Suchergebnisse

This article argues that there is considerable merit in the introduction of a general duty of care for the environment in jurisdictions which have not so far embraced this concept. As with work health and safety legislation, such a duty would establish the broad goals of the law, providing unifying themes that clarify the intentions of the law. A particular virtue is its all-encompassing character: providing a broad standard of care that can be applied to fit any set of facts. As such, it would provide a valuable framework within which duty-holders must operate, which will be particularly important where no more practical guidance is available from other sources.The broad scope of the duty also means that it does not date quickly and that it provides considerable flexibility for the duty-holder to determine the action to take to suit their operations. The South Australian experience shows that a duty of care, if fully embraced by the regulator, can be an important component of the regulatory toolkit. However, other Australian jurisdictions provide for a more limited (and so less controversial) form of the general duty, in which it operates primarily as a defence, and where the remedies for breach are administrative, not criminal. This article argues that there is a case for going one step further and imposing criminal liability, a proposal that is being contemplated in Victoria at the time of writing.

The fossil fuel divestment movement is at the forefront of civil society initiatives to raise public consciousness about the need for a "fossil‐free" future. Through the lens of the social movement literature, this article shows how the movement has harnessed grassroots activists, engaged in innovative and sometimes disruptive forms of protest, and used cognitive framing and symbolic politics to gain media interest and persuade the public of the importance and legitimacy of its claims as well as to promote a new social norm. The relative instrumental, structural, and discursive power of the movement and its adversaries is also examined, showing how, notwithstanding the fossil fuel industry's deeply embedded structural and instrumental power, the movement has managed to shift the contest onto a terrain where it holds a comparative advantage. Finally, the movement's role in nonstate climate governance is considered, taking account of its interactions with and impact on a range of other climate actors. This article's conclusion is that climate governance is not only an instrumental or pragmatic process of mandating changes in behavior but an expressive and symbolic one of nurturing a new norm and institutionalizing a new set of moral principles.

This review essay examines the divestment movement's evolution, aims, and strategies as well as why it is both distinctive and important. It then locates the movement within the broader literature on nonstate climate change governance, suggesting how studying the movement may contribute to this literature. Finally, seeking to take stock some five years on from its inception, it assesses the movement's impact and effectiveness over that period.

The principal aims of the harmonised work health and safety (WHS) legislation were to reduce the regulatory burden for businesses and undertakings operating in more than one jurisdiction and to achieve significant and continual reductions in work-related deaths, injuries and disease. Through interviews with chief WHS officers in 37 companies, this article examines the impact of the harmonised WHS legislation on very large companies with interstate operations. Overall the harmonised WHS legislation received a positive assessment from the substantial majority of respondents both in terms of how it impacted on compliance and regulatory burdens and in its capacity to achieve significant reductions in work-related death, injury and disease

Effective enforcement is vital to the successful implementation of social legislation, and legislation that is not enforced rarely fulfils its social objectives. This article examines the question of how the enforcement task might best be conducted in order to achieve policy outcomes that are effective and efficient, while also maintaining community confidence. It begins by examining the two strategies that for many years dominated the debate about enforcement strategy, the question of �regulatory style� and whether it is more appropriate for regulators to �punish or persuade�. Such an examination begins with John Braithwaite's seminal contribution and the arguments he makes in favour of �responsive regulation�. This approach conceives of regulation in terms of dialogic regulatory culture. It is taken further by Smart Regulation, which accepts Braithwaite's arguments as to the benefits of an escalating response up an enforcement pyramid.