Caxton Legal Centre hosts the Justice in Focus Series, a set of regular public forums that enrich public debate on topics of local and national importance, in partnership with the law schools at Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland.
Each forum features a panel of leading thinkers representing a range of socio-legal views on the topic.
The Justice in Focus Series regularly features on ABC Radio National’s Big Ideas program. Forums take place at various locations in Brisbane’s CBD. Refreshments are served at the close of each event.
Share your tweets about this series using the hashtag #CaxtonJIFS.
Past events
Elder Abuse and Coercive Control
Panelists explored the connections and differences in this form of violence as it plays out in intergenerational relationships and intimate partner settings.
Journalist Paul Barclay with guests Dr Heather Nancarrow, Adjunct Professor of Practice, Monash University and Adjunct Research Fellow, Griffith Criminology Institute, Caxton Legal Centre Social Work Director Helen Wallace and Queensland Indigenous and Family Violence Legal Service Principal Legal Officer Thelma Schwartz.
Health Justice Partnerships: Possibilities for Queensland
Many people experience problems outside their control which affect their health yet cannot be fixed by healthcare alone.
The social determinants of health act together to strengthen or undermine the health of individuals and communities. People experiencing issues like trauma, family disconnection, abuse and neglect, poor quality housing, debt and long-term unemployment can benefit from an integrated intervention model of care.
Health Justice Partnerships offer an innovative service model in response to this, with promising outcomes. Caxton Legal Centre’s collaboration with Metro South Health, the OPALS HJP, is one such service.
Watch the video recording of this webinar.
Children’s voices in family law matters
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly identifies that children should be provided with the opportunity to be heard in judicial processes which affect them. In Australia, the law centres on the ‘best interests of the child’.
Changing understandings of childhood development, as well as accounts from children who have not had their views heard, have led to calls for children’s increased opportunity for participation in family law processes.
The podcast of this discussion is available here.
Human rights, protection, freedoms and Covid-19.
The government response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been unlike anything most Australians have ever experienced. This panel discussion explores how to navigate the balance between protection and freedom as restrictions continue.
The Caring Court: Using therapeutic jurisprudence and restorative justice principles in the Coroner’s Court to help heal families, witnesses and communities.
At this forum experts discussed current practices of Coronial Courts in Queensland and other jurisdictions and what we know about how families and witnesses experience these processes.
Our panel considered how restorative justice and therapeutic jurisprudence approaches could be used in the Coronial setting to enhance outcomes for community members while maintaining legal objectivity.
A uncertain path: Navigating voluntary assisted dying laws in Australia
Voluntary assisted dying laws raise vital questions about our approach to death and suffering as a society.
Listen to our panel share their expertise in the fields of law, ethics and psychiatry to discuss some of the complexities these laws present in conversation with Radio National’s Scott Stephens.
Biometrics, privacy and the law
Technology using facial recognition, fingerprints and other data based on the human body is quickly becoming the norm in the name of protecting against terrorism, immigration breaches and other crimes. This talk explored some of the current biometrics applications in Australia and the laws that regulate them.
Information about older Justice in Focus events is available here.
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