Miranda Kaye

Equity’s treatment of sexually transmitted debt

She was to a degree the tool of her husband. However, despite the fact she was under his influence to a degree she cannot escape if the Bank took all reasonable steps to ensure that she had appreciated and understood what she was signing. It may be that Mrs Wright-Bailey did not have an adequate comprehension of the nature of the charge... [E]ven if she did not, the Bank did take all reasonable steps

Third-party applications for protection orders: Opportunities, ambiguities and traps

Abstract The Family Law Act 1996 allows for the possibility of third parties applying for protection orders1 in situations of domestic violence. This paper employs a feminist perspective to explore the potential benefits and hazards of this practice, particularly when the police are the third-party applicants. The Australian experience of similar legislative provisions is drawn upon to highlight issues which might arise in England and Wales. Consultation with domestic violence workers in a wide range of agencies as well as documentary evidence from reports and research provided general endorsement of the practice. However, there remain contentious issues which suggest that caution is required before transporting legislation and practices from one jurisdiction to another.

How are complementary health professions regulated in Australia? An examination of complementary health professions in the national registration and accreditation scheme

OBJECTIVES This study aims to provide an empirical examination of how complementary medicine practice in Australia is actually regulated under the current national registration model. METHODS Data was obtained from Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) Annual Reports for the years 2011/12-2014/15 and supplemented by the Chinese Medical Registration Board of Victoria (CMRBV) Annual Reports in 2011/12 for Chinese Medicine complaints. The data analysed includes complaint statistics, stage of closure of complaints and the outcome of complaints concerning Chinese medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy under the National Law. RESULTS During 2014-2015 the number of complaints per 100 registrants for was highest for the medical board (4.4), while much lower for the chiropractic (1.5), osteopath (0.7) and Chinese medicine (0.5) boards. For conventional boards, 58% of complaints were closed at the assessment stage, while 57%, 29% and 16% of complaints to the osteopath, Chinese medicine and chiropractic boards respectively were closed at the assessment stage. The decision to suspend or cancel registration of health professionals was 17% from the Chinese medicine board, 14% from the Osteopathy Board, 1.5% from the chiropractor board and 0.6% from the medical board. CONCLUSION It appears that complementary medicine practitioner regulation works at least as well as conventional regulation, and at most complementary medicine boards take a stricter interpretation of misconduct though more research would need to be undertaken to state this definitively. Our findings indicate that the public are using the statutory complaint mechanisms available to them with respect to the three CM groups.