Giving Youth a Voice – Book Review

Author: Helen Gregory Published by the Supreme Court of Queensland Library 2006 Reviewed by Jann Taylor

The Supreme Court of Queensland Library continues in its program of legal heritage preservation by publishing this history of the Youth Advocacy Centre (“YAC”) to mark the YAC’s 25th anniversary.

Researched by accomplished historian and author, Helen Gregory, Giving Youth a Voice records the evolution of Queensland’s response to juvenile justice and child protection issues through the author’s research of government reports, policy submissions and articles, in addition to personal interviews with members of the earliest reform organizations such as the Justice for Juveniles group (1977) -  which organization included former and current Governors of Queensland – and with past and present staff and management of  YAC.

This publication ably outlines the development of YAC in response to perceived community need; its overarching philosophy; and its model of service delivery. Numerous examples of YAC’s success over 25 years in providing services in the areas of legal representation, social welfare, education and advocacy, both to and for young people and to the wider community, are contained within this historical reference.

The Youth Advocacy Centre’s focus on community, human rights principles and social justice is shown to have informed not only its own practice but also the State’s legislative program, particularly more recent enactments such as the Juvenile Justice Act 1992 and the Children’s Court Act 1992. The publication’s title, itself, reflects international principles of childrens’ rights, namely Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which provides that a child has the right to express his or her views and to be heard in proceedings affecting him or her.

Many years of involvement in education activities, including the education of legal practitioners specialising in protecting the legal rights of young persons, are addressed as is YAC’s ongoing commitment to early intervention strategies to address offending related issues such as school exclusion and suspension; homelessness; and care and protection needs.

Giving Youth a Voice includes photographs of educational materials produced by YAC and of the artwork of its young clients, notably, a sculpture to commemorate the closure of the Sir Leslie Wilson Youth Detention Centre in 2001.

Usefully for those readers with an interest in the development of juvenile justice and child protection practice and policy over the last decades of the 20th century in Queensland, Giving Youth A Voice includes a timeline of YAC’s establishment and subsequent activities and its important contribution to the development of children’s rights both within this State and within Australia.

Given a number of current child related issues of great concern in Queensland, such as the continuing over representation of indigenous people in detention and the abuse of children in care, Giving Youth a Voice serves as a welcome reminder of the importance of community legal services, such as the Youth Advocacy Centre, in providing essential services to some of the most disadvantaged members of the community.

Social Security Law and Policy

Author: Terry Carney Publisher: The Federation Press 2006 Reviewed by Margaret McLennan

Terry Carney is a Professor of Law at the University of Sydney, specialising, inter alia, in social security and welfare law.

His publications are prolific and extend over a thirty —five year period across areas of Adult Guardianship and Competence, Mental Health Law and Policy, Ageing and Disability, Drugs, Drug Law and Policy and Child Welfare and Youth Law.

In Social Security Law and Policy, Carney’s focus is on political and economic determinants influencing welfare and welfare reform and their effect on contemporary Australian society.

Carney sets out to review and critique Australia’s transformation of the paternalistic welfare state to the privatisation of welfare, bringing with it a ‘user pays’ attitude.

Although being critical of the path welfare takes in a modern context, he argues that:

“Australia has maintained fidelity to many of the founding values of its historically distinctive income support system, and that it is likely to preserve a strong role for state funded and state-run welfare”.1

The initial chapter, “Fundamental Issues in Social Security”, discusses and challenges the notion of welfare as once provided to those in need “ ‘as of right’ as compensation for loss of wage income brought about by cyclical economic downturns, personal misfortune or injury, child- rearing responsibilities or age and disability- are now portrayed as something to be ‘earned’ through active social participation.”2

This chapter introduces the reader to the effects of economic policy on welfare and the theory and ideology, which underpins the policy. Carney is open in his critique and capably portrays the ideologies espoused by all sides of the political spectrum.

The subsequent chapters orientate the reader to the chronology of the more significant events in the nation’s social and welfare history, which then taper to the more specific idiosyncrasies of welfare policy, which show the real effect on the individual and the marginalised underclass. Carney illuminates the heavy social cost resulting from a paternalistic and conservative approach to what in the past has been described as the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving poor’.

This book is a wonderful source of information for both the novice acquiring an overview on the essential elements of the Australian welfare system and for those more adept in the subject area, updating their knowledge with the latest information on welfare reform, policy and ideology.

For legal practitioners wanting to enter this specialised area of law and policy, the book provides an excellent entry point. It has a simple and accessible layout; the chapters and sub-chapters are well defined; and the table of cases, legislation and bibliography are extensive and, essentially, easy to navigate.

However, it is only the last chapter of the book, which addresses specifically administrative law (inter alia), and the role it plays when reviewing the determinative powers of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT).3 Although this chapter orientates the reader to a process, very little further and practical content is offered to the practitioner as a legal resource.

Carney provides the following explanation: “little concern is expressed about the normative application of judicial/ review standards to the mass of ‘routine’ cases when, for whatever reasons, unsuccessful applicants accept their lot in life and do not appeal. The implication seems to be that if people were sufficiently concerned, then they would vigorously protest that injustice”, and supports, “a view which overlooks the vulnerability, powerlessness and disadvantages experienced by welfare recipients.”

Essentially, the book is a history of Australian social security reform and its underpinning policy as fuelled by the political regime of the day.

Again, a wonderful source of information and a good foundational read but this book is more for those with an interest in welfare and social security policy and less for those whose primary focus is in obtaining practical legal information.

Endnotes

1. Terry Carney, Social Security Law and Policy, The Federation Press 2006, p.2
2. ibid, p.1
3. Terry Carney, Social Security Law and Policy, The Federation Press 2006, p.197, “The ‘decision’ has the same meaning under s3 (3) of the Administrative Tribunal Act 1975…” The SSAT is the first tier merits review body reviewing a ‘decision’

Ford’s Principles of Corporations Law (Thirteenth Edition)

Authors: RP Austin and IM Ramsay Publisher: Lexis Nexis Butterworths Reviewed by Stephen Keim SC

The first edition of Principles of Company Law when it appeared in 1974 had been written with modest ambitions.  Professor Ford intended that it should be a text primarily for students of law and commerce and only incidentally of value for practitioners.  The 13th edition harbours the same modest ambitions, with practitioners expected to gain more meaty assistance from the loose leaf edition.  However, as the publisher notes with some pride in a note to the 13th edition, the text, rather Moliere like, has become a standard text (and classic), despite itself, and has, over the years been frequently cited in decisions of superior courts.

Professor Harold Ford is now Emeritus Professor of Commercial Law at the Melbourne University Law School.  Although he contributes, still, to the loose leaf edition, he is not credited as an author of the 13th edition although he appears, in the acknowledgements, as a vigorous and perceptive sounding board for the authors.

The authors each have a long association with the text.  Justice Austin of the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales commenced his association in 1990 as a specialist contributing author to the 5th edition and has been a co-author since that time.  Professor Ramsay, who is both Harold Ford Professor of Commercial Law and Director of a research institute at the University of Melbourne, joined the team in 1995 for the seventh edition (which formed the basis for the initial loose leaf version) and has also been associated with the work since that date as a co-author.

Earlier new editions have occurred as responses to major changes to legislation.  The authors note that the 13th edition is, primarily, a response to developments in the case law.  They refer, inter alia, to new authorities in the area of civil penalties such as ASIC v Vizard (2005) 54 ACSR 394 and ASIC v Chemeq Ltd. (2006) 58 ACSR 169; developments in the law relating to misleading and deceptive conduct such as the decision in ASIC v National Exchange Pty. Ltd. (2005) 56 ACSR 131; and developments in the law relating to the duties of directors such as Lewis (as liq of Doran Constructions Pty. Ltd.) v Doran (2005) 54 ACSR 708, ASIC v Vines (2005) 55 ACSR 617 and Angas Law Services Pty. Ltd (in liq) v Carabelas (2005) 53 ACSR 208.

The authors also refer to one legislative development of note since the 12th edition, namely, the Corporations Amendment Act (no.1) 2005 which “corrected the law on liability of directors of corporate trustees, after the much criticized decision in Hanel v O’Neill (2003) 48 ACSR 378”.

Corporations law is noticeable for the huge volume of very specific legislative provisions and case law which exhibits leporine abilities to multiply quickly. Traditional research techniques used by this reviewer of finding a relevant High Court case of any vintage and following it forward, using the citator, do not yield entirely satisfactory results in this area of law. Younger, more technically oriented, practitioners will turn to electronic data bases finding and reading cases on specific legislative provisions in great number.  Other will abandon the thought of ever casting an eye upon any text that is not in loose leaf or electronic form.

I continue to appreciate the convenience of a well written text in hard cover.  Ford’s Principles still manages to synthesise the law, admirably, in the diffuse area of corporations law.  It manages to cite key cases which may, in any event, been further pursued via citators and electronic indices and, at the very least, provide key starting points for research.  Its notes, conveniently located at the end of each section, frequently, provide guidance to where particular topics may be found traversed in greater detail.

As I have said in another review, loose leaf services seldom manage to reside happily in any normal sized briefcase.  Even at slightly under 1500 pages, the 13th edition remains a relatively slim and, therefore, convenient volume to take to court.  At $135 for a soft cover version, it is an excellent and economical addition to the libraries of most practitioners.  (It is hard to find that happy practitioner who can assert that he or she is safely cocooned from having to delve, at least occasionally, into the labyrinthine corners of this area of law.)  Indeed, even the practitioner who has access to Ford’s Principles in electronic or loose leaf form may be tempted to make a further modest investment to have the pleasure of taking the slim volume down from the shelves and popping it into the briefcase just in case those 24 pages of written submissions (and the days of work that produced them) contain an oversight of some significance.