Julia Quilter

Populism and criminal justice policy: An Australian case study of non-punitive responses to alcohol-related violence

Populism is widely regarded in the literature as a negative and inherently punitive influence on criminal justice policy. This article challenges this view and highlights the ways in which populism can produce forms of citizen engagement in the criminal justice context that are new and progressive. These possibilities are illustrated through a close analysis of the responses to a single instance of ‘random’ fatal violence: the killing of Thomas Kelly in King’s Cross, Sydney, in 2012. This case study shows how a populist campaign powerfully realigned political allegiances to call for, and achieve, real and enduring action from the New South Wales Government in addressing alcohol-related violence.

Street Music and the Law in Australia: Busker Perspectives on the Impact of Local Council Rules and Regulations

ABSTRACT Street performers have long had an ambiguous relationship with the law. At various times they have been castigated and policed as “beggars in disguise” or treated as an urban nuisance to be tightly controlled and tolerated at best. Recent decades have seen something of an about-face. City governments in many countries are embracing buskers as a cultural and commercial asset and are putting in place legal regimes that aim to simultaneously encourage and control busking. Field work in Australia’s two largest cities—Melbourne and Sydney—can be used to assess whether the rules and conditions that are associated with permit systems are compatible with the goals of most buskers: to make an artistic contribution to the quality of urban life and to make a living. Contrary to the view that state-imposed rules are incompatible with the nature and ethos of busking, contemporary busking laws are widely supported by street musicians and are regarded as facilitative of, rather than a barrier to, busking’s positive contribution to the vitality of the everyday life of the city.