'Switch off Hazelwood' : policing, protest and a 'polluting dinosaur'
- Authors: Baker, David
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Current issues in Criminal Justice Vol. 20, no. 1 (2010 2010), p.
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- Description: Traditionally, the policing of protest has been a vexed and problematic issue. The contemporary policing of climate change protests and camps challenges police capability both to facilitate such protests and to maintain control and order. The case study of the policing of the September 2009 protest against the Hazelwood coal-fuelled power station in the Latrobe Valley presents a microcosm of the dilemmas faced by both police and protesters in negotiating effective and peaceful protest. The eclectic and disparate nature of the climate change protests based on affinity groups affronts the police bureaucratic structure. This article argues that police-protester dialogue and negotiation, although limited by traditional suspicions, polarised organisational structures and diverse mindsets, are vital for the successful facilitation of peaceful protest, especially in relation to ongoing climate change dissent against coal-fired power plants.
Child sexual abuse in Fiji : authority, risk factors and responses
- Authors: Whitehead, John , Roffee, James
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Current Issues in Criminal Justice Vol. 27, no. 3 (Mar 2016), p. 323-334
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- Description: While child sexual abuse is a problem worldwide, the risk factors for the perpetration of child sexual abuse within Fiji are unique in their relation to the traditional and communal nature of Fijian society. In this article, culturally relevant dynamic risk factors found within contemporary Fijian society are identified and understood alongside static factors contributing to abuse. Although there have been recent changes to sexual offence legislation and traditional criminal justice system responses to victims of sexual abuse, statesanctioned responses continue to maintain victimising practices. Equally, the relative rural isolation means many Indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) communities continue to use customarycrestorative justice practices that may marginalise the rehabilitation of victims and offenders for the communities’ benefit. However, a culturally specific amalgamation of traditional criminal justice and customary restorative responses may help to create more holistic protection for survivors of child sexual abuse in Fiji.
Nationalist Populism and Social Work
- Authors: Noble, Carolyn , Ottmann, Goetz
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Human Rights and Social Work Vol. 3, no. 3 (2018), p. 112-120
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- Description: This article outlines how the current rise in right-wing populism poses a threat to social work’s humanist positioning within western democracy and what strategies are needed to restore faith in the liberal democratic institutions that are committed to human rights and a polity that provides for all its citizens despite their diversity and often opposing interests. Using the example of the rise of ethnic-nationalist populism in the twentieth century in Europe, we forget at our peril how easily human rights can be both compromised and undermined. Today’s social works can learn from social work’s role in supporting the ethnic practices of Nazi Germany and be forewarned. The article highlights how a culture of hyper-productivity, anti-humanist populism, and authoritarian welfare can erode the human rights framework underpinning social work. By focussing on contemporary social work’s more progressive stance with its commitment to anti-oppressive practice, its linkages with civil society and community activism, and its commitment to carve out a prominent political space for advancing a human rights agenda, we hope to learn lessons from the past and act collectively to protect and return confidence to a universal human rights agenda for a progressive social work practice. © 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Rhetoric, aboriginal Australians and the Northern Territory intervention : a socio-legal investigation into prelegislative argumentation
- Authors: Roffee, James
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy Vol. 5, no. 1 (2016), p. 131-147
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- Description: Presented within this article is a systematic discourse analysis of the arguments used by the then Australian Prime Minister and also the Minister for Indigenous Affairs in explaining and justifying the extensive and contentious intervention by the federal government into remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. The methods used within this article extend the socio-legal toolbox, providing a contextually appropriate, interdisciplinary methodology that analyses the speech act's rhetorical properties. Although many academics use sound-bites of pre-legislative speech in order to support their claims, this analysis is concerned with investigating the contents of the speech acts in order to understand how the Prime Minister's and Minister for Indigenous Affairs' argumentations sought to achieve consensus to facilitate the enactment of legislation. Those seeking to understand legislative endeavours, policy makers and speech actors will find that paying structured attention to the rhetorical properties of speech acts yields opportunities to strengthen their insight. The analysis here indicates three features in the argumentation: the duality in the Prime Minister's and Minister's use of the Northern Territory Government's Little Children are Sacred report; the failure to sufficiently detail the linkages between the Intervention and the measures combatting child sexual abuse; and the omission of recognition of Aboriginal agency and consultation. © The Author(s) 2016.