Edited by the Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology

New Research

Nuclear weapons: Arms control, proliferation and nuclear security

15 March 2010The nuclear arms control agenda currently enjoys a prominence that it has not had since the first half of the 1990s. 
Cyber crime 2.0 versus the Twittering classes

Cyber crime 2.0 versus the Twittering classes

06 March 2010This paper contends that the hype surrounding the steep rise of social media networking website use has tended to mask the reality of a corresponding growth in online fraud and crime.
Perspectives on migrants 2010

Perspectives on migrants 2010

05 March 2010Issues and debates relating to migrants, ethnicity and migration programs are common place within the Australian political and media landscape.
Reforming the global order

Reforming the global order

05 March 2010Despite the many reasons to be pessimistic about the current world situation there are some distinguished optimists out there, with concrete plans for change for the better.
Here to help: Strengthening the Defence role in Australian disaster management

Here to help: Strengthening the Defence role in Australian disaster management

02 March 2010This report argues that it's time for Defence to more fully incorporate domestic disaster assistance tasks as part of its core business.
Challenges in dealing with politically exposed persons

Challenges in dealing with politically exposed persons

26 February 2010This paper outlines some of the key challenges and policy implications related to dealing with prominent people and risks when entering into financial transactions and business relationships with them.
More...

Crime

From crisis to crime: the escalation of civil and family law issues to criminal matters in Aboriginal communities in NSW

10 March 2010The issue of appropriate legal and social supports is critical to the question of Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. This article discusses this relationship, arguing that the overwhelming emphasis on communities' criminal law needs distracts from other equally important, though perhaps less urgent, practical concerns.

Targeting scams

08 March 2010More than 20,000 scam reports were made to the ACCC in 2009, an approximate increase of 16 per cent compared with 2008. This report explains key trends in scam activity and highlights the impact of scams on the community.

Rights

The future of outstations/homelands

The future of outstations/homelands

15 March 2010This report records the broad commentary from a workshop about Aboriginal homelands or outstations held at the ANU in October 2009.

Do employers discriminate by gender? A field experiment in female-dominated occupations

05 March 2010This paper tests for gender discrimination by sending fake CVs to apply for entry-level jobs.

Child protection and freedom of speech online

01 March 2010Advocates of online child protection and freedom of expression share a deep-seated belief in the importance of protecting basic human rights. Yet these beliefs are often clouded by perceived (and real) opposition in the actual practice of law, policy, and regulation. This has restricted the policy options available for dealing with threats to both child safety and free speech online, and has often resulted in these interests being portrayed as diametrically opposed.

Commentary

Rudd Government abandons border security of privacy

23 October 2009Is protecting our personal information less important than border protection for narcotics, immigration or quarantine? asks Graham Greenleaf.

The devil in the detail

20 August 2009The release of the government’s security law proposals reveals that the Coalition’s approach still casts a long shadow, writes Andrew Lynch in Inside Story

Freedoms are losing out to fear

14 August 2009The proposed changes to anti-terrorism laws fail to find a balance between human rights and protecting citizens, writes Nicola McGarrity in The Age
More...

Audio

Liberalism and Australian foreign policy

Listen to audio
15 March 2010From the Vietnam War to the Afghanistan War, from international law to the treatment of refugees, Mr Fraser discusses the meaning of liberalism in the global context.

Rudd's concept of an Asia Pacific Community

Listen to audio
02 November 2009As the new envoy to promote the Rudd Government's Asia Pacific Community, Richard Woolcott speaks about the  concept, the attitudes towards it in the region, and the likely future of debate in the area.

Law

Video

Security, cloud computing and the coming mobile environment

Listen to audio
04 January 2010This is a discussion of the evolving cybersecurity challenges, the role of the national communications infrastructure, and the need to bolster innovation.

World Wide Views on global warming Australia

Listen to audio
16 November 2009The Australian World Wide Views on Global Warming Event, where 105 people from all walks of life came from all over the country to put their views forwards on the issues facing climate change negotiators at UN talks.

Justice system

Assessing the impact of 'available street time' and mortality on estimates of recidivism

04 March 2010Using survival analysis techniques to derive estimates of reoffending, the study compares adjusted and unadjusted rates and assesses how these rates vary for different offender populations and over different follow-up periods.

Websites

Asia Beyond Conflict

20 November 2009This site examines recent conflicts over history in Northeast Asia, and explores possible paths towards reconciliation.

Caslon Analytics

25 September 2009This site concerns the intersection of law, digital technology, business and society in Australia and beyond.

Cybercrime

21 September 2009This section of The Australian Institute of Criminology's website outlines extensive research into various forms of crime relating to the use of electronic communications and computing systems.

Most viewed: This week

1
The future of outstations/homelands
2
Rethinking the Rules Governing Australia
3
Criminal courts, Australia, 2008-09
4
Nuclear weapons: Arms control, proliferation and nuclear security
5
National Prison Book Program - sending books to Australian prisoners

Jobs

Events

Seminar
Memory, Trauma and Reconciliation in post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina
23 Mar 2010 - 6:00pm
Melbourne
Conference
ACOSS National Conference 2010: A vote for equity
25 Mar 2010 - 9:00am - 26 Mar 2010 - 5:00pm
Canberra
Conference
Workforce Policy in 2010 and Into the Future
31 Mar 2010
Sydney

Books

The mother of Mohammed: An Australian woman's extraordinary journey into Jihad

The mother of Mohammed: An Australian woman's extraordinary journey into Jihad

  • Sally Neighbour
  • Melbourne University Publishing
From Mudgee girl, to hippy backpacker, to Muslim convert and perceived threat to Australia’s national security, the extraordinary story of Rabiah Hutchinson.
Drawing the global colour line: white men's countries and the international challenge of racial equality

Drawing the global colour line: white men's countries and the international challenge of racial equality

  • Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds
  • Melbourne University Publishing
A pioneering account of the transnational production of whiteness in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Noticeboard

Secrecy law reforms strike a blow to old culture of government secrecy
12 March 2010

The Australian Law Reform Commission report into Commonwealth secrecy laws, Secrecy Laws and Open Government in Australia (ALRC Report 112) is the result of a 15 -month inquiry which identified 506 secrecy provisions in 176 pieces of Commonwealth legislation, including 358 criminal secrecy offences.

Alternative inquiries to Royal Commissions proposed
19 August 2009

The ALRC is calling for greater flexibility, more options for Royal Commissions and other official inquiries.

Ahead of its final report and recommendations, the ALRC is seeking public feedback and is asking a range of new questions on its ‘’Talk to Us” online forum  - about the power of Commissions and Inquiries, the rights of witnesses, and the treatment of sensitive information, among other issues.

The ALRC urges the public to join the forum and take part in this debate.

Policy Guides

Arts for all: opening doors to people with a disability

This guide provides practical and long-term ways for artists and arts organisations to enhance their access, market their events to the disabled community and build new audiences.

15-02-10

Topics

APO