Melbourne Law School - Research Publications

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    Social Media and Court Communication
    BLACKHAM, A ; WIlliams, G (Sweet and Maxwell, 2015)
    Courts have traditionally relied on the delivery of judicial decisions as their sole means of direct communication with the general public. Over time this reliance is shifting, including through the willingness of courts to have their proceedings televised. Courts have also sought to have greater influence on how others communicate about and report their decisions, such as by employing public information officers to prepare press releases on court activities and liaise with the media. Most recently, judges and courts have taken their engagement with the public one step further by experimenting with the use of social media. Social media such as Twitter or Facebook provide a new means by which courts can enhance their openness and accessibility. However, such technologies also come with a fresh set of challenges. In particular, unlike television or media reporting, social media is designed to foster dialogue and ongoing interaction between participants. This needs to be carefully considered, as the use of social media has the potential to affect not only the processes by which courts communicate, but also the nature and substance of court proceedings. While this latter effect could be positive, injudicious use of social media could compromise a court’s ability to operate with independence and integrity. Drawing on a case study of social media use by courts in three common law jurisdictions (the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America), this paper considers the extent to which direct communication processes via social media may further the underlying objectives of court communication and enhance the courts’ constitutional role. It considers the opportunities and challenges posed by such media for courts, and how the inherent limits and constraints of social media may affect the nature of court communication. We assess the extent to which courts should make greater use of social media to enhance their existing communication processes and consider whether additional safeguards should be adopted to ensure the use of social media does not detrimentally impact upon the judicial system.
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    We are All Entrepreneurs Now : Options and New Approaches for Adapting Equality Law for the Gig Economy
    Blackham, A (Kluwer Law International BV, 2018-12-01)
    As the world of work moves to increasingly precarious, temporary and insecure forms of labour, traditional forms of work regulation are becoming less relevant for the ‘gig economy’. Equality law has traditionally been framed as protecting ‘employees’ (and now ‘workers’) against acts of discrimination by ‘employers’. As these categories become increasingly remote from the lived experience of work, the relevance and potential of equality law to secure individual employment rights becomes increasingly limited. Drawing on comparative legal doctrinal analysis of the UK and Australia, this article considers options and new approaches for protecting workers from discrimination in new forms of employment, canvassing ideas such as the extension of equalitylaw to non-traditional workers, collectivized approaches to individual protection, and the use of positive duties to regulate the gig economy. This article questions the basic relevance and structuring of equality law for new forms of work. If equality law is to remain relevant and effective, serious changes are required to how it is conceived, framed and promoted. Merely extending existing ideas of ‘equality law’ to new forms of work will not respond to fundamental shifts in the labour market: there is a need to rethink and retheorize the role and purpose of equality law
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    Under Wraps: Secrecy, Confidentiality and the Enforcement of Equality Law in Australia and the United Kingdom
    Allen, D ; Blackham, A (Melbourne University, Law Review Association, 2019)
    Confidentiality has become an integral part of the individual enforcement model for equality law in Australia and the United Kingdom. Contrary to the focus on openness and transparency in the courts generally, confidentiality is embedded in the enforcement, process, and outcomes of equality law. In this article, we consider the role and utility of confidentiality in equality law in Australia and the UK. We scrutinise the ways confidentiality is embedded in the enforcement, process, and outcomes of equality law in each jurisdiction, including via an examination of statutory provisions, the processes adopted by statutory equality agencies, and the available information about claims. We argue that the enforcement of equality law requires a more nuanced balance between confidentiality and transparency to support the individual and systemic aims of equality law and the imperatives of the rule of law.
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    The accountability of members of Australia's federal parliament for misconduct
    Blackham, A ; Williams, G (Informa UK Limited, 2013-09-01)
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    Using the Delphi Method to Advance Legal Reform: A New Method for Empirical Labour Law Research?
    BLACKHAM, A ; Blackham, A ; Ludlow, A (Hart Publishing, 2015)
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    Extending Working Life for Older Workers: Age Discrimination Law, Policy and Practice
    Blackham, A (Hart Publishing, 2016)
    Drawing on qualitative expert interviews, statistical analysis and organisational case studies, this book illustrates the failure of age discrimination laws to achieve attitudinal change in the UK, and reveals the limited prevalence of ...
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    Re-Systematising Labour Law: Beyond Traditional Systems Theory and Reflexive Law?
    Blackham, A ; Blackham, A ; Kullmann, M ; Zbyszewska, A (Hart Publishing, 2019)
    Reflexive law has an enduring place in the theory of labour law, having featured prominently in the work of leading labour law scholars.[1] Grounded in systems theory, reflexive law offers a key means of moving beyond command and control regulation, to consider how law interacts with other social systems. Systems theory, as developed by Niklas Luhmann, argues that the world is composed of social subsystems, each of which is autopoietically closed but cognitively open. Law, in this view, is one social sub-system, with its own system of self-referential and self-constituting communication. One system cannot influence, control, or determine other systems: instead, systems might occasionally ‘irritate’ each other. Law therefore cannot control the economy, labour market or organisations: it can only irritate other social systems to effect change. For Luhmann, then, the focus is on self-referential communications within systems, rather than any input-output relation between them.
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    Organisational Responses to the Abolition of Mandatory Retirement: Case Studies of Australian University Practice
    BLACKHAM, A (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016-07-01)
    The abolition of the UK default retirement age (DRA) poses particular challenges for universities. However, it is still unclear how UK universities will respond to this change. To investigate these issues, this article considers theoretical perspectives regarding how organisations respond to change, with a particular focus on reflexive law. It then compares this literature with the results of comparative organisational case studies undertaken with six Australian universities in November 2013. Drawing on comparative analysis of labour laws in Australia and the UK, it considers the extent to which these responses may inform the future reactions of UK universities to the abolition of the DRA.
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    Interrogating the ‘Dignity’ Argument for Mandatory Retirement: An Undignified Development?
    Blackham, A (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2019-09-01)
    Human dignity is often cited as a justification and foundation for equality law. However, it is also used in some contexts to justify detracting from equal treatment, including in relation to mandatory retirement ages in the UK. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship from legal theory and industrial relations, this article argues case law on retirement ages adopts a limited approach to the notion of ‘dignity’, which is grounded in age stereotypes. It considers how a re-conceptualisation of ‘dignity’ might inform the future development of the law on retirement ages and proposes alternative ways to secure individual dignity in employment that do not depend on mandatory retirement ages.
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    Age Discrimination Beyond Employment
    Blackham, A (Kobe University, 2019)
    Population ageing is reshaping the demographic make-up of countries across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Individuals are, on average, living longer, healthier lives. This is both a major success story for the OECD, and a potential challenge for society, as individuals develop different needs into old age.