"All About That Bass’ and Photoshopping a Model’s Waist: Introducing Body Image Law"

When women see images of extremely thin women, their body image may suffer as a result. Their poor body image can develop into an eating disorder. A handful of governments took action to try to stop models who have BMIs below a specific number from working and/or require a warning on photoshopped images (that modify models to make them appear thinner). The Authors of this article (“Authors”) created a term to apply to this newly developing area of law: Body Image Law. The Authors argue that there are some areas in which the actions that governments took in Body Image Law may be lacking: insufficient sanctions in some jurisdictions, using BMI solely to assess models’ fitness to work and a failure to address: (i) the tiny sample sizes that fashion designers provide to models to wear and (ii) using the term ‘plus size’ beside images of certain models. This is the first scholarly article known to the Authors to create a term that applies to this newly developing area of law.

Participatory Democracy in EU and Australia International Investment Law Policy Processes

This paper turns to the popular field of international investment law, but rather than assessing the consequences of the various bilateral and free trade agreements that dominate this area, it looks at how these agreements are made. Particularly, in an area that is perceived as wanting in legitimacy, it analyses the structures that are involved in making these agreements and assesses them against principles of participatory democracy. Using three participatory sub-principles of openness, inclusiveness and responsiveness as benchmarks, it comments on just how involved the people of the EU and Australia are in making their respective international investment law policies. It uses the recent and ongoing TTIP and TTP negotiations as principal case studies. Ultimately, it concludes that, while both subjects inherit strong foundations for the participation of its people and their processes are not as dismissive as is perhaps publicly perceived, both have a way to go in being truly participatory.

Statutory Review of the Construction Contracts Act 2004 (WA)

The Construction Contracts Act 2004 provides for security of payment in the construction industry through the use of rapid adjudication processes to determine payment disputes. It further prohibits or modifies certain “unfair” provisions in construction contracts and implies provisions in construction contracts about certain matters if there are no written provisions about these matters in the contract. In 2015 the Minster for Commerce commissioned a review of the Act to determine whether iy is meeting the needs of industry and whether amendment was required. This paper provides a background to the construction industry in Western Australia and the essential provisions of the Act together with the principal findings from the review. The recurring issue throughout the review was the critical need for widespread education and publicity regarding the existence of, and the provisions of the Act. Unless this occurs as a matter of urgency and priority, the Act will not fully achieve its objectives for the benefit of all sections of the construction industry.