ARC Linkage Projects

Project Title

Rights for Reefs: Legal Personhood for Australia’s Marine Ecosystems

Project Summary

This project aims to investigate the potential for Australia’s major reef systems—the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Great Southern Reef—to be recognised as legal entities through environmental personhood. The project expects to generate new knowledge on rights-based reef governance using an innovative, co-designed approach with Traditional Owners, legal scholars, and reef managers. Expected outcomes include strengthened reef governance models, ecological and social indicators of reef health and harm, and pathways for legal guardianship. This should provide significant benefits, such as enhanced Indigenous leadership, policy innovation, and positioning Australia at the forefront of global ocean governance.

Administering Organisation

The University of Melbourne

Partner Organisations

Australian Earth Laws Alliance Ltd
Future Dreaming Australia Ltd
Great Southern Reef Foundation Ltd
Ocean Vision Legal

Commencement Year

2026

Funding

$251,710

Investigators

Dr Ellycia Harrould-Kolieb (The University of Melbourne)
Associate Professor Anna Arstein-Kerslake
Dr Erin O’Donnell
Professor Tiffany Morrison (The University of Melbourne)
Ms Maddison Miller (The University of Melbourne)

Project Title

Tackling wage theft through innovative tripartite approaches

Project Summary

This project aims to investigate benefits and challenges of tripartite collaboration - involving labour regulator, representatives of workers and businesses - to tackle widespread wage theft. The project expects to generate new knowledge on how to increase employer compliance using an innovative mixed methods, engaged research design embedded in a novel initiative in state regulation of wage laws. Expected outcomes of the project include enhanced and coordinated capacity for increasing employer compliance with wage laws. This should provide significant benefit for state labour regulators seeking to maximise limited resources, workers expecting correct legal pay, businesses desiring a more level playing field, and for the integrity of laws.

Administering Organisation

The University of Sydney

Partner Organisations

Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman

Commencement Year

2026

Funding

$239,160

Investigators

Associate Professor Stephen Clibborn (The University of Sydney)
Associate Professor Tess Hardy
Professor Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld (Brandeis University)

Project Title

Addressing reproductive violence in migrant and refugee communities

Project Summary

This project aims to address a critical gap in knowledge about migrant women’s experience of a serious form of family violence: reproductive coercion and abuse. Through a mixed methods design this project expects to advance understanding and identify opportunities to increase the safety of survivors. Expected outcomes include a new conceptual model, co-designed, culturally responsive resources for communities and health professionals, and recommendations for legislative and policy change. The results should benefit migrant communities, legal and health professionals working with migrant communities, and policy makers through improved conceptual knowledge, suggestions for legal reform, and evidence-based resources for workforce training.

Administering Organisation

Griffith University

Partner Organisations

Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health Inc.
Children by Choice Association Inc.
MSI Reproductive Choices
Migrant Women’s Emergency Support Service Inc.
The Family Planning Association of Western Australia Inc.

Commencement Year

2024

Funding

$561,291

Investigators

Dr Nicola Sheeran (Griffith University)
Associate Professor Laura Tarzia (The University of Melbourne)
Professor Heather Douglas
Ms Delaram Ansari (Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health Inc.)
Dr Kari Vallury (Griffith University, Children by Choice Association Inc.)
Ms Alison Fonseca (MSI Australia)
Ms Bonney Corbin (MSI Reproductive Choices)
Dr Adele Murdolo (Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health)

Project Title

Child-centred evidence to drive meaningful social change for children

Project Summary

Robust, child-centred evidence is needed to drive targeted policy and prompt action for children in Australia and the Pacific. A unique collaboration between ChildFund, Plan International Australia, Save the Children, UNICEF Australia, SNAICC, and child rights research leaders from 5 universities, this project will generate a toolkit to engage children in generating evidence about child rights issues (e.g. child-centred indicators; child storytelling tools), new data sets, and a sustainable implementation model. Toolkit adoption will drive increased civil society coordination and evidence-based policy and services. Key benefits will accrue to children, children’s services, and child welfare organisations nationally and across the region.

Administering Organisation

Western Sydney University

Partner Organisations

UNICEF Australia
Childfund Australia
Save the Children Australia
SNAICC – National Voice for our Children

Commencement Year

2024

Funding

$661,814

Investigators

Professor Amanda Third (Western Sydney University)
Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway (Macquarie University)
Professor Kate Douglas (Flinders University)
Dr Catharine Fleming (Western Sydney University)
Professor John Tobin

Project Title

Will Australia’s largest mine cause extinction of the Doongmabulla Springs?

Project Summary

The Doongmabulla Springs Complex (DSC) in central Queensland supports 160 nationally important wetlands. High groundwater levels in unaltered aquifers sustain these springs. The Carmichael Coal Mine (CCM), 8 km east of the DSC, threatens to lower groundwater levels substantially. This project aims to understand the DSC's response to CCM-induced drawdown and its impact on spring flow and ecosystem health. Outcomes include comprehensive sediment datasets, aquifer-spring-wetland models, and key assessments of legal/policy and management instruments. The project’s critical insights for spring protection, hydrogeological modelling, and adaptive management will guide evidence-based protection measures for threatened springs locally and globally.

Administering Organisation

Flinders University

Partner Organisations

Business Services of Coast and Country Inc.

Commencement Year

2024

Funding

$513,617

Investigators

Professor Adrian Werner (Flinders University)
Emeritus Professor John Webb (La Trobe University)
Associate Professor Rebecca Nelson
Professor Rod Fensham (The University of Queensland)
Associate Professor Lucy Reading (QUT)
Mr Derec Davies (Business Services of Coast and Country Inc.)

Project Title

Ethical, social and regulatory issues in advanced prenatal testing

Project Summary

This project aims to investigate the social, ethical and regulatory issues arising with the rapid advancement and increased use of genomic non-invasive prenatal testing in early pregnancy in Australia. It expects to generate new insight into key issues such as consumer information before and after testing, consent, and equitable access to genomic health technologies in human reproduction. Expected outcomes include recommendations for addressing these issues, supported by ground-breaking social research and ethical and regulatory analysis. The project is expected to have major benefits, addressing the gap between policy and practice that has emerged in prenatal testing in Australia and shaping the ethics and regulation of pregnancy care.

Administering Organisation

Monash University

Partner Organisations

Victorian Clinical Genetics Services Limited
Illumina Australia Pty Ltd

Commencement Year

2020

Funding

$475,000

Investigators

Professor Catherine Mills (Monash University)
Dr Michelle Taylor-Sands
Associate Professor Lisa Hui (The University of Melbourne)
Professor Julian Savelescu (University of Oxford)
Professor Martin Delatycki (Victorian Clinical Genetics Services)
Dr Mark Pertile (Victorian Clinical Genetics Services)
Mr Peter Coleman (Illumina Australia)

Project Title

Harmful financial products: analysis of their impact and regulation

Project Summary

This project will investigate financial products that have the potential to harm disadvantaged and vulnerable consumers. Working in partnership with five leading non-profit organisations, and adopting empirical research techniques (including surveys, interviews and focus groups), it will explore the extent to which these products perpetuate financial hardship, poor health and social disadvantage. In doing so, it will make a significant, original contribution to consumer law scholarship and studies of financial exclusion, while also providing practical assistance to policymakers, regulators and the partner organisations. The project will assess the need for law reform, and, if appropriate, will make detailed law reform recommendations.

Partner Organisations

Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand
Consumer Action Law Centre
Financial Counselling Australia
Western Community Legal Centre
Mallee Family Care

Commencement Year

2016

Funding

$620,000

Investigators

Associate Professor Paul Ali
Professor Ian Ramsay
Dr Kathy Landvogt (Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand)
Mr Gerard Brody (Consumer Action Law Centre)
Ms Fiona Guthrie (Financial Counselling Australia)
Mr Denis Nelthorpe (Western Community Legal Centre)
Mrs Lisa-Maree Stevens (Mallee Family Care)

Project Title

Indigenous Nationhood in the Absence of Recognition: Self-governance Insights and Strategies from three Aboriginal Communities

Project Summary

Based on evidence that effective governance is a necessary precursor to Indigenous communities' economic, social and cultural outcomes, this project aims to strengthen Australian Indigenous communities by learning and sharing lessons about sustainable and effective Indigenous governance. In collaboration with three Aboriginal communities in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales that are differentially engaged in Indigenous governance processes, the project aims to identify innovation in community governance, test the usefulness of Australian governance assessment tools, and foster an Indigenous Australian and global network to share successful strategies. In doing so, the project contributes to an emerging theory of Indigenous nation building.

Administering Organisation

University of Technology, Sydney

Partner Organisations

Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation
Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority Inc

Commencement Year

2014

Funding

$600,000

Investigators

Professor Larissa Behrendt (University of Technology, Sydney)
Dr Miriam Jorgensen (University of Arizona)
Professor Stephen Cornell (University of Arizona)
Professor Daryle Rigney (The Flinders University of South Australia)
Associate Professor Steve Hemming (The Flinders University of South Australia)
Dr Mark McMillan
Dr Yoko Akama (RMIT University)
Dr Asmi Wood (The Australian National University)
Dr Raymond Orr (School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne)
Dr Damien Bell (Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation)
Mr Timothy Hartman (Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority Inc)

Project Title

Evaluating Australian Personal Insolvency Laws in the Context of Changing Demographics and Increasing Financial Stress

Project Summary

This project will study how Australians respond to financial stress within the context of Australian personal insolvency laws. A better understanding of the practical impact of these laws today will enable an evaluation of their effectiveness in meeting policy objectives.

Partner Organisations

Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service
Consumer Action Law Centre
Financial Counselling Australia Incorporated

Commencement Year

2013

Funding

$425,465

Investigators

Associate Professor Paul Ali
Professor Ian Ramsay
Dr Kathy Landvogt (Good Shepherd Youth & Family Service)
Mr Gerard Brody (Consumer Action Law Centre)
Ms Fiona Guthrie (Financial Counselling Australia Incorporated)

Project Title

A Collaborative Approach to Designing Regulatory Measures on Tobacco, Alcohol and Unhealthy Diet: Public Health, International Trade and Investment Law

Project Summary

Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes account for 60 per cent of global deaths. This project will clarify the implications of trade and investment law to assist in ensuring effective domestic and international public health regulation to combat the common risk factors of tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy diet.

Partner Organisation

Cancer Council Victoria

Commencement Year

2012

Funding

$120,000

Investigators

Associate Professor Tania Voon
Professor Andrew Mitchell
Mr Jonathan Liberman (Cancer Council Victoria)

Project Title

The Presentation of Expert Evidence in Australian Criminal Trials: The Role of Lawyers and Experts

Project Summary

This project will shed light on how courts, lawyers and experts can work effectively together to deliver expert evidence in the courtroom.  Improving the provision and effective use of expert evidence will benefit the Australian community by providing a better quality criminal justice system.

Partner Organisations

Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency

Commencement Year

2012

Funding

$60,000

Investigators

Dr Jacqueline Horan
Professor Jane Goodman-Delahunty (University of NSW)
Dr Blake McKimmie (University of Queensland)
Professor Ian Freckelton (Monash University)

Project Title

Optimising Access to the Law Reports Series of Australia's War Crimes Trials, 1945-51

Project Summary

The forthcoming Law Report Series on Australia's war crimes trials held in 1945-51 will be, in effect, the official history of the trials.  It is vital, therefore, that all users, particularly the Australian public, are provided with the necessary tools to optimally access the Series and thus obtain a comprehensive understanding of the trials.

Partner Organisations

Australian War Memorial
Department of Defence

Commencement Year

2012

Funding

$85,000

Investigator

Professor Tim McCormack

Project Title

Testing Trade Mark Law's Image of the Consumer

Project Summary

An effective trade mark law is vital both to protect consumers and to allow businesses to build brand recognition. This project seeks to put Australian trade mark law on a firmer empirical footing by bringing together experts from psychology, law and marketing to test the law's assumptions against actual consumer responses.

Administering Organisation

University of Queensland

Partner Organisations

Federal Court of Australia
Foster Group Ltd
I P Australia

Commencement Year

2012

Funding

$250,000

Investigators

Professor Robert Burrell (University of Queensland)
Professor Michael Humphreys (University of Queensland)
Ms Kimberlee Weatherall (University of Queensland)
Dr Sarah Kelly (University of Queensland)
Associate Professor Jennifer Burt (University of Queensland)
Professor Megan Richardson

Project Title

Mitigating Tax Barriers to Trade and Investment Relations between Australia and the People's Republic of China

Project Summary

China and Australia's conflicting tax rules and attitudes towards tax administration affect the level of trade, investment and labour mobility between the two countries.  This project will explore and propose methods of reform for both the Chinese and Australian tax systems to strengthen our economic relationship.

Administering Organisation

Monash University

Partner Organisations

Brilliant Development Pty Ltd
Zhongnan University of Economics and Law

Commencement Year

2012

Funding

$130,000

Investigators

Professor Rick Krever (Monash University)
Professor Christopher Evans (University of NSW)
Associate Professor Ann O'Connell
Dr Nolan Sharkey (University of NSW)
Mr Antony Ting (University of Sydney)

Project Title

Substance Use in Prisons and Other Closed Settings: Identifying Appropriate and Effective Legislative Frameworks for a Harm Reduction Approach

Project Summary

Influencing laws on drugs in closed settings to reflect public health approaches will directly benefit incarcerated individuals and wider communities in Cambodia and in Australia. The Australian Red Cross has a long-standing commitment to improving vulnerable peoples' lives as well as a deep-seated community identity; it will facilitate the implementation of its research findings through its prisons programs. Collaborations with AusAID-funded HIV prevention, substance abuse and criminal justice reform initiatives (including HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program (HAARP) and Cambodia Criminal Justice Assistance Program (CCJAP)) will strengthen Australia's contribution to civil society and public health in Cambodia, and simultaneously reinforce Australia's reputation as a leader on substance use and harm reduction issues.

Partner Organisation

Australian Red Cross

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$80,007

Investigators

Professor Tim McCormack
Professor Nicholas Crofts (School of Population Health, University of Melbourne)
Professor Stuart Kaye

Project Title

Learning from Preventable Deaths: A Prospective Evaluation of Reforms to Coroners' Recommendation Powers in Victoria

Project Summary

Coroners in Australia investigate nearly 13,000 deaths each year and have a unique vantage point on health and safety risks. The public as a whole will benefit from information that helps translate those insights into system changes that work to prevent injuries and accidents from occurring. This project is designed to produce such information. It will also serve stakeholders at several other levels. By illuminating circumstances in which coroners recommendations produce positive change, project findings will help coroners shape and disseminate their prevention messages for maximum effect. Also, for states interested in modifying or boosting coroners' recommendation powers, our findings will help guide reforms.

Partner Organisations

Department of Justice
Office of the State Coroner

Commencement Year

2010

Funding

$269,000

Investigators

Professor David Studdert
Associate Professor Jane Pirkis (School of Population Health, University of Melbourne)
Professor Graham Sewell (Faculty of Economics and Commerce, University of Melbourne)