Melbourne Law School - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailablePolicing Technology-Facilitated Domestic Abuse (TFDA): Views of Service Providers in Australia and the United Kingdom(Springer, 2023-08-02)Abstract Purpose: Technology-facilitated domestic abuse (TFDA) is a prevalent form of domestic abuse. While police are recognized as critical first responders to intimate partner violence, there is limited research about what the challenges to policing TFDA are perceived to be and how they might be addressed. This article speaks to this issue. Methods: Between April 2020 and June 2022, n = 196 Australian and n = 256 United Kingdom representatives of services engaged with domestic abuse victim-survivors participated in an online survey about TFDA. Survey components asked respondents to report on challenges to policing TFDA. The authors analyzed these comments. Results: Key themes identified from the survey responses regarding challenges to policing TFDA include that participants held perceptions that (a) police do not recognize TFDA as an aspect of coercive control and thus do not recognize its seriousness, (b) police receive inadequate training about TFDA, (c) police have insufficient time and personnel to tackle TFDA and (d) evidence collection is an obstacle to policing TFDA. Conclusions: The study points to a need to address the perceived concerns associated with policing TFDA to effectively respond to domestic abuse in the digital age and ensure domestic abuse perpetrators who misuse emerging technologies are held accountable.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableBeyond the unwritten law: The limits of statutory unconscionable conduct(Lexis, 2023)The meaning and scope of the statutory prohibition on unconscionable conduct in s 21 of the Australian Consumer Law (and s 12CB of the Australian Securities and Investments Act) have proven consistently uncertain, particularly over the extent to which the prohibition is not ‘limited by the unwritten law’. In its latest iteration, the majority decision of the High Court in Stubbings v Jams 2 Pty Ltd gives weight to a conservative model of statutory unconscionable conduct, based on the equitable doctrine of unconscionable dealing. This approach is perhaps unsurprising given the express invocation of the concept of unconscionability to describe the statutory standard of prohibited conduct. But it is also problematic because the approach neglects the guidance that may be gained from the very provisions of the statute in determining whether conduct is unconscionable. This means the potential of the statutory prohibition in addressing market misconduct, unlimited by the unwritten law, is stifled. In particular, the current conservative approach to statutory unconscionable conduct may be ill-suited to responding to businesses that use insights from their relationship with consumers, rather than an overt flexing of superior bargaining power, to influence outcomes in their favour. If it is thought appropriate to address these more subtle kinds of misconduct, then we suggest that, rather than accepting another round of reforms to the scope of the statutory prohibition, it may be time to recognise its limits.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe Making of Colonial and Postcolonial Law by South Asian Muslims(Cambridge University Press, 2023)Traversing nearly 250 years of South Asian law together, Katherine Lemons’s and Elizabeth Lhost’s recent monographs on Islamic legal actors and South Asian governance are major contributions to the fields of legal anthropology, legal history, and Islamic legal studies. Given the acceleration of Hindu nationalism in contemporary India, Lemons’s and Lhost’s works are eminently timely. But they are also timeless in their exploration of robust Islamic legal traditions shaped by and shaping Indian and South Asian governance across multiple centuries and regimes both political and epistemic. For years to come, scholars, students, and other commentators will grapple with, deploy, and contest the case studies, analyses, and conclusions of these two ambitious and innovative books. This essay summarizes the structure and major arguments first of Lhost’s exploration of how Indian Islamic legality changed with and influenced the dawn, climax, and decline of British sovereignty in South Asia and then, of Lemons’s multisited investigation of the role played by diverse Islamic legal practices in independent India’s secular ambitions. Following this overview, the essay then highlights two points of synergy between these books but also two points of equally apparent tension. Both of these kinds of mutual entanglement represent launching points for future scholarly investigations of the complex operations of Islamic legality persisting in India irrespective of fleeting Delhi regimes.
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ItemThe Responsibility to Protect: Inequities in International Aid Flows to Myanmar and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and their Impact on Maternal and Child Health(Taylor and Francis Group, 2012)The Union of Myanmar and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are the most disadvantaged aid recipients in Asia. In this paper we describe and analyse the inequities in international aid flows to these countries from a health equity and “responsibility to protect” perspective. Review of public health and health systems literature and examination of international aid flows reveals that countries with a comparable gross national income receive total aid flows 11 to 12 times larger than do Myanmar (Burma) and DPR Korea (North Korea). Although the issue of aid effectiveness in these governance contexts remains a significant challenge, there is nonetheless a joint national and international responsibility to protect women and children through the careful targeting of health humanitarian aid and development programs.
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ItemThe Islamophobic Consensus: Datafying racism in Catalonia(Cambridge University Press, 2023-11)Chapter 8 analyses the use of AI and ADM tools in welfare and surveillance through the lens of critical race studies. Aitor Jimenez and Ainhoa Nadia Douhaibi point to the necessity of building a non-Anglocentric theoretical framework from which to study a new global phenomenon: the digital welfare and surveillance state. Accordingly, the authors frame its rise within the wider context of the Southern European iteration of racial neoliberalism, what they coin as the Islamophobic Consensus. As the chapter demonstrates, the digital welfare and surveillance state does not rely on the same technologies, focus on the same subjects, and pursues the same objectives in every context. On the contrary, it draws on contextual genealogies of domination, specific socioeconomic structures, and distinctive forms of distributing power. The authors provide an empirical analysis on the ways the Islamophobic Consensus is being operationalised in Catalonia and expose the overlapped racism mechanisms governing the lives of racialized black and brown young adults. The chapter demonstrates how ADM technologies designed to govern “deviated” “risky” and “dangerous” Muslim youth “radicals” connect with colonial punitive governmental strategies.
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ItemResponse to the ISSCR guidelines on human-animal chimera research(WILEY, 2023-02)The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has recently released the 2021 update of its guidelines. The update includes detailed new recommendations on human-animal chimera research. This paper argues that the ISSCR recommendations fail to address the core ethical concerns raised by neurological chimeras-namely, concerns about moral status. In minimising moral status concerns, the ISSCR both breaks rank with other major reports on human-animal chimera research and rely on controversial claims about the grounds of moral status that many people will rightly reject. A more robust framework for regulating human-animal chimera research still needs to be developed.
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ItemEvaluating User Preferences, Comprehension, and Trust in Apps for Environmental Health Hazards: Qualitative Case Study(JMIR PUBLICATIONS, INC, 2022-12)BACKGROUND: Climate change is projected to increase environmental health hazard risks through fire-related air pollution and increased airborne pollen levels. To protect vulnerable populations, it is imperative that evidence-based and accessible interventions are available. The environmental health app, AirRater, was developed in 2015 in Australia to provide information on multiple atmospheric health hazards in near real time. The app allows users to view local environmental conditions, and input and track their personal symptoms to enable behaviors that protect health in response to environmental hazards. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop insights into users' perceptions of engagement, comprehension, and trust in AirRater to inform the future development of environmental health apps. Specifically, this study explored which AirRater features users engaged with, what additional features or functionality needs users felt they required, users' self-perception of understanding app information, and their level of trust in the information provided. METHODS: A total of 42 adult AirRater users were recruited from 3 locations in Australia to participate in semistructured interviews to capture location- or context-specific experiences. Participants were notified of the recruitment opportunity through multiple avenues including newsletter articles and social media. Informed consent was obtained before participation, and the participants were remunerated for their time and perspectives. A preinterview questionnaire collected data including age range, any preexisting conditions, and location (postcode). All participant data were deidentified. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo 12 (QSR International). RESULTS: Participants discussed app features and functionality, as well as their understanding of, and trust in, the information provided by the app. Most (26/42, 62%) participants used and valued visual environmental hazard features, especially maps, location settings, and hazard alerts. Most (33/42, 78%) found information in the app easy to understand and support their needs, irrespective of their self-reported literacy levels. Many (21/42, 50%) users reported that they did not question the accuracy of the data presented in the app. Suggested enhancements include the provision of meteorological information (eg, wind speed or direction, air pressure, UV rating, and humidity), functionality enhancements (eg, forecasting, additional alerts, and the inclusion of health advice), and clarification of existing information (eg, symptom triggers), including the capacity to download personal summary data for a specified period. CONCLUSIONS: Participants' perspectives can inform the future development of environmental health apps. Specifically, participants' insights support the identification of key elements for the optimal development of environmental health app design, including streamlining, capacity for users to customize, use of real time data, visual cues, credibility, and accuracy of data. The results also suggest that, in the future, iterative collaboration between developers, environmental agencies, and users will likely promote better functional design, user trust in the data, and ultimately better population health outcomes.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableTelehealth use by mental health professionals during COVID-19(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2022-03-31)OBJECTIVE: To examine and describe telehealth use and attitudes among mental health professionals in Australia and New Zealand during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Participants completed a brief online survey between May and July 2020. Participants were recruited via peak and professional organisations and through psychology-focused social media groups and networks. The survey examined frequency of telehealth use, reasons for non-use, telehealth modalities, prior use, attitudes towards use, plans for future use, and training, information or resource needs. RESULTS: A total of 528 professionals (85.2% female) participated in the survey, of which 98.9% reported using telehealth and 32.2% reported using telehealth exclusively. Respondents were less likely to use telehealth if they worked with clients experiencing complex issues (e.g. trauma), had more hours of weekly client contact, had a choice about whether to use telehealth or felt less positive about using technology. Respondents were more likely to hold positive views towards telehealth if they were female, had used online programmes with clients previously, were frequent telehealth users and were comfortable using technology. Participants expressed mixed views on client safety and the impact of telehealth on therapeutic process and effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Telehealth has a clear and ongoing role within mental healthcare and there is a need for strong guidance for professionals on how to manage client risk, privacy, security and adapt therapy for delivery via telehealth. In particular, there is a need for individual-, organisational-, professional- and policy-level responses to ensure that telehealth remains a viable and effective healthcare medium into the future.