Prospective application of a five-step regulatory assessment model to a proposed federal sperm donor registry in Australia: Is it in the public interest?
- Authors: Sawyer, Neroli
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of law and medicine Vol. 17, no. 4 (2010), p. 608-616
- Full Text:
- Description: It has been proposed that a nationally mandated donor registry be established in Australia to provide data for estimating the possible number of inadvertent half-sibling matings resulting from the multiple use of anonymous donors in donor insemination and to assist identity-release donors and their donor-inseminated children to establish contact. A five-step regulatory assessment model, as described by Johnson and Petersen in 2008, was applied prospectively to the proposed donor registry to identify public interest issues. The resultant issues concern the public ethical interest in child welfare; the public health interest in avoiding genetic abnormalities/disease; public socio-political and legal interests in avoiding inadvertent consanguineous relationships; public ethical and health interests in avoiding identity issues in the donor-inseminated child; and public socio-ethical interests in providing nationally mandated, comprehensive records of donor insemination outcomes. These results provide a basis for further discussion in regard to donor insemination legislation at the federal level.
Provision of Quotes
- Authors: Wells, Philippa , McMeekin, Suzanne
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: New Zealand Law Journal Vol. , no. (2005), p. 453-456
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Supporting discretionary decision-making with information technology
- Authors: Hall, Mary Jean , Calabro, Domenico , Sourdin, Tania , Stranieri, Andrew , Zeleznikow, John
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: University of Ottawa Law & Technology Journal Vol. 2, no. 1 (2005), p. 1-36
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- Reviewed:
- Description: A NUMBER OF INCREASINGLY SOPHISTICATED technologies are now being used to support complex decision-making in a range of contexts. This paper reports on a project undertaken to provide decision support in discretionary legal domains by referring to a recently created model that involves the interplay and weighting of relevant rule-based and discretionary factors used in a decision-making process. The case study used in the modelling process is the Criminal Jurisdiction of the Victorian Magistrate’s Court (Australia), where the handing down of an appropriate custodial or non-custodial sentence requires the consideration of many factors. Tools and techniques used to capture relevant expert knowledge and to display it both as a paper model and as an online prototype application are discussed. Models of sentencing decision-making with rule-based and discretionary elements are presented and analyzed. This paper concludes by discussing the benefits and disadvantages of such technology and considers some potential appropriate uses of the model and web-based prototype application.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001431
Discovering interesting association rules from legal databases
- Authors: Ivkovic, Sasha , Yearwood, John , Stranieri, Andrew
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Information & Communication Technology Law Vol. 11, no. 1 (2002), p. 35-47
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- Reviewed:
- Description: The Knowledge Discovery from Databases (KDD) technique called 'association rules' is applied to a large data set representing applicants for government-funded legal aid. Results indicate that KDD can be an invaluable tool for legal analysts. Association rules discovered identify associations between variables that are present in the data set though are not necessarily causal. Interesting rules can prompt analysts to formulate hypotheses for further investigation. The identification of interesting rules is typically performed using an objective measure of 'interesting' although this measure is often not sufficiently accurate to eliminate all uninteresting rules. In this article, a subjective measure of interestingness is adopted in conjunction with the objective measures. This leads to the ability to focus more accurately on those rules that surprise the analyst and are therefore more likely to be interesting. In general, KDD techniques have not been applied to law despite possible benefits because data is often stored in narrative form rather than in structured databases. However, the impending introduction of data warehouses that collect data from a number of organizations across a legal system presents invaluable opportunities for analysts using KDD.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000037
Financial hardship and financial literacy : A case study from the Gippsland region
- Authors: Tennant, Judith , Wright, Jill , Jackson, Dorothy
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: JASSA Vol. 2009, no. 2 (2009), p. 10-15
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Our research indicates that while inadequate financial literacy is a contributing factor to financial hardship, other factors such as inadequate income are important. We find no significant relationship between 'sex' and 'financial literacy'. Our study also indicates that financial counsellors play an essential role in the provision of appropriately targeted financial advice and education.]
Removing the "relative" uncertainty within the Australian donor insemination network
- Authors: Sawyer, Neroli
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of law and medicine Vol. 17, no. 2 (2009), p. 270-279
- Full Text:
- Description: In Australia there is no federal legislation limiting the use of donor sperm. However, it is important to place limits on the multiple use of sperm donors to reduce the risk of inadvertent half-sibling mating between the offspring of anonymous donors and to control for the consequences of contact between identity-release donors and their donor-inseminated offspring. A nationally mandated donor registry should be established to enable, first, the calculation of updated variable values for use in the development and implementation of a predictive model to estimate the probability of half-siblings mating and provide policy-makers with empirical evidence to inform the setting of anonymous donor limits; and secondly, the linking of identity-release donors to their donor-inseminated offspring and an investigation into the psychosocial consequences of that linking so as to be able to implement suitable donor limits as well as management strategies and support systems for these new "extended families" within the donor insemination network.
Police confirmation of use of force in Australia : 'To be or not to be?'
- Authors: Baker, David
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Crime, Law and Social Change Vol. 52, no. 2 (2008), p. 139-158
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Despite significant transgressions during encounters with Indigenous peoples and marginalised groups, all six state police organisations in Australia espouse the principle of minimum force and identify service and crime prevention as paramount in community interaction and intervention. This article offers some insight and perspective of police talk and thinking about the potential use or avoidance of force. The four Victoria Police focus groups, when confronted by the specific police use of force scenario, speak of the adrenalin rush and the need to achieve results, if reasonable and necessary by force, but also of the desire to control the situation and follow proper police procedures. Officers support ‘Safety First’ principles that advocate a cautionary and suspicious approach to the scenario combined with rational and methodical tactics rather than emotional responses. The reflective talk of individual officers about the hypothetical situation parallels actual behaviour when police collectively and visibly confront public disorder. Control and containment of the situation—whether the scenario or a major crowd disturbance—are paramount while time, in the form of acting slowly and adopting a low-key approach, can be seen as assets in achieving objectives. In both the scenario and police planning for collective action, a readiness to threaten force, rather than actually employ it, appears central to police thinking. Police justification of non-coercive tactics in certain situations can be revealing about their thinking processes in justifying force in other circumstances.
Researching the use of force : the background to the international project
- Authors: Stenning, Philip , Birbeck, Christopher , Adang, Otto , Baker, David , Machado, Eduardo , Waddington, Peter
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Crime, Law and Social Change Vol. 52, no. 2 (2009), p. 95-110
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article provides the background to an international project on use of force by the police that was carried out in seven countries. Force is often considered to be the defining characteristic of policing and much research has been conducted on the determinants, prevalence and control of the use of force, particularly in the United States. However, little work has looked at police officers’ own views on the use of force, in particular the way in which they justify it. Using a hypothetical encounter developed for this project, researchers in each country conducted focus groups with police officers in which they were encouraged to talk about the use of force. The results show interesting similarities and differences across countries and demonstrate the value of using this kind of research focus and methodology.
Measuring distortions to agricultural incentives, revisited
- Authors: Anderson, Kym , Kurzweil, Martin , Will, M. , Sandri, Damiano , Valenzuela, Ernesto
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: World Trade Review Vol. 7, no. 4 (2008), p.
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Notwithstanding the tariffication component of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, import tariffs on farm products continue to provide an incomplete indication of the extent to which agricultural producer and consumer incentives are distorted in national markets. Especially in developing countries, non-agricultural policies indirectly impact agricultural and food markets. Empirical analysis aimed at monitoring distortions to agricultural incentives thus need to examine both agricultural and non-agricultural policy measures including import or export taxes, subsidies and quantitative restrictions, plus domestic taxes or subsidies on farm outputs or inputs and consumer subsidies for food staples. This paper addresses the practical methodological issues that need to be faced when attempting to undertake such a measurement task in developing countries. The approach is illustrated in two ways: by presenting estimates of nominal and relative rates of assistance to farmers in China for the period 1981 to 2005; and by summarizing estimates from an economy-wide computable general equilibrium model of the effects on agricultural versus non-agricultural markets of the project's measured distortions globally as of 2004.
A methodology for analyzing the credential marketplace
- Authors: Watters, Paul , McCombie, Stephen
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Money Laundering Control Vol. 14, no. 1 (2011), p. 32-43
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose – Cybercrime has rapidly developed in recent years thanks in part to online markets for tools and credentials. Credential trading operates along the lines of a wholesale distribution model, where compromised credentials are bundled together for sale to end-users. Thus, the criminals who specialize in obtaining credentials (through phishing, dumpster diving, etc.) are typically not the same as the end-users. This research aims to propose an initial methodology for further understanding of how credentials are traded in online marketplaces (such as internet relay chat (IRC) channels), such as typical amounts charged per credential, and with a view to preliminary profiling, especially based on language identification. Design/methodology/approach – This research proposes an initial methodology for further understanding of how credentials are traded in online marketplaces (such as IRC channels), such as typical amounts charged per credential, and with a view to preliminary profiling, especially based on language identification. Initial results from a small sample of credential chatroom data is analysed using the technique. Findings – The paper identified five key term categories from the subset of the 100 most frequent terms (bank/payment provider names, supported trading actions, non-cash commodities for trading, targeted countries and times), and demonstrated how actors and processes could be extracted to identify common business processes in credential trading. In turn, these elements could potentially be used to track the specific trading activities of individuals or groups. The hope in the long-term is that we may be able to cross-reference named entities in the credential trading world (or a pattern of activity) and cross-reference this with known credential theft attacks, such as phishing. Originality/value – This is the first study to propose a methodology to systematically analyse credential trading on the internet. Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by the Australian Federal Police, Westpac Banking Corporation, IBM, the State Government of Victoria and the University of Ballarat.
- Description: 2003011113
'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.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- 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.
Corporate governance convergence and moral relativism
- Authors: West, Andrew
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Corporate Governance-An International Review Vol. 17, no. 1 (2009), p. 107-119
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Research Question/Issue: This paper frames the debate on corporate governance convergence in terms of the morality underlying corporate governance models. The claims and arguments of moral relativism are presented to provide theoretical structure to the moral aspects of corporate governance convergence, and ultimately the normative question of whether convergence should occur. Research Findings/Results: The morality underlying different models of corporate governance has largely been ignored in the corporate governance convergence literature. A range of moral philosophies and principles that underlie the dominant corporate governance models are identified. This leads to a consideration of the claims and arguments of moral relativism relating to corporate governance. A research agenda around the claims of descriptive and meta-ethical moral relativism, and which ultimately informs the associated normative argument, is then suggested. Theoretical Implications: The application of moral relativism to the debate on corporate governance convergence presents a theoretical structure to the analysis and consideration of its moral aspects. This structure lends itself to further research, both empirical and conceptual. Practical Implications: The claims and arguments of moral relativism provide a means of analyzing calls that are made for a culturally or nationally “appropriate” model of corporate governance. This can assist in providing direction for corporate governance reforms and is of particular relevance for developing countries that have inherited Western corporate governance models through colonialism.
Singing the same tune? International continuities and discontinuities in how police talk about using force
- Authors: Waddington, Peter , Adang, Otto , Baker, David , Birbeck, Christopher , Feltes, Thomas , Gabaldon, Louis , Machado, Eduardo , Stenning, Philip
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Crime, Law and Social Change Vol. 52, no. 2 (2008), p. 111-138
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article focuses on a research project conducted in six jurisdictions: England, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Venezuela, and Brazil. These societies are very different ethnically, socially, politically, economically, historically and have wildly different levels of crime. Their policing arrangements also differ significantly: how they are organised; how their officers are equipped and trained; what routine operating procedures they employ; whether they are armed; and much else besides. Most relevant for this research, they represent policing systems with wildly different levels of police shootings, Police in the two Latin American countries represented here have a justified reputation for the frequency with which they shoot people, whereas at the other extreme the police in England do not routinely carry firearms and rarely shoot anyone. To probe whether these differences are reflected in the way that officers talk about the use of force, police officers in these different jurisdictions were invited to discuss in focus groups a scenario in which police are thwarted in their attempt to arrest two youths (one of whom is a known local criminal) by the youths driving off with the police in pursuit, and concludes with the youths crashing their car and escaping in apparent possession of a gun, It might be expected that focus groups would prove starkly different, and indeed they were, but not in the way that might be expected. There was little difference in affirmation of normative and legal standards regarding the use of force. It was in how officers in different jurisdictions envisaged the circumstances in which the scenario took place that led Latin American officers to anticipate that they would shoot the suspects, whereas officers in the other jurisdictions had little expectation that they would open fire in the conditions as they imagined them to be.
Characterising and predicting cyber attacks using the Cyber Attacker Model Profile (CAMP)
- Authors: Watters, Paul , McCombie, Stephen , Layton, Robert , Pieprzyk, Josef
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Money Laundering Control Vol. 15, no. 4 (2012), p. 430-441
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Purpose – Ethnographic studies of cyber attacks typically aim to explain a particular profile of attackers in qualitative terms. The purpose of this paper is to formalise some of the approaches to build a Cyber Attacker Model Profile (CAMP) that can be used to characterise and predict cyber attacks. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds a model using social and economic independent or predictive variables from several eastern European countries and benchmarks indicators of cybercrime within the Australian financial services system. Findings – The paper found a very strong link between perceived corruption and GDP in two distinct groups of countries – corruption in Russia was closely linked to the GDP of Belarus, Moldova and Russia, while corruption in Lithuania was linked to GDP in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. At the same time corruption in Russia and Ukraine were also closely linked. These results support previous research that indicates a strong link between been legitimate economy and the black economy in many countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. The results of the regression analysis suggest that a highly skilled workforce which is mobile and working in an environment of high perceived corruption in the target countries is related to increases in cybercrime even within Australia. It is important to note that the data used for the dependent and independent variables were gathered over a seven year time period, which included large economic shocks such as the global financial crisis. Originality/value – This is the first paper to use a modelling approach to directly show the relationship between various social, economic and demographic factors in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, and the level of card skimming and card not present fraud in Australia. Acknowledgements: Paul A. Watters and Robert Layton are funded by IBM, Westpac, the State Government of Victoria and the Australian Federal Police.
- Description: 2003011112
Does a requirement that the description fully support a product claim raise Australia from "Mechanistic and impoverished" patent rules
- Authors: Brennan, David
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Monash University Law Review Vol. 38, no. 1 (2012), p.
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The Intellectual Property (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 (Cth) (the ‘Raising the Bar reforms’) signals a Parliamentary intention to reform in Australian patent law two related grounds of validity; the fair basis of claims in a written description and the adequacy of the written description of the invention as claimed. 1. The reform is variously described in government papers as both raising the standard of validity and harmonising Australian patent validity grounds with their UK counterparts. In this it implies a clear dissatisfaction with the approach taken by the Australian High Court in the two leading cases on point concerning product claims, and a commensurate attraction to a principle in UK law known as Biogen suffi ciency. 2.Fair basis and adequacy of description, and the relationship between them, taken together is quite a diffi cult area of patent law. In part this is because the concepts underpinning the law are intrinsically complex. Also, this law has traditionally served distinct roles in the patents system: (i) facilitating the proper operation of the provisional application, when used, in preserving a priority date earlier than its related complete application; (ii) facilitating the proper operation of priority date rules under the Paris Convention. 3.When relied upon; and (iii) as an internal ground of validity for a complete application or granted patent in all cases. 4. Earlier scholarship of McBratney has explored in some depth the history underpinning what were distinct legal approaches in these three settings. 5. Rightly or wrongly, the law in each three cases has become a largely harmonised set of principles and this essay does not question that long-standing development, which can be traced
Taxing the consumption of owner-Occupied residential property
- Authors: Peacock, Christine
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Vat Monitor Vol. 24, no. 5 (2013), p. 299-301
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
Child protection and fathering where there is domestic violence : Contradictions and consequences
- Authors: Smith, Joanie , Humphreys, Cathy
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Child & Family Social Work Vol. 24, no. 1 (2019), p. 156-163
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Children live in different contexts of protection and vulnerability when exposed to domestic violence. The negative impacts for many children are consistent and widely acknowledged. However, the implication that this requires men who use violence to address their fathering has been slower to emerge. This article draws from 69 in-depth qualitative interviews with men, women, and workers across four men's behaviour change programmes in rural Victoria, Australia. Particular attention is given to men's attitudes to their fathering and the formal and informal consequences they experienced as a result of their violence and its impact on their fathering. Although most men came to recognize that their violence impacted their children, they failed to make the connection that the involvement of statutory child protection services in their lives was a direct consequence of their abusive behaviour. This article explores this disconnection by fathers who use violence, their attitude to the involvement of statutory child protection services, and identifies the implications for social work practitioners in addressing this issue.
Quelling P2P infringement: Private American harbours or public French graduations?
- Authors: Brennan, David
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Telecommunications Journal of Australia Vol. 62, no. 4 (2012), p. 55.1-55.15
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Two basic legal models have evolved to tackle the problem of unlawful P2P distribution: safe harbour and graduated response. This article will discuss the two models, with a focus on the American safe harbour regime and the French graduated response regime. Also considered is the open question of what will occur in Australia in the aftermath of the High Court's denial of ISP liability in Roadshow Films v iiNet.
Is there a viable way to tax the consumption of immovable property that is more consistent with the economic objective of the VAT?
- Authors: Peacock, Christine
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of the Australasian Tax Teachers Association Vol. 13, no. 1 (2018), p. 336-350
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The design of value added tax (VAT)† systems is generally based on an assumption known as the ‘prepaid method’. Under this method, it is assumed that the value of goods at the time of purchase (the first transaction) is equal to the value of the use and enjoyment (consumption) by the owner of the goods. VAT is imposed on the first purchase of goods, and later sales of goods from consumer to consumer are not subject to VAT. This generally produces the correct result. However, the general appreciation in the value of immovable property may result in the value of total consumption of owner-occupied housing being greater than the value that was taxed at the time of first purchase. This is inconsistent with the economic objective of VAT, which is to tax the flow of consumption. A possible alternative would be to subject imputed rent (the net value of services rendered by a house to its owner-occupier for which they would otherwise pay cash rent to a landlord) to VAT. Imputed rent has been regarded as part of the tax base for income tax purposes in many countries. However, no country includes imputed rent in its VAT base. This article outlines some of the practical considerations that would be involved in including imputed rent in the VAT base.
The role of love stories in Romance Scams : A qualitative analysis of fraudulent profiles
- Authors: Kopp, Christian , Layton, Robert , Sillitoe, Jim , Gondal, Iqbal
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Cyber Criminology Vol. 9, no. 2 (2016), p. 205-216
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The Online Romance Scam is a very successful scam which causes considerable financial and emotional damage to its victims. In this paper, we provide a perspective that might be helpful to explain the success of this scam. In a similar way to the "The Nigerian letter", we propose that the scam techniques appeal to strong emotions, which are clearly involved in Romantic relationships. We also assume that the same success factors found in normal relationships contribute to the success of the romance scam. In an exploratory study using a qualitative analysis of fraudulent profiles from an international dating website, we examined this assumption. The findings show that personal affinities related to personal romantic imaginations, which are described by personal love stories, play an important role in the success of a romance scam. © 2016 International Journal of Cyber Criminology (IJCC).