5,000 enrolled students. The Faculty of Education at QUT is the largest provider of pre-service teacher education in Australia and is one of the largest producers of educational research. A major theme of the Faculty of Education is its focus on education and research that provides teachers, schools and educational authorities with practical solutions to the multifaceted issues facing contemporary education.

Demanding a change : time to act on statutory demands

The statutory demand procedure has been a part of our corporate law from its earliest modern formulations and it has been suggested, albeit anecdotally, that under the current regime, it gives rise to more litigation than any other part of the Corporations Act. Despite this there has been a lack of consideration of the underlying policy behind the procedure in both the case law and literature; both of which are largely centred on the technical aspects of the process. The purpose of this article is to examine briefly the process of the statutory demand in the context of the current insolvency law in Australia. This paper argues that robust analysis of the statutory demand regime is overdue. The paper first sets out to discover if there is a policy justification for the process and to articulate what that may be. Second, it will briefly examine the current legislation and argue that the structure actually encourages litigation which is arguably undesirable in the context of insolvency. In particular we will ask if the current rigid legal regime is appropriate for dealing efficiently with the highly charged atmosphere of contested insolvency. Third, it will examine suggested reforms in this area as to whether they might be a way forward.

Special Measures in Indigenous Welfare Reform: Examining the Cape York Trial

The Cape York Welfare Reform (‘CYWR’) trial was due to expire at the end of 2011. In October 2011, the Queensland Government voted to extend the trial until the end of 2013. In November 2011, the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs announced changes to the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Cth) that will extend another similar welfare reform, the School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure (‘SEAM’), throughout other parts of Australia. This article examines the CYWR with reference to the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (‘RDA’), using the data available in the publications from the Family Responsibilities Commission (‘FRC’).It finds no clear evidence that the reforms have been effective in improving social conditions thus far and, as such, serious concerns as to whether the CYWR breaches the RDA.

Physical capital and its consequences for fitness workers in Queensland

Sexual, social and employment success have been linked to the physical capital drawn from having aesthetic attributes of the socially idealised body. In certain workplace settings, such as health and fitness centres, the body becomes a mainstream commodity with physical capital affording the fitness worker a high degree of distinction and adoration as well as employment opportunities. The employment relationship is shaped by 'lookism', with both the employer and employee taking advantage of the fitness worker's idealised form. The worker's physical capital provides a walking billboard advertising the employer's products and services, while exposure to comparison and adoration provides a heightened sense of self-worth, distinction and celebrity. Fitness workers appear to be prepared to ignore poor employment conditions or trade-off standard entitlements for the alternative rewards that their physical capital brings.

On the relationships between self-reported bicycling injuries and perceived risk among cyclists in Queensland, Australia

The focus of governments on increasing active travel has motivated renewed interest in cycling safety. Bicyclists are up to 20 times more likely to be involved in serious injury crashes than drivers so understanding the relationship among factors in bicyclist crash risk is critically important for identifying effective policy tools, for informing bicycle infrastructure investments, and for identifying high risk bicycling contexts. This study aims to better understand the complex relationships between bicyclist self reported injuries resulting from crashes (e.g. hitting a car) and non-crashes (e.g. spraining an ankle) and perceived risk of cycling as a function of cyclist exposure, rider conspicuity, riding environment, rider risk aversion, and rider ability. Self reported data from 2,500 Queensland cyclists are used to estimate a series of seemingly unrelated regressions to examine the relationships among factors. The major findings suggest that perceived risk does not appear to influence injury rates, nor do injury rates influence perceived risks of cycling. Riders who perceive cycling as risky tend not to be commuters, do not engage in group riding, tend to always wear mandatory helmets and front lights, and lower their perception of risk by increasing days per week of riding and by increasing riding proportion on bicycle paths. Riders who always wear helmets have lower crash injury risk. Increasing the number of days per week riding tends to decrease both crash injury and non crash injury risk (e.g. a sprain). Further work is needed to replicate some of the findings in this study.

Teacher reporting questionnaire : Queensland Government Schools

This instrument was used in the project entitled Teachers Reporting Child Sexual Abuse: Towards Evidence-based Reform of Law, Policy and Practice (ARC DP0664847)

Teacher reporting questionnaire : Queensland Non-Government Schools

This instrument was used in the project named Teachers Reporting Child Sexual Abuse: Towards Evidence-based Reform of Law, Policy and Practice (ARC DP0664847)

Integrating electrical vehicles to demand side response scheme in Queensland Australia

Depleting fossil fuel resources and increased accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly making electrical vehicles (EV) attractive option for the transportation sector. However uncontrolled random charging and discharging of EVs may aggravate the problems of an already stressed system during the peak demand and cause voltage problems during low demand. This paper develops a demand side response scheme for properly integrating EVs in the Electrical Network. The scheme enacted upon information on electricity market conditions regularly released by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on the internet. The scheme adopts Internet relays and solid state switches to cycle charging and discharging of EVs. Due to the pending time-of-use and real-price programs, financial benefits will represent driving incentives to consumers to implement the scheme. A wide-scale dissemination of the scheme is expected to mitigate excessive peaks on the electrical network with all associated technical, economic and social benefits.

How effective is the new child restraint legislation in Queensland? A mixed methods evaluation

Research Interests: Are parents complying with the legislation? Is this the same for urban, regional and rural parents? Indigenous parents? What difficulties do parents experience in complying? Do parents understand why the legislation was put in place? Have there been negative consequences for other organisations or sectors of the community?

The landing

'The Landing was an exhibition of paintings held at Gallery Barry Keldoulis in Sydney in 2008. The exhibition comprised 7 paintings and a 3-channel video work. The show built upon the artist's interest in drawing parallels between, while simultaneously disrupting the hermetic integrity of both the painted and virtual surface. In this exhibition this was drawn out by the intentionally scratchy and blanched qualities of the painted surface contrasted against the careful delineations and gradation of their subject matter which was drawn exclusively from virtual 3D animated spaces. Conversely, the video work collapsed a series of picture-perfect objects into a dense and incoherent whole. These tensions and slippages act as manifestations of the indeterminacies that frame our subjectivity more broadly - as artist or viewer. As Barry Keldoulis writes: 'Alwast’s practice engages the construction of ‘reality’ in both the digital and painterly worlds. His seamless stitching together of the various modes of virtual reality... is in this exhibition contrasted with his paintings, which show a fondness for what many now see as the quaint naivety of the medium, and the foibles of humanity the painted surface exudes when compared to the clinical exactitude of the virtual world.'(2008, http://www.gbk.com.au/artists/peter-alwast/the-landing) Works from 'The Landing' were included in the exhibition 'Temperature 2: New Queensland Art' (2009, curated by Frank McBride) at the Museum of Brisbane.

Revolutionary self portrait

'Revolutionary Self Portrait' (2009) is a sculptural self-portrait. The work comprises a bust engulfed in hair and a scalloped pedestal stand. Historically, divine energy has frequently been depicted using fluid forms - drapery, clouds and occasionally hair. These forms and associations act as a departure point for this sculpture in which the figure is depicted in a state of inundation by billowing tufts hair. The work was also inspired by the tendency of great 19th century utopian thinkers - for example Marx, Bakunin and Kropotkin - to wear large beards. Within both traditions, the language of heroic subjectivity is amplified by a sculptural extension of the body. In 'Revolutionary Self Portrait' however, this extension threatens to suffocate the subject - a gesture made all the more ironic due to the fact that the artist himself is incapable of growing a beard. The work was selected for the National Artists' Self Portrait Prize, University of Queensland Art Museum, 2009.

To act or not to act : this is John's dilemma

The case proposes an ethical dilemma that a Public Service Director faces that could affect his career, the career of his boss, and the career of the governor of a state. There is a strong need for ethical leaders in this changing global organization world where the headlines are filled with stories of private sector and public sector leaders who have made serious ethical and moral compromises. It is easy to follow ethical leaders who you can count on to do what is right and difficult to follow those who will do what is expedient or personally beneficial. However, ethical leadership is not always black and white as this case will portray. Difficult decisions must be made where it may not always be clear what to do. The names in the case have been changed although the situation is a real one.

Evaluation of the 2010 child restraint legislation in Queensland

Occupant injury comprises the largest proportion of child road crash trauma in most highly motorised countries. In Australia, road crashes are the primary cause of death for children aged 1-14 years and are among the top three causes of serious injury to this age group. For this reason considerable research attention has been focused on understanding the contributing factors and the most effective ways of improving children’s safety as car passengers. Australia has been particularly active in this area, with well regarded work being conducted on levels of use of dedicated child restraints, restraint crash performance in laboratory conditions, examination of real world restraint crash performance (case review), and studies of psychosocial factors influencing perceptions about restraints and their use (Brown & Bilston, 2006; Brown, McCaskill, Henderson & Bilston, 2006; Edwards, Anderson & Hutchinson, 2006; Lennon, 2005, 2007). New legislation for the restraint of children as vehicle passengers was enacted in Queensland in March 2010. This new legislation recognises the importance of dedicated restraint use for children up to at least age 7 years and the protective benefits of rear seating position in the event of a crash. As part of improving children’s safety and addressing key priority areas, the Queensland Injury Prevention Council (QIPC) and Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) commissioned the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland (CARRS-Q) to evaluate the impact of the new legislation. Although at the time of commencing the research the legislation had only been in force for 14 months, it was deemed critical to review its effectiveness in guiding parental choices and compliance in order to inform the design and focus of further supporting initiatives and interventions. Specifically, the research sought clear evidence of exactly what impact, if any, the legislation has had on compliance levels and what difficulties (if any) parents/carers experience in relation to interpreting as well as complying with the requirements of the new law. Knowledge about these barriers or difficulties will allow any future changes or improvements to the legislation to address such barriers and thus improve its effectiveness. Moreover, better information about how the legislation has affected parents will provide a basis to plan non-legislative comprehensive multi-strategy interventions such as community, educational or behavioural interventions with parents/carers and other stakeholder groups. In addition, it will allow identification of the most effective aspects of the legislation and those areas in need of extra attention to improve effectiveness/compliance and thus better protect children travelling in cars and improve their health and safety. This report presents the findings from the four components of the research: the literature review; observational study; intercept interviews and focus group with parents; and the interviews with key stakeholders.