The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System delivered its final report in February of this year, and it was tabled in Parliament in March. Among the matters the Commission was appointed to consider was the need to address the stigma associated with mental health, and the need to safeguard human rights.
The Mandatory Disease Testing Act 2021, recently passed through the New South Wales Parliament,establishes a new scheme under which a person can be ordered to provide a blood sample for the testing of blood-borne viruses if, as a result of their deliberate action, their bodily fluid has come into contact with a health, emergency or public sector worker.
With new Australian drug laws required to comply with human rights frameworks, researchers at the GLaD program are conducting a new study funded by the Australian Research Countil to develop a world-first ‘post–human rights’ framework for drug policy.
Australia has long been a leader in critical alcohol and other drug (AOD) scholarship. Much of this work draws on feminist theory, including feminist science studies, to identify and examine ideas about agency and materiality in drug policy and practice. Often, this work also prioritises issues specific to gender, such as how the law conceptualises links between drugs and family violence, or how it understands the relationship between alcohol and sexual assault.