Research
The Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law is focused upon delivering outputs that are tangible and valuable to rural communities. Its contribution is focused on four areas of strategic importance.
- Reducing the costs and complexity of primary production, and impacts of these on rural people. To achieve this, it aims at harmonised and simplified legislation and regulation, which better integrates government and private sector initiatives to achieve cost-effective regulation. It also aims to address the institutions behind regulation, and to seek improvement in their efficiency.
- Streamlining transactions so markets can operate better. This involves attention to contractual relationships, value chains and the ordering of relationships.
- Advancing fairness and justice for disadvantaged rural communities. Whilst there is a particular regard to the state of indigenous communities, the Centre also focuses on equity of access to infrastructures and services in regional and remote communities.
- Advancing sustainability through improved regulation coupled with more effective market instruments, information and support for voluntary programs.
The AgLaw Centre divides its work into a number of theme areas, with projects in each area. These are:
- Rules – which address government regulation, quasi-regulation such as policies and plans, and private regulation like industry standards;
- Tools of strategy – such as regulation, market instruments, education and information and voluntary action;
- Risks – particularly the management of risks which go with rural innovation such as genetic modification or new species introduction; and
- Relationships – addressing contracts, agreements, disputes and institutional arrangements.
The projects being undertaken by the Centre reflect this cutting edge, multi-disciplinary approach. They include:
- A recently won project bid to Land & Water Australia on tax leveraged conservation instruments.
- A project for the WWF, to develop strategies to enhance regulation by the use of information labelling programs. The final report The Costs and Benefits of a Proposed Mandatory Invasive Species Labelling Scheme is now available for download;
- Reconsideration of the ways in which rules governing healthcare may be better shaped to encourage innovation in rural communities;
- Evaluation of the transaction cost impacts of environmental law, and proposing ways to improve those laws and their effectiveness; and
- A major initiative to assist primary producers undertaking voluntary environment management system certification to self-evaluate their regulatory compliance.