ARC Discovery Projects

Project Title

Obstacles to Contract Enforcement in Indonesia

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The Australia-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership (IA-CEPA) came into force in 2020 but foreign investment in Indonesia has consistently failed to meet targets, largely due to concerns about the lack of reliable and just judicial contract enforcement. This project aims to investigate why predictable and fair contract enforcement in Indonesia is so inaccessible, particularly for foreign investors, and, through doctrinal and empirical research, explain the causes of this situation. In partnership with Indonesian courts and lawyers, it also aims to support the development of legal and policy reform proposals that can help resolve Indonesia’s commercial contract enforcement problems and encourage Australian investment there.

Commencement Year

2023

Funding

$392,482

Chief Investigators

Professor Tim Lindsey
Dr Nadirsyah Hosen (Monash University)
Dr Jeremy Kingsley (Swinburne University)

Project Title

Shaping International Law in Global Transformations: Australian Experiences

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to examine how Australia influences the development of international law in times of global transformation. The project proposes to develop a new analytical framework to understand how and why Australia has succeeded (or failed) in shaping the development of international law in four key periods of global transformation. Expected outcomes include empirical studies evaluating how, why and to what extent Australians managed to shape international law during these periods. These outcomes should provide benefits in the form of evidence-based proposals to enhance Australia's capacity to influence the development of international law in times of global transformation.

Commencement Year

2023

Funding

$635,187

Chief Investigators

Dr Madelaine Chiam (La Trobe University)
Dr Jordana Silverstein
Professor Jeremy Farrall (Australian National University)
Associate Professor Christopher Michaelsen (University of New South Wales)

Administering Organisation

La Trobe University

Project Title

The Role of Community Sponsorship for Refugee Resettlement in Australia

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to conduct the first large-scale comparative study of community or private sponsorship of refugee resettlement in Australia and other jurisdictions. It will generate ground-breaking insights into Australia’s role historically in community sponsorship of refugee resettlement and identify the legal and policy background of current successful community sponsorship programs. Expected outcomes include clarity and policy guidance about how community or private sponsorship is understood, conceived and implemented globally; and better knowledge about the motives of community sponsors. This Project will position Australia as a world leader in practice and research on community or private sponsorship for refugee resettlement.

Commencement Year

2022

Funding

$330,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Susan Kneebone
Associate Professor Kate Ogg (Australian National University)
Dr Anthea Vogl (University of Technology Sydney)

Project Title

Advancing Investor Action on Energy Transition

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to advance action by investors (debt and equity) to increase finance for low-carbon energy sources that reduce fundamental climate risks. The project applies interdisciplinary approaches to generate new knowledge about the business case for investor leadership on energy transition and supportive climate law and financial regulatory frameworks. Collaborative legal and business analysis by leading Australian and US scholars, coupled with interviews and focus groups with investors, will examine contemporary engagement practices and investors’ management of climate-related financial risks. Expected outcomes are targeted reform proposals to benefit policymakers and the environment by fostering private financing of clean energy.

Commencement Year

2022

Funding

$358,400

Chief Investigators

Professor Jacqueline Peel
Associate Professor Benjamin Neville (Business and Economics, University of Melbourne)
Professor Hari Osofsky (Northwestern University)
Dr Lisa Benjamin (Lewis & Clark)

Project Title

Understanding Statelessness in Australian Law and Practice

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to undertake the first comprehensive study of stateless persons in Australia. It will generate groundbreaking insights into Australia’s role historically in protecting stateless persons, and identify the protection needs of stateless persons in Australia today. Expected outcomes include improving the quality of Australian administrative decision-making, and making an important scholarly contribution to an emerging area of international law. The project will improve public administration, develop Australia’s reputation as a leader in statelessness law and policy, and position Australia as a core node of expertise on an important issue that has implications for the rule of law, security and social cohesion in our region.

Commencement Year

2021

Funding

$347,933

Chief Investigators

Professor Michelle Foster
Dr Christoph Sperfeldt

Project Title

Sharing the Wealth: Tax and Justice in the Slow Growth Era

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to address fundamental problems of injustice in taxation emerging in the transition to a slow growth economy in Australia and globally. The project applies interdisciplinary approaches to generate new knowledge that aims to update frameworks for justice in taxation, refreshing out-dated 20th century ethical and legal approaches. Collaborative legal and philosophy analysis by leading scholars in Australia and the United States will respond to contemporary conditions of slow growth, wage stagnation, wealth inequality, population aging and longevity. Project outcomes will include tax reform proposals to benefit policy makers and enrich public debate on tax justice for 21st century economic and fiscal conditions.

Commencement Year

2021

Funding

$309,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Miranda Stewart
Dr Daniel Halliday (Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne)
Professor Geoffrey Brennan (Australian National University)
Professor Liam Murphy (New York University) 
Professor Miranda Fleischer (University of San Diego)

Project Title

Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcomes include clarification of the causes and implications of these shifts and innovative understanding of the connection between national security and economic interests in investment. This new knowledge should enhance balance in investment policy and decision-making, with economic and foreign policy benefits for Australia.

Commencement Year

2020

Funding

$288,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Tania Voon
Professor Andrew Walter (Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)
Professor Phillip McCalman (Economics, University of Melbourne)
Dr Laura Puzzello (Monash University)

Project Title

International law and the Challenge of Populism

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Populist political movements pose a threat to international law because they oppose supranational authority. And yet, populism and international law are grounded in a common source – national sovereignty. The relationship between them is poorly understood. This project will undertake new interdisciplinary research in law and political philosophy to provide a new account of that relationship, and to establish new ways of thinking about how to advance the project of international law in ways which are both commensurate to global challenges and consistent with democracy and political freedom. This account will contribute to wider debates about the future of the international legal and political order in times of uncertainty and crisis.

Commencement Year

2020

Funding

$204,500

Chief Investigators

Dr Richard Joyce (Monash University)
Professor Sundhya Pahuja
Professor Andrew Benjamin (Monash Univesity)
Dr Rose Parfitt (University of Kent)
Professor James Martel (San Francisco State University)

Administering Organisation

Monash University

Project Title

Property as habitat: reintegrating place, people, and law

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to produce an original account of property law that will connect it to place and human relationships. Property is at the centre of contemporary social life and law, yet it is often separate in legal scholarship from the human and natural worlds it structures. Using innovative analytical techniques and a grounded consideration of the functions and effects of property, the objective of the project is to produce an understanding of property as habitat that is both sensitive to place and adapted to social conditions. Expected benefits include a responsive understanding of property that is better able to address the challenges of Australian society into the future.

Commencement Year

2019

Funding

$360,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Lee Godden
Professor Margaret Davies (Flinders University)
Associate Professor Nicole Graham (University of Sydney)

Project Title

Regulatory power and corporate misconduct

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to map and critically analyse the shift towards negotiated enforcement in response to corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is growing concern within the community, consumer advocates, elected representatives and the finance industry itself about the increasing use by regulators of negotiated enforcement mechanisms rather than litigation to counter serious corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is concern that these practices may lack transparency, be inefficient, fail to deter corporate misbehaviour, and operate to subvert individual justice and the rule of law. This project aims to address these concerns by developing detailed recommendations for reform based on an examination of the theory and practices of Australian and United States of America financial regulators.

Commencement Year

2019

Funding

$311,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Ian Ramsay

Project Title

The regulation of labour disputes in Southeast Asia

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to investigate the complex regulation of labour disputes in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Effective rules and institutions for the resolution of collective labour disputes are integral features of a sound industrial relations system. Yet in many developing countries, formal channels for the resolution of such disputes are largely ineffective. This heightens the risk of industrial disruption and encourages reliance on informal modes of regulation. The project will provide an empirical analysis of existing models of labour regulation, and inform policy development and the activities of agencies involved in labour dispute resolution in the region. It will better equip researchers, legal practitioners, policy makers and NGOs engaging transnationally in the Asia Pacific region.

Commencement Year

2019

Funding

$456,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Carolyn Sutherland (Monash University)
Professor Richard Mitchell (Monash Univesity)
Dr Petra Mahy (Monash University)
Ms Ingrid Landau (Monash University) 
Professor John Howe

Administering Organisation

Monash University

Project Title

Financial exclusion, poor insurer practices and consumer protection

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project is Australia’s first large-scale empirical study examining financial exclusion and lack of access to general insurance, as well as poor insurer practices in selling insurance and handling claims. Through surveys, focus groups and interviews, the project also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the legal protections for consumers of general insurance. The expected project outcomes include law and policy reform proposals to improve the effectiveness of these protections and maximise access to general insurance, particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged consumers. This should have benefits such as an increased uptake of general insurance and improved community resilience to natural disasters and other unforeseen events.

Commencement Year

2018

Funding

$358,916

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Paul Ali
Professor Ian Ramsay

Project Title

Developing a rational law of misleading conduct

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to investigate and promote the reform of the current confused, conflicting and costly laws of misleading conduct. Such laws are critical to maintaining a fair and efficient market economy, yet have become a mess of disparate statutory and general law rules. In that context, the Project proposes a novel, integrated analysis to support the development of a rational law of misleading conduct. The planned outcomes include a rigorous taxonomy of the existing law that will inform an innovative model for judicial and legislative law reform in Australia and overseas. This work should offer significant legal, economic and social benefits by promoting more just, effective and efficient regulation of misleading conduct.

Commencement Year

2018

Funding

$271,467

Chief Investigators

Professor Elise Bant
Associate Professor Jeannie Paterson

Project Title

The potential and limits of international adjudication

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to analyse the place of adjudication in international affairs, using a case study of Australia’s extensive engagement with the International Court of Justice. The project sets out to provide the first detailed account of the context and impact of the cases in which Australia has been involved before the Court as well as to assess the complex roles that adjudication and advisory opinions can play in the resolution of international disputes more generally. This timely project will not only document an historic set of engagements spanning 70 years, but also provide guidance on when international adjudication may be productive for Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and the international legal order.

Commencement Year

2018

Funding

$424,608

Chief Investigators

Professor Hilary Charlesworth
Associate Professor Margaret Young

Project Title

The meaning of home for children after parental separation

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to identify the meaning of home for children in separated families by interviewing children and parents about children’s experiences of home and homemaking. No prior research has done so. This is despite the personal and social significance of home, the reality that most children now traverse two households if parents separate, and increasing emphasis in policy, law and professional practice on listening to children regarding their post-separation living arrangements. By describing and analysing home for children, the anticipated goal of the project is to provide a solid basis for shifting the prevailing focus on parents’ needs in application of the law towards more child-responsive parenting arrangements.

Commencement Year

2018

Funding

$250,846

Chief Investigators

Professor Belinda Fehlberg
Associate Professor Kristin Natalier (Flinders University)
Associate Professor Bruce Smyth (Australian National University)

Project Title

Indonesia's refugee policies: responsibility, security and regionalism

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to analyse the formulation and implementation of Indonesia’s laws and policy on refugees and asylum seekers, by utilising original empirical research, to understand better the ‘Indonesian state’, its perceptions and responses to these issues nationally, regionally, and under the bilateral relationship with Australia. It utilises concepts of responsibility, security and regionalism to generate new knowledge in the areas of refugee protection, human security and regionalism in Southeast Asia. Expected benefits are strengthened institutional collaboration with Indonesian academics and policy-makers and fresh thinking on responsible regional solutions for refugee protection.

Commencement Year

2018

Funding

$295,903

Chief Investigators

Professor Susan Kneebone
Dr Antje Missbach (Monash University)
Dr Heru Susetyo (Universitas Indonesia)

Project Title

Freedom and inclusion in the modern university

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to understand conflicts in modern universities over intellectual freedom and inclusiveness. Universities are important social institutions whose core values must include a commitment to intellectual freedom and to including people from different backgrounds and with different views. These values have increasingly come into tension, causing anger, division and even violence in some parts of the world. This project aims to develop a strong theoretical understanding of these conflicts in modern universities and will create a set of practical principles to help universities prevent or manage these conflicts. This project is expected to strengthen universities’ capacities to benefit Australian society and students and staff.

Commencement Year

2017

Funding

$176,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Adrienne Stone
Professor Carolyn Evans

Project Title

Islam, Law and the State in the Philippines

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Using the Philippines as a case study, the project plans to offer insights into a question that is of global significance but also of direct relevance to Australia: how Muslim minorities use sharia in their research for legitimacy and identity and the role of conflict in that process. It also plans to explore their opposition to the legal systems of modern nation states. The project aims to provide a thorough contemporary description of both the state system for the application of Islamic law in the Philippines and alternative systems developed by Muslim minorities who have used violence in their efforts to secede from that state, and have threatened regional security.

Commencement Year

2016

Funding

$200,100

Chief Investigators

Professor Tim Lindsey
Dr Kerstin Steiner (Monash University)
Professor Barry Hooker

Project Title

Model Laws to Regulate the use of Restraint on Persons with Disabilities

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to address the current lack of a common legal framework for regulating the use of restraint on person with disabilities in mental health, disability and aged care sectors. Through developing model laws and guidelines, this project aims to support the Disability Ministers' National Framework for Reducing and Eliminating the Use of Restrictive Practices and the National Mental Health Commission's work on reducing and eliminating restraint. Its main objective is to benefit persons with disabilities by supporting government policies aimed at reducing, with a view to eliminating, the adverse consequences of coercive practices in general.

Commencement Year

2016

Funding

$367,866

Chief Investigators

Professor Bernadette McSherry
Professor Lisa Waddington (Maastricht University)
Professor Peter Bartlett (University of Nottingham)

Project Title

Devising a Legal Blueprint for Corporate Energy Transition

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project aims to provide a legal blueprint for using corporate law mechanisms to incentivise improved climate risk management and clean energy practices in Australian companies. Corporations are key players in efforts to transition the global energy system to clean energy sources and to mitigate climate risk. While this role is widely acknowledged, thinking on the best legal strategies that could foster corporate energy transition is in its infancy. Drawing on empirical data and more extensive United States experience with the use of corporate law tools for climate ends, the project plans to uncover roadblocks to corporate energy transformation, and identify law and governance reforms necessary for putting the private sector on a low-carbon pathway.

Commencement Year

2016

Funding

$293,052

Chief Investigators

Professor Jacqueline Peel
Professor Hari Osofsky (University of Minnesota)
Professor Brett McDonnell (University of Minnesota)

Project Title

The Concept of 'Imminence' in the International Protection of Refugees

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The project aims to contribute to the law on international protection by examining the concept of 'imminence'. We are in an unprecedented era of international displacement; over 50 million people on the move. While many are fleeing from traditional threats, such as conflict and persecution, some are leaving because they are scared of future risks - like the impacts of climate change. This creates new challenges for countries because traditional refugee frameworks are ill-suited to respond. The question this project asks is: if people cross a border to escape future harm, how 'imminent' does the harm need to be before another country has an obligation to protect them? Should international law protect only people who face the risk of immediate danger, or should it also protect those at risk of harm that may manifest more slowly over time?

Commencement Year

2016

Funding

$360,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Jane McAdam (University of New South Wales)
Professor Michelle Foster
Professor Helene Lambert (University of Westminster)

Administering Organisation

University of New South Wales

Project Title

The Response of Australian Family Law to Islamic Community Processes

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The question of whether the Australian legal system should recognise Islamic family law processes has attracted increasing debate in recent years, reflecting similar developments in other countries. Underpinning opposition to legal recognition are concerns that such processes disadvantage Muslim women. Despite these claims, little is presently known about the impact of these processes or about the experiences of Muslim women who use them. This project, which combines expertise in law and religion and family law, aims to provide the first detailed empirical and normative examination of this question in Australia, offering a unique evidence base to inform future policy developments.

Commencement Year

2015

Funding

$329,900

Chief Investigators

Dr Farrah Ahmed
Professor Carolyn Evans
Professor Helen Rhoades
Dr Ghena Krayem (The University of Sydney)

Project Title

Regulating Australia's Retail Grocery Sector - Goals, Actors and Techniques

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The major supermarket chains have a substantial economic and social impact on consumers, businesses and communities and are crucial to Australia's economic growth and productivity. Given their size and reach, regulation of the chains poses significant challenges. This interdisciplinary, empirical and theoretically driven project aims to interrogate the goals and processes of competition law as it applies in the retail grocery sector. In the first Australian research of its kind, it endeavours to explain how the chains' strategies and industry relationships influence regulatory action. The research is expected to produce recommendations on instruments and techniques to ensure that regulation of the sector is legally and practically efficient and effective.

Commencement Year

2015

Funding

$372,900

Chief Investigators

Professor Caron Beaton-Wells
Professor Christopher Arup (Monash University)
Professor David Merrett (Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne) Associate Professor Jane Dixon (Australian National University)

Project Title

The Legal and Social Dimensions of Financial Hardship in Australia: Implications for Legal Regulatory and Policy Frameworks

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Financial hardship, the reduced ability to meet monetary obligations because of loss of employment, illness or disaster, is an increasing problem for both low-income and middle-income Australians. This project is the first in- depth study of the practical operation of Australia's financial hardship laws, which are designed to protect Australians suffering financial hardship. Major surveys will be undertaken of senior staff of financial dispute resolution schemes, financial counsellors, consumer solicitors and consumer advocates as well as persons suffering financial hardship. The project outcomes will include improvements to dispute resolution involving financial hardship and consumer advisory services, and potential law reform proposals.

Commencement Year

2014

Funding

$396,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Paul Ali
Professor Ian Ramsay

Project Title

Phoenix Activity: Regulating Fraudulent Use of the Corporate Form

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Fraudulent phoenix activity is of great concern to Australian policymakers. It occurs where there is the deliberate liquidation of a company to avoid paying debts, but the business continues through another company, and in corporate groups through the liquidation of undercapitalised subsidiaries and transfer of business to other companies in the group. This behaviour causes huge losses in taxation revenue and large financial losses for employees and unsecured creditors. To strengthen Australia’s economic fabric, this project aims to determine the optimal method of dealing with fraudulent phoenix activity through a thorough examination of all of its aspects in Australia and by a comparative analysis of international responses.

Commencement Year

2014

Funding

$403,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Helen Anderson
Professor Ann O'Connell
Professor Ian Ramsay
Dr Michelle Welsh (Monash University)

Project Title

Remedies under the Australian Consumer Law and the Common Law: Evolution and Revolution

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and its precursor, the Trade Practices Act, have revolutionised the Australian consumer protection landscape. However, consumers are not receiving the protection envisaged under the Act because of fundamental uncertainties undermining the statutory remedies. The problem lies in the lack of any rigorous theoretical account of the ongoing interactions between the remedial provisions of the ACL and the remedies that have traditionally been applied by judges in similar circumstances. This account will develop that framework to unlock the full potential of the remedial provisions of the ACL and provide a fresh means of understanding the evolving relationship between statutory and judge-made law.

Commencement Year

2014

Funding

$244,670

Chief Investigators

Professor Elise Bant
Associate Professor Jeannie Paterson

Project Title

International Law and the Cold War

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project is about international law and the Cold War. It seeks to re-read international law and the Cold War as mutually constitutive in a ground-breaking reconceptualisation of contemporary international law as a product of the Cold War, and the Cold War as a juridical category. It will produce the first history and theory of the relationship between international law and the Cold War. This new history will contribute to wider debates about the future of the international legal and diplomatic order. This is particularly relevant now, when emerging global divisions threaten to repeat the ideological enmity and paranoia that was a feature of the Cold War period.

Commencement Year

2014

Funding

$329,980

Chief Investigators

Professor Sundhya Pahuja
Professor Gerry Simpson
Professor Matthew Craven (SOAS, University of London)

Project Title

Investor-state Dispute Settlement

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project will evaluate the economic and legal risks associated with the Australian Government's current policy on investor-state dispute settlement through multidisciplinary research, namely econometric modeling, empirical research through stakeholder surveys and interviews, as well as critical analysis of case law, treaties and regulatory approaches. The aim of this project is to identify optimal methods of investor-state dispute prevention, avoidance and resolution that efficiently cater to inbound and outbound investors as well as Australia as a whole. The goal is to promote a positive climate for investment inflows and outflows, while maintaining Australia's ability to take sovereign decisions on matters of public policy.

Commencement Year

2014

Funding

$260,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Leon Trakman (University of New South Wales)
Professor Luke Nottage (University of Sydney)
Associate Professor Jürgen Kurtz
Dr Shiro Armstrong (Australian National University)

Administering Organisation

University of New South Wales

Project Title

Emerging Technologies of Warfare as a Challenge to the Law of Armed Conflict: Cyber-attacks, Robotics and Nanotechnology

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

In order to reduce suffering in war, international law places limits on the ways in which the adversary can be harmed. This project will assess how the law fares in dealing with emerging technologies, such as hostile uses of computer networks, robotics and nanotechnology. It will provide guidance to policy makers on how the law can be improved.

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$316,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Tim McCormack
Dr Rain Liivoja
Associate Professor Bob Mathews (Defence Science and Technology Organisation)

Project Title

Transition to a Clean Energy Future: The Role of Climate Change Litigation in Shaping our Regulatory Path

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

As the world seeks a clean energy future, courts in Australia and other key fossil fuel-producing nations, like the United States, are increasingly hearing cases seeking to block the use of coal due to its climate change effects. This project critically assesses the role such climate litigation plays in generating regulatory momentum to address climate change.

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$250,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Jacqueline Peel
Associate Professor Hari Osofsky (University of Minnesota)

Project Title

Precariousness in Law and Labour Markets: The Case of Temporary Migrant Workers

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project examines the situation of temporary migrant workers in Australia, focusing on the nature and extent of their precariousness both in law and in labour market practice. It offers a major contribution to current research and policy debates on the implications of temporary migrant labour.

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$245,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Joo-Cheong Tham
Dr Iain Campbell (RMIT University)
Professor Judy Fudge (University of Victoria, Canada)

Project Title

Revisiting Australia's Preferential Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties to Safeguard Regulatory Autonomy

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project critically evaluates Australia's free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties in the light of recent national and international experience. Its recommendations for systematically revising existing agreements and refining approaches to negotiating new agreements will assist in protecting Australian policy space.

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$320,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Tania Voon
Professor Andrew Mitchell

Project Title

Resistance, Recognition and Reconciliation in Australia - Lessons from South Africa and Northern Ireland

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project examines resistances to reconciliation in Australia, South Africa and Northern Ireland. The project compares efforts toward reconciliation in these conflictual societies to contribute to knowledge on how to live with conflictual political, psychological and jurisdictional claims in light of efforts toward Australia's Constitutional Amendment.

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$162,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Adrian Little (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)
Dr Mark McMillan
Dr Juliet Rogers (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)
Dr Andrew Schaap (University of Exeter)
Professor Erik Doxtader (University of South Carolina)
Dr Paul Muldoon (Monash University)

Administering Organisation

School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne

Project Title

The Court as Archive: Rethinking the Institutional Role of Federal Superior Courts of Record

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project examines the institutional role of federal superior courts of record to ground an analysis of their responsibilities as curators of a significant national archive. It will provide principles for the administration of court records that respond to the competing legal and civic demands of contemporary Australian society.

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$170,500

Chief Investigators

Professor Kim Rubenstein (Australian National University)
Dr Ann Genovese
Dr Trish Luker (University of Technology, Sydeney)

Administering Organisation

Australian National University

Project Title

Children's Rights: From Theory to Practice

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Children's rights are important but their scope is contested. This project will clarify their meaning. It will provide guidance to legislators, policy makers and advocates working with or for children, and generate a deeper understanding of the role of rights in resolving some of the major challenges facing children in Australia and around the world.

Commencement Year

2012

Funding

$295,000

Chief Investigators

Professor John Tobin
Professor Philip Alston (New York University)

Project Title

Religious Autonomy and the Restriction of Rights or Freedoms by Religious Communities: Comparative and Theoretical Approaches

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Religious communities must be autonomous in order to protect their unique identity and mission. Yet in exercising their autonomy they may interfere with the rights of freedoms of others. This project's sophisticated analysis of the tension between the two sets of rights will offer a resolution that strengthens Australia's social fabric.

Commencement Year

2011

Funding

$174,443

Chief Investigator

Professor Carolyn Evans

Project Title

Reshaping Employment Discrimination Law: Towards Substantive Equality at Work?

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The Australian employment discrimination law system comprises long standing anti-discrimination law and novel discrimination provisions from the Fair Work Act 2009. This project studies the operation and effectiveness of the reshaped system, to assess whether it is likely to be effective in supporting a more substantive version of equality at work.

Commencement Year

2011

Funding

$217,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Beth Gaze
Assoicate Professor Anna Chapman

Project Title

Making Children's Needs Knowable to Law

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project addresses the growing concerns that the family law system is not adequately safeguarding children's wellbeing in parenting cases. Its development of an evidence-based framework for decision-making will facilitate the production of outcomes that will better support the wellbeing of families affected by relationship breakdown.

Commencement Year

2011

Funding

$250,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Helen Rhoades
Professor John Dewar

Project Title

Meeting the Challenges of Constitutional Comparison

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project offers a more genuinely global approach to comparative constitutional law. It will deepen understanding of the operation and underlying assumptions of systems of government in countries around the world, assisting Australia in its dealings with neighbours and strategic partners and in developing its own constitutional arrangements.

Commencement Year

2011

Funding

$235,000

Chief Investigator

Professor Cheryl Saunders

Project Title

Climate Change Law and Mitigation: Forest Carbon Sequestration and Indigenous and Local Community Rights

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The project examines the impact of climate change law and mitigation on Indigenous peoples and local forest communities in Australia, India and Malaysia. It examines the United Nations - Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation scheme which gives credit for carbon sequestration in forests thus providing financial incentives to avoid deforestation for communities in sensitive ecosystems.

Commencement Year

2011

Funding

$305,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Maureen Tehan
Professor Lee Godden
Associate Professor Margaret Young
Associate Professor Kirsty Gover

Project Title

Safeguarding the Financial Well-Being of Australians by Improving Financial Literacy: Implications for Consumer Protection Laws

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The project will contribute to a broader understanding of the role of financial literacy in Australia and its relationship with Australia's financial services and consumer protection laws. Having financially literate consumers facilitates the uptake and development of innovative financial products. This is essential for promoting an innovation culture and economy. Higher levels of financial literacy also enable consumers to plan better for their and their families' financial well being. This also has national benefit as it means that consumers are better prepared to deal with the adverse financial consequences of job loss, illness, disablement or death, thus reducing the stresses and demands on Australia's social welfare safety net.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$276,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Paul Ali
Professor Ian Ramsay

Project Title

Reform of the Personal Liability of Directors for Unpaid Employee Entitlements

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Laws imposing liability on corporate directors must balance responsible governance by directors and the need for appropriate compensation for affected parties with the risk of inhibiting directors' legitimate commercial decision-making. A pressing issue is the extent to which directors should be liable for unpaid employee entitlements, given the ineffectiveness of the relevant Corporations Act provisions and the burden this places on taxpayers. This project will examine other models of liability, which provide greater deterrence and possible compensation, including incentives to place companies into voluntary administration. The objective is to recommend reform to the employee entitlement provisions.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$143,586

Chief Investigator

Associate Professor Helen Anderson

Project Title

The Principles of Proprietary Remedies

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Property rights are central to Australia's social fabric and critical to its economy. At this time of financial crisis, when personal bankruptcy and corporate insolvency are on the rise, it is essential to know exactly who owns what, when and why. Yet Australian law is unclear and often inconsistent as to when and why the law imposes property rights in favour of a plaintiff over assets held by a defendant and what those rights should be. This project will address this intolerable uncertainty by determining the proper criteria for the conferral of property rights by law.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$168,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Elise Bant
Professor Michael Bryan

Project Title

Executive Power under the Australian Constitution: Definition, Delimitation and Accountability

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The executive branch of government is the central actor in protecting Australia from terrorism and crime, as it is in other countries. The executive is also central to defence, immigration control as well as critical domestic policy domains. Understanding the nature and scope of executive power, and how it is regulated and rendered accountable, is therefore vital to good governance and successful protection of Australian interests. This project will provide the first integrated, broadly based and comparatively informed analysis of executive government under the Constitution since the emergence of Australian constitutional nationalism in the High Court in the 1990s and since the executive assumed expanded powers in the post 9/11 world.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$213,000

Chief Investigator

Professor Simon Evans

Project Title

The Law of Refugee Status: A Theoretical and Comparative Analysis

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project will make a significant contribution to international refugee law scholarship, thus consolidating Australia's place as a centre for excellence in international refugee law. In addition, the project will have immediate practical relevance for individual refugee status determination in all states party to the Convention, especially Australia, in its utility for practitioners, advocates and decision makers. It will also provide a principled basis for future policy development in Australia and abroad. It will therefore make a significant contribution to an area of law that is vital to Australia's future and to the international community as a whole.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$286,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Michelle Foster
Professor James Hathaway

Project Title

Drugs, Law and Criminal Procedure in Southeast Asia: A Comparative Analysis

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Australians accused of major drugs offences in Southeast Asia face very serious penalties, including death or life imprisonment. There is, however, a lack of accurate information in Australia regarding how drugs trials are conducted in the region, let alone detailed knowledge of applicable laws and procedure. There is now an acute need for detailed comparative material on criminal laws and judicial processes in Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore, so better support can be provided both for Australians facing drug related charges and for Australian governments in developing policies and strategies in response to the issues these trials create.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$281,000

Chief Investigators

Professor Tim Lindsey
Professor Pip Nicholson

Project Title

Defining, Regulating and Taxing the Not-for-Profit Sector in Australia: Law and Policy for the 21st Century

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

The not for profit sector is crucial to the economy and social inclusion in Australia. The sector's role and significance is growing but it struggles with complex and disparate taxation requirements and piecemeal supervision by state and federal governments. This project addresses both the needs of the sector and public expectations of it by comprehensively researching legal definition, regulation and tax rules and recommending appropriate reform, thereby making a significant contribution to National Priority Research area, Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Well Being, Priority Goal 4, 'Understanding and strengthening key elements of Australia's social and economic fabric'.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$386,000

Chief Investigators

Associate Professor Ann O'Connell
Professor Miranda Stewart
Associate Professor Matthew Harding

Project Title

A Conceptual History of War Crimes Trials

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

Promoting justice around the globe is an end in itself as well as a means of avoiding the sort of mass social disruption that threatens the global commonwealth (and, therefore, Australia). It is imperative that this system be exposed to a critical historical analysis. The project will clarify precisely what is at stake in Australia's long commitment to war crimes law and establish Australia as a global centre for international criminal justice at a transformative moment in the history of the international legal order. The specific aim is to write an intellectual history of international law's encounter with the problem of evil and the possibility of rehabilitation and redemption through criminal trials.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$249,000

Chief Investigator

Professor Gerry Simpson

Project Title

Dollars and Democracy: The Dynamics of Australian Political Finance and its Regulations

Grant Scheme

ARC Discovery Project

Project Summary

This project will provide a foundation for meeting the complex challenge of realising democratic principles given the various flows of money in politics. Its analyses (including reform recommendations) and data will serve the national benefit by enabling the political and electoral system to better advance the democratic functions of parties, the principles of transparency, equality and liberty, and the prevention of corruption and its perception. The public availability of its data will enhance political reporting and accountability. It will also contribute significantly to the international literature on political finance through its comparative examination of theoretical explanations and democratic principles.

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$129,000

Chief Investigators

Assoicate Professor Joo-Cheong Tham
Professor Brian Costar (Swinburne University)
Dr Graeme Orr (University of Queensland)