Call for Submissions to the University of New South Wales Law Journal Issue 49(4)

The University of New South Wales Law Journal (‘Journal’) is currently welcoming submissions for the thematic component of Issue 49(4). The topic for this thematic is ‘Children and the Law’.

Children are widely recognised as vulnerable individuals whom the law ought to protect. Accordingly, complexities regarding what is considered a child’s ‘best interests’ and what protects a child’s rights often arise in the creation of legislation. This is particularly timely for academic scholarship with the range of new laws and developments regarding children, including the Victorian and federal government reactions to the findings of over 70 charges of child abuse on a former childcare worker and the controversial under-16s social media ban, planned to take effect in December 2025. However, children should also be recognised as active agents of rights, and thus there is area for discussion on increasing the participation of children in legal proceedings and their own involvement in legal activism.

Further developments in other legal areas affecting children include criminal law, particularly the recent ‘crackdown’ on youth offenders. This has seen significant changes to bail laws in Victoria and the expansion of Queensland’s ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time,’ which brings interesting analysis on both its practical application and effect on juvenile offenders. There is also continuous discourse in areas of family law, particularly the principle of the ‘best interests of the child’ and its application in cases of domestic violence as well as the recent merging of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court and its effect on vulnerable families. Importantly, many of the above topics can also be analysed through the lens of Indigenous children, due to their overrepresentation in child protection, out-of-home care services and in the juvenile justice system and how this can be improved.

In writing submissions, authors may wish to explore the following issues:

Child Abuse

• The recent findings of child abuse and neglect in Australian childcare systems
• The response from Australian governments, including Victoria’s Rapid Child Safety Review, Early Childhood and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Bill 2025 and reworking of Working with Children’s Check legislation
• Redress and issues with institutional child sexual abuse
• Corporal punishment and the calls for the repeal of the reasonable chastisement defence

Digital Spaces:

• The under-16s social media ban and its implication for children’s right to freedom of speech and to access to information
• The use of digital spaces as a tool for legal activism for children and young people
• Ethical and legal implications of the rise of ‘kidfluencers’ and family vloggers including complexities regarding child privacy and labour laws
• The increasing reliance on Educational Technology (‘EdTech’) and its effects on the digital rights of children

Family Law

• Changes to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) including the consolidation of the principle of the child’s best interest as paramount and the removal of the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility and its consequences on children in domestic violence cases
• Considerations on directly hearing from children in family law court proceedings and potential empirical studies on children’s opinion on their level of participation in family law decisions
• Comparative analysis of Australian and international child protection systems and potential improvements to be made
• The effect of the merging of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court

The Justice System

• Government ‘crackdown’ on youth crime offences including changes to Victorian bail laws and Queensland’s expansion of placing adult sentences on youth crimes
•  The juvenile justice system, including improvements to be made, impact on youth offenders and alternative programs
• Utilising the participation of children in court proceedings and potential initiatives to improve children’s representation
• The presumption of doli incapax in practice and raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility

Indigenous Children

• The overrepresentation of Indigenous children in child protection and out-of-home care services
• Institutional racism against Indigenous children in the justice system
• The under-reporting of abuse and neglect of Indigenous children and, more broadly, fear and mistrust in the justice system

However, authors are not limited to these topics and are encouraged to draw upon their own interests and expertise. The Journal welcomes comparative, inter-disciplinary, historical and novel methodological approaches, as well as doctrinal scholarship.

The submission deadline for the thematic Issue 49(4) is 31 March 2026, with publication set for December 2026. Any changes to these deadlines will be updated on the Journal’s website.

Submissions should be between 7,000 and 13,000 words in length, excluding footnotes. The style guide for the Journal is the fourth edition of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, as supplemented by the latest edition of the Journal’s ‘Additions’, which is available on our website.

The Journal is an independent, peer-reviewed publication. While publication is subject to peer review, publication decisions remain at the Editor’s discretion, in counsel with the Executive Committee of the Journal. The Journal does not publish articles that have been, or will be, published elsewhere, either in identical or substantially similar form. Please contact the Journal at law.journal@unsw.edu.au if you are interested or have queries about submitting for Issue 49(4).

If you intend to submit an article, it would be greatly appreciated if you could please provide some early indication of your proposed topic or area of research. We strongly encourage you to pass this call for submissions to any colleagues, research networks or organisations who may be interested in making a submission.

Yours sincerely,

Victoria Hong
Editor, Issue 49(4)