List of Titles

Triumphant, troubled, then terminal: an examination of the Cain and Kirner decade 30 years on

- Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2013
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Labour History (Australia) Vol. 105, no. (2013), p. 27-46
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Description: More than 30 years have elapsed since the election of the Cain Labor government in Victoria in April 1982 and, given that only limited academic literature exists on this period of governance in Australia's second most populous state, it is worth examining in detail the Cain and Kirner Labor governments. This article sets this period in the context of the longer political history of Victoria, provides analysis of Labor's rise from electoral inconsequence to government, and charts the course of Labor's decade in office until it ended unceremoniously in October 1992. The article argues that, in contrast to the Hawke and Keating federal governments, Labor in Victoria largely eschewed neoliberalism and pursued a more traditional social democratic agenda. This program proved fruitful until "the recession we had to have" severely impacted on the local economy in 1990-91 and led to the landslide defeat of 1992.

The rhetoric of "The Mandate" in contemporary Australian context

- Strating, Bec, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Strating, Bec , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2018
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Australian Journal of Politics and History Vol. 64, no. 4 (2018), p. 624-640
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Description: The “electoral mandate” serves a useful function as a political weapon in competitive party democracies, notwithstanding the ambiguities, multi-layered complexities and uncertainty of many of the issues which the concept involves. The diverse uses of “mandate” indicate competing ideas in Australian politics about the responsibilities of parties to pursue commitments made during campaigns and the extent of rights to govern. This article portrays mandate not as a “theory” or “doctrine”, but as a rhetorical device that needs to be examined in the context of “contested word use” in political speech. The renewed interest in the study of rhetoric reflects the usefulness of examining multiple and layered meanings that exist under what ostensibly may appear as “empty rhetoric”, and to understand how rhetoric is used to persuade an audience of the validity of a particular action or viewpoint. While mandate often comes under attack as “meaningless”, it is a useful persuasive tool employed by politicians to consolidate their legitimacy and justify their rights to implement a political agenda and, as such, it contributes to public discourses relating to the nature of political representation.

Farm crime: The forgotten frontier

- Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Locating crime in context and place: Perspectives on regional, rural and remote in Australia p. 96-107
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Description: Crime devastates lives and communities: not only in cities, but in remote settings, provincial towns, smaller urbanised regional areas and on the urban fringe. Offending on farming sites has regrettably, been hitherto a largely forgotten frontier of crime but one that warrants considerable further attention, not leats because of the financial implications for farming communities but also for its sociological impacts. This chapter will pursue pertinent issues in relation to farm crime, examing the types of thefts from farms, and the reluctance of some communities to report different types of crime. It will draw upon primary interviews conducted with Victoria Police members (interviews with author November 2013) and survey data collected between October 2013 and September 2014 (Victorian Farm Crime Survey 2014) . The role and effectiveness of Victoria Police's Agricultural Liaison Officers will be considered, challenges for contemporary rural policing explored, and how to address ingrained reticence in country communities to report crime, seek assistance when needed and overcome fear.

Introduction: Locating regional, rural and remote crime in theoretical and contemporary context

- Harris, Bridget, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Harris, Bridget , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Locating crime in context and place: perspectives on regional, rural and remote Australia p. 1-14
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Description: The urban focus of crime has dominated the attention of criminologists. Although images of idyllic, crime-free areas beyond the cityscape persist, there is scant academic consideration of the realities and variances of crime across regional, rural and remote Australia. Contributors to Locating Crime explore the nexus between crime and space, examining the complexities that exist in policing, prosecuting and punishing crime in different zones. The various authors draw upon original knowledge and insight and utilise innovative research and an interdisciplinary approach.

Police as builders of social capital with farmers : Addressing property theft from farms in Victoria, Australia

- Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2015
Type: Text , Conference paper
Relation: Crime, justice and social democracy : Proceedings of the 3 Vol. 1, p. 18-26
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Description: Introduced in 2011, Victoria Police Agricultural Liaison Officers (AGLOs) have expertise in rural crime and are tasked with providing enhanced responses to farm victimisation. In addition to operating in a detective capacity, AGLOs perform educative and outreach duties. Utilising a framework of social capital, this paper investigates the roles which AGLOs assume in building and strengthening relationships between police and farmers. It considers the importance of strong police-community relationships, community policing and the problem-orientated policing approach of the AGLO program. It is asserted that with further resourcing, AGLOs could concentrate more directly on building trust with local communities to allow for awareness of, and better responses to, property thefts from farms.

Introduction: Locating regional, rural and remote crime in theoretical and contemporary context

- Harris, Bridget, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Harris, Bridget , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Locating crime in context and place: perspectives on regional, rural and remote Australia p. 1-14
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Description: The urban focus of crime has dominated the attention of criminologists. Although images of idyllic, crime-free areas beyond the cityscape persist, there is scant academic consideration of the realities and variances of crime across regional, rural and remote Australia. Contributors to Locating Crime explore the nexus between crime and space, examining the complexities that exist in policing, prosecuting and punishing crime in different zones. The various authors draw upon original knowledge and insight and utilise innovative research and an interdisciplinary approach.

Prosecutions in the summary jurisdictions

- Camilleri, Marg, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Camilleri, Marg , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Australian Courts : controversies, challenges and change Chapter 5 p. 95-119
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Description: Police prosecutors play a critical role in the Victorian summary jurisdiction. While scarce, the available literature identifies concerns about the use of police prosecutors, including a lack of independence from investigative police the opaque police prosecutor decision-making the potential bias in favour of police informants the lack of uniformity in training requirements the high workloads and the lack of clear, uniform and public guidelines all which may have real or perceived impacts upon court outcomes for accused and victims alike and upon the public’s confidence in the administration of justice. This is particularly so in the context of increasing volume, complexity and seriousness of summary offences. This chapter supports the need for an evidence-based review of police-led prosecutions which includes the impacts on case outcomes, and whether certain reforms may be necessary.

Challenging court landscapes and opportunities for change

- Camilleri, Marg, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Camilleri, Marg , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Australian Courts : controversies, challenges and change Chapter 16 p. 367-390
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Description: Courts are complex institutions which must constantly adjust to ensure that they are fulfilling their responsibilities to defendants, victims, witnesses, society and others who enter court spaces either virtually or physically. Courts must also manage their relationships with other agencies (whether justice or community) on whom they rely. Courts face an array of challenges in contemporary Australia, including the COVID-19 pandemic which has necessitated courts to pivot from inherently complex systems which are primarily public facing to virtual spaces which must continue to maintain the rule of law and to be open, transparent and subject to scrutiny. This chapter considers other challenges, too, which various courts and those who work in, with or appear before are facing. It assesses a suite of potential micro and macro reforms, advocating for ongoing systemic and structural change.

Victims’ Participatory Rights

- Camilleri, Marg, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Camilleri, Marg , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Australian Courts : controversies, challenges and change Chapter 12 p. 269-296
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Description: Victims of crime are key to holding perpetrators to account. Despite being instigators of reports, victim/survivors of sexual assault have long felt alienated from the court process and criminal justice system more broadly. This chapter draws on contemporary literature to consider the contested terrain of “participatory rights” for victim/survivors. Highlighted are a range of reforms implemented since 1994 which elevate the voices and acknowledge the experiences of victim/survivors. Despite the reforms, victim/survivors continue to feel alienated and, in particular, the voices of victim/survivors with cognitive impairment and complex communication needs are sometimes ignored at the point of first report. Considered here are the barriers to effective reform implementation and proposed reforms for continuous advocacy and legal representation. This chapter supports calls for legal representation to continue through to the conclusion of trial proceedings.

Politics, parliament and the courts

- Camilleri, Marg, Harkness, Alistair

Authors: Camilleri, Marg , Harkness, Alistair
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Australian Courts : controversies, challenges and change Chapter 2 p. 19-44
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Description: Recognising the oftentimes polarising nature of court decision-making—and the overt public interest and political sensitivities which exist—this chapter focuses on the public influence on legislative decision-making with regard to the courts and court processes. It considers the blurring of boundaries in regard to mandatory sentencing the parliamentary appetite for sentencing reform and the questioning of sentencing outcomes and other court practices. How to reconcile public attitudes (and thus parliamentary action) with magisterial, judicial, parole board and bail justice decision-making is a significant challenge. Various actors have a role to play in promoting accountability and positive change, including sentencing advisory councils, parliamentary law reform committees, legal services boards, community legal centres and other bodies—in advocating for positive change, fairness and equity based on sound evidence rather than potentially knee-jerk reactions to public conjecture.

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