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RegNet
Newsletter
Vol. III, No.2
June 2002
ACT
Treasurer and Vice-Chancellor launch new RegNet Centre
for Gambling Research.
ACT Treasurer Ted Quinlan and ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian
Chubb launched a new RegNet Centre for Gambling Research
in May at the ACT Legislative Assembly. Funding will
come from an initial commitment of $1.1 million from
the ACT government matched by $1.1 million from the
Vice Chancellor's Endowment for Excellence. A professorial
appointment to direct the Centre is currently under
advertisement. An early priority will be adolescent
problem gambling. The regulation of gambling and gambling
on the internet will also be among the research challenges
tackled by the Centre.
Centre for Tax System Integrity receives glowing
review report
A review report to the Australian Taxation Office on
the work of the Centre for Tax System Integrity led
by former Deputy Commonwealth Ombudsman John Wood, with
former National Crime Authority Chairman Tom Sherman
and Professor Arie Freiberg of the University of Melbourne,
strongly commended the productivity and intellectual
rigour of the research of the Centre. The report has
resulted in a recommendation to the Commissioner for
Taxation from his office for extension of the Centre's
contract for another three years with funding to be
increased from $500,000 to $600,000 per annum.
Obituaries
HEINZ ARNDT
Distinguished Australian economist and RegNet member
Heinz Arndt died last month when his vehicle hit a tree
in front of the ANU Law Faculty. In his retirement Heinz
shared the same floor in University House that RegNet
occupied a year ago. He was much loved by RegNet staff
and faculty who often enjoyed lunch and corridor conversation
with him. We miss Heinz and his positive way of savouring
the conviviality of life. He was one of our greatest
economists who taught and influenced generations of
policymakers, particularly in Australia, Indonesia and
Asia generally. His influence was felt across a wide
range of regulatory policy arenas from central banking
and finance to industry policy.
John Braithwaite
OLIVER MCDONAGH
Oliver McDonagh, retired Professor of History in the
Research School of Social Sciences, ANU, also died in
May. From a study of the seemingly obscure topic of
the regulation of the ship passenger trade between the
United Kingdom and the US McDonagh introduced the world
to a new way of seeing the rise of the administrative
state in Victorian Britain. He chronicled the first
stages of the rise of the regulatory state and of a
new technocracy of centralized command and control administration.
This work was enormously influential among historians
and should be more influential than it is among regulatory
scholars. Oliver was a quiet and humble man who somehow
managed to regularly communicate his love of Ireland.
Without Oliver, RegNet and the Law Program in RSSS would
not exist today; he was the internal member of the crucial
1986 review of the Law Program, a role he was given
because he was the rare combination of a history professor
with a law degree.
John Braithwaite
Regnet Profiles
Hilary Charlesworth is Director of the Centre for International
and Public Law in the Law Faculty, ANU. Her interests
are in international law and human rights law. She has
worked on issues such as the relevance of feminist theory
to understanding international law, the structure of
the international human rights system, and the protection
of human rights in Australia. Current research projects
include the legitimacy of UN Security Council decisions,
the impact of international law on Australian law and
the role of women in international dispute resolution.
She has worked with various non-governmental human rights
organisations on ways to implement international human
rights standards and is currently chair of the ACT Government's
inquiry into an ACT bill of rights.
Colin Scott is a leading scholar in the field of regulation
with specializations in the control of government, communications
regulation and consumer protection. His path breaking
research (with Christopher Hood and others) on regulation
inside government identified a neglected aspect of contemporary
regulatory governance which had hitherto been shielded
from the pressures of deregulation and better regulation.
This has been remedied in the UK with the establishment
of a Public Sector Team within the Regulatory Impact
Unit of the Cabinet Office specifically to bring the
benefits of a program of 'better regulation' to controls
over public sector activities such as schools and policing.
Colin led an ethnographic project on the activities
of the UK telecommunications regulator OFTEL, the first
research of its kind applied to a UK utilities regulator,
which led to the publication of a major book casting
fresh light on the interdependence of regulatory agencies,
the importance of culture in shaping regulatory activity,
and the often chaotic nature of regulatory decision
making.
Colin's research and publications have addressed regulatory
themes as diverse as accountability, discretion, liberalisation,
juridification, criminalisation, quality management,
institutional design, interdependence, enforcement and
proceduralisation.
Colin has acted as a consultant to the UK Consumers'
Association, the UK Cabinet Office and Department of
Trade and Industry, the European Commission and the
OECD. He has given seminars and lectures in the majority
of the EU member states and accession states, the United
States, Japan and Australia. His publications include
the co-authored Reader on Regulation (OUP, 1998) Regulation
Inside Government (OUP 1999) and Telecommunications
Regulation: Culture, Chaos and Interdependence Inside
the Regulatory Process (Routledge, 2000) and he is the
lead author of the third edition of the UK text Cranston's
Consumers and the Law (Butterworths, 2000).
Michael Wenzel is Fellow at the Centre for Tax System
Integrity (CTSI) where his main interest is in issues
of compliance. Compliance appears to be a measure of
effectiveness of regulation, but is also a psychological
and social process that needs to be understood in order
to regulate effectively. Michael’s theoretical
analysis of compliance centres on concepts of fairness,
norms and social identity. He applies a range of empirical
methods, from surveys to experimental designs.
Michael graduated in psychology and attained his PhD
at the University of Münster, Germany. The German Psychological
Society awarded his thesis on distributive justice as
best dissertation in psychology. Michael was lecturer
in social psychology at the University of Jena, Germany,
from 1997 to 1999, before joining the CTSI.
While compliance is often considered a choice based
on economic self-interest, Michael’s work addresses
two other major human motivations, namely fairness and
identity. At the CTSI, Michael has been conducting survey
research that illuminates the relevance to tax compliance
of taxpayers’ concerns about distributive and procedural
fairness, beyond the impact of self-interest and perceived
deterrence. It also shows how social identification
moderates the role of justice and self-interest concerns,
and how social norms influence taxpaying decisions and
deterrence effects.
Based on his insights, Michael has also been designing
concrete regulatory measures and evaluating them through
experimental control group designs. In addition to advancing
our understanding of compliance, such an approach provides
regulators with empirical tests of their actions needed
for evidence-based decisions and policies. Another example
of such an evidence-based approach is Michael’s
cooperation with Professor Graeme Cooper (University
of Melbourne) on studies commissioned by the Australian
Board of Taxation. These experiments evaluate the effects
on certainty and confidence of the proposed new tax
legislation with its tax value method of income definition.
Congratulations
Professor Geoffrey Brennan
Professor Geoffrey Brennan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate
of Economic Science, from the University of ST Gallen,
Switzerland in June, for contributions to “constitutional
political economy and work in the intersection of economic,
politics and philosophy”.
Professor Hilary Charlesworth and Larissa Behrendt
Professor Hilary Charlesworth has been appointed Chair
and Professor Larissa Behrendt a member of the committee
of enquiry into a Bill of Rights for the ACT.
Professor Peter Cane
Professor Peter Cane has been appointed by the federal
government to a high level panel to review the law of
negligence. Justice David Ipp will chair the Negligence
Review Panel.
Professor Nicola Lacey
Professor Nicola Lacey has been elected a Fellow of
the British Academy.
Dr Brenda Morrison
Acting Director of the Centre for Restorative Justice,
Dr Brenda Morrison, gave birth to a baby girl, Anna
(7 lb 6 oz) June 8.
Dr Brenda Morrison’s nomination for this year's
Clare Burton Award has been successful. The award recognises
the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS) initiatives
to increase the participation of female academics in
RSSS and for the implementation of the Junior Academic
Women in Social Sciences Program.
Dr Valerie Braithwaite
Dr Valerie Braithwaite, Director of the Centre for Tax
Systems Integrity, and the Research School of Social
Sciences (RSSS) Head of Administration, Christopher
Marshall have been awarded the Australian National University's
Certificate in Recognition of Exceptional Performance
in Equity and Diversity. The award was made for their
work in implementing the School's gender equity plan
and recognises 'their commitment to the objectives and
process of consultation and respect for the diverse
views of staff and the key role they played in achieving
the wide support necessary to correct the under-representation
of women in the School and to support women in the progress
of their careers.'
Helen Watchirs
Helen Watchirs won the AIDS Trust Fellowship and has
taken up the Fellowship at RegNet where she is also
leading an initiative on audit with Sasha Courville
and other RegNet members. Helen has also been invited
to be a member of the rapporteur team for the International
AIDS Conference in Barcelona. She is also attending
an expert consultation being held in Geneva by the Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNAIDS
that is being chaired by Justice Michael Kirby.
Nicola Piper
Nicola Piper was awarded $10,000 from the National Institute
of Government and Law for the conference she is organizing
on Gender Migration and Governance to be held in December.
John Braithwaite and Peter Drahos
Braithwaite and Drahos's Global Business Regulation
has won the 2002 Sociology of Law book award of the
American Sociological Association and the "honourable
mention" in the 2002 Herbert Jacob award of the
Law and Society Association. Earlier it won the Hart
Socio-Legal Studies Association Book Award.
Imelda Maher and Peter Drahos
Imelda Maher and Peter Drahos received $6,500 from National
Institute of Government and Law for a workshop they
are holding in August for Centre for Competition and
Consumer Policy (CCCP) and Centre for Tax System Integrity
(CTSI) on “Competition in Property Rights and Information
Markets”.
New RegNet staff
Rachel Lorenzen began in April as Research Assistant
supporting Sasha Courville in her Social Accountability
in Sustainable Agriculture (SASA) project.
Michelle Burgis has joined the National Research Centre
for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (NRCOHSR).
She has recently completed a BA (Hons in Government)
and an LLB (Hons).
Sharon Burnell is employed by the National Occupational
Health & Safety Commission and is with us to carry
out research in the area of enforcement and compliance.
She has spent three years working on the clean-up of
the former British nuclear test sites at Maralinga in
South Australia.
Bronwyn Stuart has joined RegNet group as Administrator/Outreach
Officer. She was previously employed at the Australian
Vice-Chancellors' Committee. Bronwyn will be looking
after RegNet websites, membership, newsletters and conferences.
Natalie Stepanenko has joined the Centre for Competition
and Consumer Policy (CCCP) as Administrator/Outreach
Officer. Much of her time will be spent in liaising
with the ACCC and the business community.
Compliance Workshop
In June Regnet held the first of an occasional series
of one day workshops on themes which cut across the
research interests of members of Regnet. The theme of
this first, and very well-attended, workshop was 'What
does it mean to comply?'. The workshop explored problems
of understanding what compliance means in a range of
settings, including tax administration, occupational
health and safety and the relationship of Parliament
to public opinion and the executive. Presentations were
made by Dr Val Braithwaite, Director of the Centre for
Tax System Integrity, Dr John Uhr and Dr Ian Marsh of
the Politics Programme, Research School of Social Sciences,
and Professor Richard Johnstone, Director of the National
Research Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
Commentators included Professor Peter Grabosky and Professor
Clifford Shearing, Directors of Security 21, and Dr
Christine Parker of the University of New South Wales
Law School. The format of the Workshop facilitated wide
ranging discussion of problems experienced across a
wide range of regulatory domains. Feedback on the event
and suggestions for further events of this type can
be sent to regnet@anu.edu.au.
Cycles of Labour Regulation
A conference on long-term trends in patterns of labour
regulation was held at the ANU 27-28 June 2002. The
conference was sponsored by the Regulatory Institutions
Network and the History Program of the Research School
of Social Sciences, was well attended and enthusiastically
received. Notable speakers included Stanley Engerman
from University of Rochester, visiting fellows Christopher
Lloyd of University of New England and Trevor Burnard
of Brunel University.
Seminars/Conferences/Workshops
Seminars
Law Program/RegNet Seminars
Enquiries: regent@anu.edu.au
Professor Hitoshi Ushijima (Fukuoka University)
Comparing the Evolution of Regulatory Styles: Japan,
the United States, and Australia.
Wednesday 10 July 3:00pm
RegNet Seminar Room (425), Top Floor, Garden Wing
University House, Balmain Crescent, ANU
Fiona Haines, Criminology (University of Melbourne)
Regulatory Character: Understanding the Importance of
Place in Regulatory Reform and Effectiveness.
Tuesday 16th July 2 pm
RegNet Seminar Room (425), Top Floor Garden Wing
University House, Balmain Crescent, ANU
Neil Gunningham (RegNet)
Shades of Green: Business, Regulation and Environment.
Thursday 15 August 2pm
Seminar Room D, Coombs Building
Fellows Road, ANU
Stephen Mugford (Qualitative and Quantitative Social
Research)
Re-integrative shaping: practical workshop techniques
for organisational
change & development.
Thursday 29 August 2pm
RegNet Seminar Room (425), Top Floor Garden Wing
University House, Balmain Crescent, ANU
Conferences/Workshops
Centre for Tax System Integrity Workshop
Is There Economic Integrity in the Tax System?
Wednesday 17 July 2002
Lecture Theatre, Innovations Building, Cnr Ward &
Eggleston Rds, ANU
Professor Dr Friedrich Schneider, Economics, Johannes
Kepler University of Linz, Austria will speak on the
shadow
economies of 110 countries all over the world.
Assistant Professor Lillian F. Mills, University of
Arizona will speak on book-tax income and balance sheet
differences.
Enquiries welcome. Email Linda.Gosnell@anu.edu.au
The Australian Institute of Criminology, Regulatory
Institutions Network, RSSS, Australian National University
and Division of Business and Enterprise, University
of South Australia
Current Issues in Regulation: Enforcement and Compliance
2-3 September 2002
Carlton Crest Hotel, Melbourne
Key Speakers include:
Professor Allan Fels AO, Chairman, Australian Competition
and Consumer Commission
Professor John Braithwaite, Chair, Regulatory Institutions
Network
RegNet Centres at the ANU
Australian
Centre for Environmental Law (ACEL)
Centre
for Commercial Law (CCL)
Centre
for Democratic Institutions (CDI)
Centre
for International and Public Law (CIPL)
Centre
for Restorative Justice (CRJ)
Centre
for Tax System Integrity (CTSI)
Centre for Competition and Consumer Policy (CCCP)
National Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Research
(OHSR)
Security 21: National Centre for Security and Justice
Centre for Gambling Research
RegNet Office
Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet),
Research School of Social Sciences,
1st Floor, Garden Wing, University House
Australian National University,
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
Email: regnet@anu.edu.au
Web: http://regnet.anu.edu.au
Phone: +61 (0) 2 6243 8500
Fax: +61 (0) 2 6243 8507
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