Aged
care: A Victorian perspective on complaints handling and the enforcement of
consumer rights
by Sandra McCullough
This article provides an overview of the role of the federal government as the primary regulator of Commonwealth-funded aged care services and then concentrates on discussing the author's impressions (drawn from her experiences and bias as a consumer advocate in aged care) of complaints handling by aged care providers and the complaints resolution system facilitated through the federal Department of Health and Ageing (the regulator). The author argues that the current aged care system has effectively transferred considerable responsibility for the enforcement of consumer rights and service provider obligations away from government and the aged care industry to consumers themselves. The author concludes that it is crucial for the protection of the consumers of aged care, given their frailty, vulnerability and lack of market power, that there be a much more interventionist approach to enforcement by government.
Relationship
debt and the aged: welfare vs commerce in the law of guarantees
by Juliet Cummins
Older guarantors do not receive adequate legal protection, and so are vulnerable to exploitation by borrowers and creditors alike. The law is often unjust in its treatment of older people who agree to act as guarantors for family members because it is not sufficiently adapted to recognize the social and familial contexts in which most guarantees are given. The most effective way to address the injustices suffered by older guarantors is by way of statutory reforms which intervene to protect prospective guarantors before the creditor-guarantor relationship has been created.
Teaching the
law as it relates to older people
by Jeff Giddings and Jody Thomas
This article considers the need for Australian legal educators to sensitise the lawyers of tomorrow to the communication, ethical and legal issues they may encounter in working with older clients. Australian discussions of access to justice have tended to neglect the interests and concerns of older people. The authors identify a range of methods which could be used to teach elder law issues and note that Australian law schools have been slow to learn from North American law schools which offer 'elder law' courses. The development of the course 'Law and Older People' at Griffith University is outlined as one model for such legal education.
Juries as communities
of resistance: Eureka and the power of the rabble
by Philip Lynch
This article examines juries as
'communities of resistance'. It does this in the context of the Eureka Stockade
and the State Trials and acquittals that followed. The author concludes that
law and justice are not always concomitants but that acting often in a spirit
of rebellion and always in accordance with conscience and human dignity will
ensure that justice prevail.
War
at home: National security arrangements post 11 September 2001
by Jude McCulloch
This article examines new legislation
and arrangements that have been implemented or proposed since September 11 and
analyses their likely impact on civil society. It argues that since the mid-1970s,
and particularly post-Cold War, terrorism, along with the 'war on drugs' and
organised crime, has provided the main rationale for major changes to national
security arrangements in English-speaking democracies. The 'war on terrorism'
marks an escalation and intensification of the militarisation of law enforcement
and the decline in civil liberties and human rights. It argues that the suspension
of legal rights associated with anti-terrorist measures is more in keeping with
the martial law of militarised and totalitarian states than the rule of law
that underpins the ideal of the civil societies of democratic states.
Transsexual
marriage: meaning of the term 'marriage'
by Jake Blight
This brief reviews the recent decision in Re Kevin in which the family court upheld the validity of a marriage between a woman and a female to male transsexual. The decision has been appealed by the Attorney-General. The author discusses the basis for the decision and comments on the arguments made for the Attorney-General.
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