The Role of Antitrust Policy in the Development of Australian-New Zealand Free Trade

This article examines some antitrust aspects of the Australia-New Zealand free trade accord. The first section will trace the development of trans-Tasman2 free trade, noting the long history of efforts to liberalize trade between the two countries. The next part analyzes the role antitrust law played in the movement to free trade. The final two sections raise a number of outstanding issues and problems yet to be resolved by Australia and New Zealand policy makers

The Role of Antitrust Policy in the Development of Australian-New Zealand Free Trade

This paper examines some antitrust aspects of the Australia-New Zealand free trade accord. The first section will trace the development of trans-Tasman free trade. Efforts to liberalize trade between the two countries have a long history. The next part analyzes the role antitrust law played in the movement to free trade. The final two sections raise a number of outstanding issues and problems yet to be resolved by Australian and New Zealand policy makers

The Role of Antitrust Policy in the Development of Australian-New Zealand Free Trade

This paper examines some antitrust aspects of the Australia-New Zealand free trade accord. The first section will trace the development of trans-Tasman free trade. Efforts to liberalize trade between the two countries have a long history. The next part analyzes the role antitrust law played in the movement to free trade. The final two sections raise a number of outstanding issues and problems yet to be resolved by Australian and New Zealand policy makers

The Case Against Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

The arguments in favour of legalising voluntary euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide initially appear convincing. We should, it is said, respect people’s autonomy, euthanasia is a compassionate response to unbearable suffering, it has (supposedly) worked well in those nations that have implemented it, and so on. But on closer analysis, the arguments are far less persuasive. Such a new law is unnecessary given the current legal ability of all but the most incapacitated to take their own life and the availability of palliative care. Any euthanasia law — even one carefully drafted with requisite safeguards — is susceptible to noncompliance and vulnerable to abuse. Moreover, any law would face the ineradicable reality of self-imposed pressure the vulnerable experience to “do the right thing”. This article sets out ten reasons why euthanasia should not be legalised and contends that the case for decriminalising it has not been made out by the proponents of it

Companies as Religious Liberty Claimants

Can a company bring a claim alleging that its religious freedom has been violated? Some recent authority suggests ‘yes’, at least insofar as the company is a one-person company or a closely held corporation. This article examines the subject, the goal being the exploration of a coherent and principled basis for the granting, if at all, of the right for an ordinary business corporation to sue to enforce the right to religious freedom, or to claim an exemption designed for religious persons or organizations. The determining principle governing the legitimacy of a claim ought to be the nature of the act and not the actor

Charity Begins at the Politically Correct Home? The Family First Case

Is advancing the traditional or nuclear family a non-charitable purpose? Is it “controversial” and impermissibly political “propaganda” in the 21st century to advocate the two-parent, opposite-sex, married couple as the optimal domestic configuration in which to have and raise children? The New Zealand Charities Registration Board thought so and deregistered the organisation that had the temerity to advance it: Family First New Zealand. This article examines the Family First deregistration decision. The case is a particularly clear example of official institutional antipathy towards the conservative political and religious understanding of domestic personal relations

Is Freedom of Conscience Superior to Freedom of Religion?

This essay explores whether claims that would otherwise be brought as religious liberty infringements are better reformulated and brought as violations of the right to freedom of conscience. Is there greater 'traction' for claimants in doing so given the increasing unpopularity of the label 'religion'

RELIGION AS A FACTOR IN CUSTODY AND ACCESS DISPUTES

ABSTRACT Religion seldom features as a factor in custody and access disputes. When it does, courts are adamant they must be neutral in matters of religion. One religion or denomination is as good as another; likewise a parent having no religion stands on the same footing as a religious one. Cases were surveyed in five Common Law jurisdictions, all of which use the best interests or welfare of the child standard. The law's claim to neutrality in theory leaves something to be desired in practice. Parents belonging to 'minority' or 'unpopular' religions consistently struggle. In custody disputes, the conventional approach taken by the courts is to confine consideration to the social or temporal effects of the parent's religious beliefs and not to evaluate the beliefs themselves. But this approach can still count against parents where the restricted lifestyle dictated by the parent's faith yields a number of social consequences considered adverse to the welfare of the children. In access disputes, attempts by the non-custodial parent to transmit that parent's faith and include the children in his or her religious activities are prone to be viewed with suspicion and characterized as forms of indoctrination where the parent is an adherent of a minority faith. This article argues that an insistence on clear evidence of harm from the religious practice at issue is the best way to ensure that parents of minority faiths are not unfairly prejudiced by the best interests standard. Focusing on the particulars of the case (rather than an abstract assessment of the religion at issue) and requiring proof of prospective harm seem salutary steps along the road to ensuring the law's neutrality is as vindicated in practice as it is in sentiment