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The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for treatment of negative mood or affect, including problems such as depression, is not recommended in current public health guidelines or by reviewers of recent scientific findings. In this article we describe a preliminary examination of the relationship of HRT use to psychological affect and distress in the general population of middle-aged New Zealand women. A questionnaire survey was sent to 1,000 New Zealand women between the ages of 45-60 who were selected at random from the electoral roll. Among 494 respondents, no relationship was found between any measure of positive or negative mood or distress and HRT use. Other study variables, such as menopausal symptoms and self-reported health, were more likely to predict psychological outcomes. Our study supports previous findings. Nevertheless, the use of HRT to treat negative mood is currently widely accepted by the public and promoted by pharmaceutical companies.

In 2012, four Italian children unlawfully retained in Australia by their mother were sent back to Italy, even though they had been in Australia for over two years, all four objected to being returned and the two elder children were aged 12 and 14 at the time of the first hearing. The High Court of Australia ruled that the children had been afforded natural justice and that their views had been appropriately heard and considered, despite the children not having had legal representation or the opportunity to express their views directly. This article examines the meaning and operation of the "children's objection" exception to a mandatory return order made in Australia pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. While the general rule is that children unlawfully taken from their home country by a parent must be returned, Article 13 gives a court discretion to refuse to return a child if the child objects and is of sufficient age and maturity. In Australia, the child's objection must also show a "strength of feeling" beyond a mere preference or ordinary wishes. The authors discuss the limitations of the current procedures for hearing children's objections in light of the child's right to be heard pursuant to Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and advocate greater use of Independent Children's Lawyers and meetings between children and judges in Hague Convention cases.

Fierce debates about the appropriate role of children's lawyers in child protection have erupted in Australia and overseas since the 1990s, with different models of legal representation for children incorporated into legislation. Given the pace of change and the variety of arrangements in Australia, there has been surprisingly little research into how lawyers think about these roles or put them into practice. This article examines how children's lawyers in the NSW Child Protection system think about their practice and formulate their approach to the representation of children, with reference to their contact with children. It reports on the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in 2006 that asked 21 lawyers how they work with children and how they think about children's participation. Lawyers reported that they represented children in very different ways, reflecting ambiguity about how to interpret these roles and involve children as clients or the subject of best interests representation. The author argues that an integral aspect of the lawyers' role is to ensure that children are heard by the court, but that more needs to be done to ensure this is carried out in practice.