Developing an Ethical Framework for the Implementation of Public Health Regulation (360G-Wellcome-203174_Z_16_Z)

This project entails a collaboration between the applicant, who has expertise in public health ethics and law, scholars at the University of Western Australia with expertise in law and history, and the Chief Health Officer and Assistant Director General Public Health, Department of Health, Western Australia. It will analyse the historical and regulatory significance of Western Australia’s Public Health Bill (due soon to be enacted), and develop an ethical framework to underpin public health activity under the new law. The key goals are to: Improve understanding, and develop standards for good practice in public health Identify the need and challenges for implementing flexible, principle-led decision making, and will lay the groundwork for an implementation strategy founded in bioethics Establish a platform on which to build the next phases of research, directed at facilitating implementation. Produce generalisable knowledge and insights regarding the new wave of public health laws, which aim to replace outdated understandings of public health with policies that recognise and respond to the social determinants of health, and 21st century public health challenges These goals will be achieved through direct engagement with policy-actors, the generation of academic articles, and the galvanisation of collaborative research links.