![Professor Tamara Walsh](/sites/default/files/profiles/1463.jpeg)
Overview
Background
Tamara Walsh is a Professor of Law and Director of the UQ Pro Bono Centre. She has degrees in both Law and Social Work, and her interest is in social welfare law and human rights. Her research examines the impact of the law on vulnerable people including children and young people, people experiencing homelessness, people on low incomes, people with disabilities, mothers and carers. Her research has spanned 20 years and has been widely published, both in Australia and internationally.
In 2008, Tamara designed and established the UQ Pro Bono Centre, along with Dr Paul O'Shea and Prof Ross Grantham. The UQ Pro Bono Centre facilitates student and staff participation in pro bono legal activities, particularly public interest research and law reform. It is now a flagship program of the UQ Law School.
In 2016, Tamara established the UQ Deaths in Custody Project, which she runs in partnership with Prisoners' Legal Service. This Project monitors deaths in custody across Australia, and administers a public website which is an important resource for researchers, coroners and members of the public: www.deaths-in-custody.project.uq.edu.au
In 2020, Tamara established the UQ/Caxton Human Rights Project, along with Bridget Burton at Caxton Legal Centre. This project is staffed by volunteer law students and makes information on every case that refers to the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) publicly available: https://law.uq.edu.au/human-rights-cases.
Tamara is currently undertaking an ARC Linkage project on human rights dispute resolution in Australia (2023-2025). She has recently completed an ARC Linkage project on the criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia (2017-2021).
Tamara undertakes pro bono legal practice in the area of child protection, and she lectures in human rights law, and child and family law. Tamara also runs the UQ Law School's clinical legal education program.
Availability
- Professor Tamara Walsh is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Law, University of New South Wales
- Bachelor (Honours), University of New South Wales
- Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
- Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Queensland University of Technology
Research interests
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Human rights law
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Law and social justice
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Social welfare law
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Discrimination/equal opportunity law
Works
Search Professor Tamara Walsh’s works on UQ eSpace
2022
Journal Article
Poverty in Australian law
Walsh, Tamara (2022). Poverty in Australian law. Pandora's Box, 28, 23-40.
2022
Journal Article
Women who die in custody: what Australian coroners' reports tell us
Walsh, Tamara (2022). Women who die in custody: what Australian coroners' reports tell us. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 61 (4), 1-16. doi: 10.1111/hojo.12495
2022
Journal Article
Coroners' perspectives on deaths in custody in Australia
Walsh, Tamara, Alagappan, Eashwar and Cornwell, Lucy (2022). Coroners' perspectives on deaths in custody in Australia. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 71 100558, 100558. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlcj.2022.100558
2022
Conference Publication
Criminalisation of Homelessness in Australia: A National Study
Walsh, Tamara (2022). Criminalisation of Homelessness in Australia: A National Study. European Homelessness Conference, Bergamo, Italy, 22-23 September 2022.
2022
Book Chapter
Homeless persons
Walsh, Tamara (2022). Homeless persons. Elgar encyclopedia of human rights. (pp. 1-20) Vienna, Austria: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781789903621
2022
Journal Article
Youth justice, community safety and children's rights in Australia
Walsh, Tamara and Fitzgerald, Robin (2022). Youth justice, community safety and children's rights in Australia. The International Journal of Children's Rights, 30 (3), 617-643. doi: 10.1163/15718182-30030009
2022
Journal Article
Social housing, homelessness and human rights
Walsh, Tamara (2022). Social housing, homelessness and human rights. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 45 (2).
2022
Other Outputs
Expanding human rights for Queenslanders in the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
Kawamata, Oscar, McRuvie, Kirsty, Brown, Rory, Whitewood, Taylor, Behenna, Tian, Killen, Joe, Hyden, Jesse and Walsh, Tamara (2022). Expanding human rights for Queenslanders in the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld). Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
2022
Journal Article
Adolescent family and dating violence and the criminal law response
Douglas, Heather and Walsh, Tamara (2022). Adolescent family and dating violence and the criminal law response. Journal of Family Violence, 38 (2), 1-13. doi: 10.1007/s10896-022-00373-x
2021
Journal Article
Raise the age - and then what? Exploring the alternatives of criminalising children under 14 years of age
Walsh, Tamara, Fitzgerald, Robin, Cornwell, Lucy and Scarpato, Cara (2021). Raise the age - and then what? Exploring the alternatives of criminalising children under 14 years of age. James Cook University Law Review, 27, 37-56.
2021
Journal Article
The UQ/Caxton human rights case law database: what have we learnt in the first year?
Walsh, Tamara and Burton, Bridget (2021). The UQ/Caxton human rights case law database: what have we learnt in the first year?. Proctor.
2021
Conference Publication
The right to family contact following child removal: Will the Human Rights Act make a difference
Healy, Karen, Venables, Jemma, Walsh, Tamara and Thompson, Kate (2021). The right to family contact following child removal: Will the Human Rights Act make a difference. 26th Asia-Pacific Regional Social Work Conference (hosted by IFSW & AASW), Online, 11-13 November 2021.
2021
Conference Publication
What are the consequences of intervening to protect children?
Walsh, Tamara (2021). What are the consequences of intervening to protect children?. Vulnerable Persons Conference, University of Southern Queensland, 13-14 May 2021.
2021
Journal Article
A study into the operation of the Queensland Mental Health Review Tribunal
Boyle, Sam, Walsh, Tamara and Nelson, Lucinda (2021). A study into the operation of the Queensland Mental Health Review Tribunal. Medical Law Review, 29 (1), 106-127. doi: 10.1093/medlaw/fwaa043
2021
Journal Article
Prisoner isolation and COVID-19 in Queensland
Blaber, Helen, Walsh, Tamara and Cornwell, Lucy (2021). Prisoner isolation and COVID-19 in Queensland. Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity, 8 (2), 52-69.
2021
Other Outputs
30 years on: Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommendations remain unimplemented
Anthony, Thalia, Jordan, Kirrily, Walsh, Tamara, Markham, Francis and Williams, Megan (2021). 30 years on: Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommendations remain unimplemented. CAEPR Working Paper. 140. Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University. doi: 10.25911/22AJ-0608
2021
Journal Article
Homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system: insights from specialist lawyers and allied professionals in Australia
McNamara, Luke, Quilter, Julia, Walsh, Tamara and Anthony, Thalia (2021). Homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system: insights from specialist lawyers and allied professionals in Australia. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 10 (1), 111-129. doi: 10.5204/IJCJSD.1742
2020
Journal Article
Imposed isolation plagues Queensland prisons during pandemic
Blaber, Helen and Walsh, Tamara (2020). Imposed isolation plagues Queensland prisons during pandemic. Proctor.
2020
Conference Publication
The use of restrictive practices in Australian schools
Walsh, Tamara (2020). The use of restrictive practices in Australian schools. United Nations 13th Session of the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Side Event: It all begins with education), Online, 3 December 2020.
2020
Conference Publication
Restrictive practices in prisons
Walsh, Tamara (2020). Restrictive practices in prisons. Restrictive practices and human rights, Online, 3 December 2020.
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Tamara Walsh is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
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Human rights and social welfare law
The PhD program provides students with an opportunity to examine the legal and social impacts of human rights law, and explore in depth the effects of the law and legal systems on people experiencing social and economic disadvantage. Students could apply human rights law, and related scholarship, to a number of different legal areas and problems, including:
- Social welfare
- Child protection
- Housing and homelessness
- Criminalisation, policing and corrections
For further information contact Professor Tamara Walsh, e: t.walsh@law.uq.edu.au.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Human rights and COVID: What did we learn and where to from here?
Principal Advisor
Completed supervision
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2018
Doctor Philosophy
Capacity and Treatment Refusal: How Law Should Deal with the Case of Anorexia Nervosa
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Malcolm Parker
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Plain language and the law: Rethinking legal information for vulnerable people in Australia
Associate Advisor
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2007
Doctor Philosophy
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL?: An Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld) as a Tool for the Delivery of Equality of Opportunity in Education to People with Impairments
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Tamara Walsh directly for media enquiries about:
- Child protection
- Civil rights
- Community justice
- constitutional law
- Corrections and law
- Criminal law
- Disability
- Discrimination
- Homelessness and the law
- Human rights law
- Justice
- Law - homelessness
- Law and homelessness
- Law and poverty
- Moving on powers
- Police and impoverished people
- Poverty and the law
- pro bono law
- Right to education
- Social justice
- Social security law
- Social welfare law
- Summary offences law
- Youth justice
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