School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
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ItemThe women on the hill : an ethnographic study of deinstitutionalization(University of Melbourne, 1995)
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ItemFeels like home : young people's lived experiences and meanings of home(University of Melbourne, 2008)
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ItemFactors affecting the utilization of post acute care by the elderly in Singapore(University of Melbourne, 2007)
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ItemSelf-regulation : a conceptual frame for intervention with young offenders within the justice system in Singapore(University of Melbourne, 2006)
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ItemSelf-regulation : a conceptual frame for intervention with young offenders within the justice system in Singapore(University of Melbourne, 2006)
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ItemThe status of women in Islam : a case study of Pakistan(University of Melbourne, 1999)
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ItemRegulating the risks of elder abuse in Australia : the changing nature of government responses(University of Melbourne, 2008)This thesis presents a policy analysis of Federal and State Government responses to elder abuse utilising three data sources, an extensive literature review, analysis of key government documents and interviews with expert stakeholders. Historical, sociological and criminological frameworks are used to explore contemporary responses to the abuse and neglect of older Australians. Modelling undertaken to estimate the current and projected scale of elder abuse predicted that there were 87,000 cases in 2007, that there would be 120,000 by 2017 and 200,000 by 2037. The ageing of the Australian population justifies the development of a more concerted and nationally co-ordinated strategy. Despite considerable contest between prevention and protection advocates, Australian Governments since the mid 1990s have adopted a fairly comprehensive and consistent policy framework involving prevention, investigation and case management, access to justice, legal and financial protections for older people without mental capacity, regulation and sanctions. This thesis argues that these six elements are likely to form the basis of future development and explores the utility of the responsive regulation thesis in such development. Several gaps in existing responses are identified, namely the lack of victim support services, the inadequate funding base, the low level of community and professional education and ambiguities about agency response responsibilities. Reforms needed over the next decade to address these gaps are identified.
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ItemJohn Cain and Victorian Labor 1917-1957( 1979)This thesis is partly a study of the Victorian Labor party's parliamentary performance, partly of the party's organizational wing, and to lesser extent it examines relations between the state Executive and the Trades Hall Council. This thesis is also the study of one man, John Cain, Victoria’s only really successful Labor leader. From an Irish, Catholic rural background, he joined the Victorian Socialist party and by 1917 won the state seat of Jika Jika (later Northcote). An earnest parliamentarian with good political and administrative skills, he fought his way to the Labor leadership by 1937 and was eventually Premier for three terms -1943. 1945-1947, and 1952-1955. He dies in 1957. (From synopsis)
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ItemThe many lives of the Goulburn River : sustainable management as ontological work( 2008)In this thesis I consider what it might be to do sustainable management of the Goulburn River, which meanders through the dry plains of northern Victoria, in Australia. This river touches many lives. It is celebrated as the "lifeblood" of local rural communities and the water supply for the "food bowl" of Australia. Economic development, social well-being, natural environment, and cultural heritage: a diverse array of community values and expectations are embodied in the contemporary management of the Goulburn River. The core theme of sustainable management with which I engage in this thesis is the integration of environment and development. Rather than evaluating sustainable management as more or less successful techniques, or as competing discourses, I interrogate sustainable management of the Goulburn River as ontological work. Using a material semiotic analytic, I tell of the many lives of what we call "the Goulburn River". These multiple river realities are emergent in particular orderings of routines, people, materials and narratives of river management and rural life. Through a series of historical narratives about post-settlement relations with the Goulburn River, I distinguish three modes of enacting river: utilitarian, ecological and sustainable. Utilitarian rivers proliferate throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, through an increasing array of rural industries that seek to progress the nation by improving mechanistic, under-utilised and deficient nature. Ecological rivers gain prominence in the late 20th century, amidst concerns that fragile, living, authentic nature is being threatened by human industry and requires protection. Amidst the recent antagonistic interferences between utilitarian rivers and ecological rivers, I identify the emergence of a new mode of enacting and relating rivers, that of sustainability. Utility and ecology are held in tension, I claim, in the contemporary vision for the Goulburn as sustainable or healthy working river. Through case studies of the sustainable management of the Goulburn River's frontages, flows and fish, I explore the ways in which river practitioners negotiate the ontological difference that is enacted in utilitarian and ecological rivers. Sustainable management, I contend, seeks to remake the relation between these river realities, to shift from an adversarial dynamic of competition to a more convivial dynamic of co-existence. Paddock and wildlife corridor; irrigation water and environmental water; trout fishery and native fish habitat: I argue that these utilitarian rivers and ecological rivers are made to intermingle by "cleaving" ontological difference. I distinguish a series of strategies through which these rivers are being drawn together whilst being held apart. This co-ordination and distribution of multiplicities produces ambiguous entanglements of rivers, which are invoked as sustainable or healthy working river. I thus identify sustainable management as holding together utilitarian rivers and ecological rivers in generative tension, thus sustaining ontological difference (albeit to varying degrees). In doing so, I confront the keen critiques of social science scholars about the vagueness of sustainability, and argue that we need to learn ways of living with ontological ambiguity.
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ItemThe ethical foundations of restorative justice( 2008)Restorative Justice offers a promising new approach for dealing with crimes in modern societies. There has been a considerable amount of research on the topic, yet much of this work has been done with limited reference to the discussions in political philosophy and the philosophy of punishment. This neglect means that there are still significant theoretical challenges facing the theory behind restorative justice. This thesis places restorative justice within the larger philosophical context and develops the necessary framework for restorative justice as a theory of criminal justice. The thesis beings by examining traditional justifications for punishment, as given by consequentialists and retributivists. The consequentialist justifications fall prey to empirical questions regarding the effectiveness of punishment in achieving the aim of prevention and theoretical objections to consequentialist theories. Retributivism is able to avoid the problems that face consequentialist theories, but the justification for punishment that it offers fails to prove that punishment is always necessary, and it is particularly problematic in non-ideal societies. Thus, while punishment is permissible in response to crime, it is not an obligation. The first step in the argument for restorative justice is to examine two approaches to desert in responding to crime. The approach advocated treats desert as a fluid and relational concept based on the conception of social justice known as democratic equality. The thesis then identifies three crucial aspects to the accounts of restorative justice that have been given in the literature. These are the theories of personhood and crime that restorative justice relies upon and the role that punishment and retribution play in restorative justice. The thesis argues that reliance on a relational conception of personhood is unnecessary and advocates justifying restorative justice on the basis of the conception of social justice. The thesis then examines traditional theories of crime and compares them to the relational understanding offered by proponents of restorative justice. The relational understanding is advocated based on its ability to provide a single principle of criminalisation that relies upon the more general theory of social justice within liberal egalitarian society. The place of punishment and retribution in restorative justice is then examined. I argue that neither concept is necessarily included or excluded from such processes, but that there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the coerciveness of restorative practices. The thesis concludes by examining the type of system that the theory advocated could support in the current social context. In light of the worries about the coerciveness of restorative proposals and the inappropriateness of a restorative response to all instances of crime a multifaceted system is advocated. This system would treat restoration as the preferred response, while providing responses in situations where restoration is not appropriate and where due process concerns require a more traditional approach. It is argued that such a system would be a significant improvement over current practices and more in line with the conception of social justice as democratic equality.