Melbourne Law School - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 8 of 8
-
ItemCOVID-19: PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY POWERS AND ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS IN AUSTRALIA(THOMSON REUTERS AUSTRALIA LTD, 2021)During the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, governments in all jurisdictions (except New South Wales) have declared states of emergency and exercised powers under their public health emergency legislation. Highly restrictive measures have been introduced pursuant to the exercise of such powers. Extraordinary government action demands strong accountability. This section piece reviews the public health emergency legislation in all Australian jurisdictions and finds that inadequate accountability mechanisms are embedded in the statutes. This section piece demonstrates that there is insufficient transparency around the decisions being made by the Executive under the public health emergency powers. The section piece also reveals that there are very few options built into the public health emergency legislation for review of executive action for its legality, meritoriousness and fairness.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableMissing in Action: The Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol and the WTO(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2021-06)This article addresses the question of how the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol (Global Strategy) and its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) have been used in the context of discussions about alcohol and tobacco measures, respectively, in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade. The article finds considerable differences not only in the extent to which the FCTC is used compared to the Global Strategy , but also in the ways in which the two global health instruments have been used in the WTO context. The article proffers three key reasons for these differences: the legal status of the instrument; the content of the instrument in terms of whether it contains guidance as to the use of detailed, evidence-based measures; and the role and legitimacy that the instrument accords to the relevant industry interests. The article considers how the insights from the research can inform the developments in global governance of alcohol that are underway in WHO policy. It also positions its findings in terms of the wider international law debates about hard law versus soft law, and whether different types of international regulatory instruments and the legal status of these instruments impact their effectiveness in supporting domestic public health measures.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailablePublic Health and the Global Governance of Alcohol(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2021-06)
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableMedicinal cannabis and driving: the intersection of health and road safety policy(Elsevier, 2021-11-01)Background Recent shifting attitudes towards the medical use of cannabis has seen legal access pathways established in many jurisdictions in North America, Europe and Australasia. However, the positioning of cannabis as a legitimate medical product produces some tensions with other regulatory frameworks. A notable example of this is the so-called ‘zero tolerance’ drug driving legal frameworks, which criminalise the presence of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in a driver's bodily fluids irrespective of impairment. Here we undertake an analysis of this policy issue based on a case study of the introduction of medicinal cannabis in Australia. Methods We examine the regulatory approaches used for managing road safety risks associated with potentially impairing prescription medicines and illicit drugs in Australian jurisdictions, as well as providing an overview of evidence relating to cannabis and road safety risk, unintended impacts of the ‘zero-tolerance’ approach on patients, and the regulation of medicinal cannabis and driving in comparable jurisdictions. Results Road safety risks associated with medicinal cannabis appear similar or lower than numerous other potentially impairing prescription medications. The application of presence-based offences to medicinal cannabis patients appears to derive from the historical status of cannabis as a prohibited drug with no legitimate medical application. This approach is resulting in patient harms including criminal sanctions when not impaired and using the drug as directed by their doctor, or the forfeiting of car use and related mobility. Others who need to drive are excluded from accessing a needed medication and associated therapeutic benefit. ‘Medical exemptions’ for medicinal cannabis in comparable jurisdictions and other drugs included in presence offences in Australia (e.g. methadone) demonstrate a feasible alternative approach. Conclusion We conclude that in medical-only access models there is little evidence to justify the differential treatment of medicinal cannabis patients, compared with those taking other prescription medications with potentially impairing effects.
-
ItemIndustry Submissions on Alcohol in the Context of Australia's Trade and Investment Agreements: A Content and Thematic Analysis of Publicly Available Documents(Wiley, 2021)Alcohol use is a leading risk factor for death and disability, responsible for 3 million deaths in 2016. The alcohol industry is a powerful player in shaping trade and investment rules in ways that can constrain the ability of governments to regulate alcoholic beverages to reduce harm. This paper analyses publicly available submissions about alcohol in the context of Australia’s free trade agreements to determine the key themes put forward by industry.
-
ItemAlcohol Labelling Rules in Free Trade Agreements: Advancing the Industry's Interests at the Expense of the Public's Health(Wiley, 2021)The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) included novel rules for wine and spirits requiring parties to allow wine and spirits importers to display information required by the importing country on a supplementary label rather than on the standard label. Since the TPP negotiations concluded, alcohol-specific supplementary labelling rules have begun to appear in other trade agreements. The aim of this paper was to map the new instruments containing these rules and examine developments in the rules with implications for health information on alcohol containers.
-
ItemAlcohol Marketing and Social Media: A Challenge for Public Health Control(Wiley, 2021)In public health terms, alcohol is no ordinary commodity. It accounts not only for a substantial portion of the world’s burden of disease but also for much social harm. Because of this, a majority of countries have some kind of restrictions beyond general rules for foodstuffs on alcohol’s availability and promotion. On the international level, however, restrictions in the interests of public health are minimal. On the contrary, indeed, international and regional trade agreements are increasingly restricting what national governments can do to control the alcohol market.
-
Item