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The relationship between federalism and rights is an under-studied aspect of Australia's constitutional system. It is rarely analysed in detail because the premise of most theories, which are drawn from the United States, is that federalism alters substantive outcomes on rights. These theories do not connect to Australia's constitutional experience because the country's federal system produces a large degree of policy uniformity. In this paper, I argue that Australia's federal system has a substantial impact on legislative deliberations on rights issues. Even when policy uniformity results, federalism introduces additional actors and alternative viewpoints into the lawmaking process, altering patterns of discourse. I employ three case studies -- counterterrorism, same-sex marriage and organised crime -- to highlight and analyse the connections between federalism and rights deliberation. This understanding of the relationship has implications for the place of federalism in Australia's constitutional system, which is often undervalued, and the country's approach to rights protection, which relies extensively on a deliberative process that is attuned to rights issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil aviation has been proven to be a prime target of terrorists and it has become an area of major concern since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The increased level of threat to airports and aircraft has resulted in the Australian Government introducing new legislation in addition to introducing new security measures. The ideologies that the Australian Government subscribes to when identifying terrorists in the civil aviation security environment have not been made explicit. By extension, the role that these ideologies play in the making of policy, and ultimately in the implementing of practice, is unclear. This paper reveals the ideologies the Australian Government subscribes to when identifying terrorists, which can be categorized into two distinct groups; 1) ideologies concerned with identifying terrorists by attack vector, and 2) ideologies concerned with identifying terrorists based on who they are. It was also determined, for the most part, that these particular ideologies played a significant role in the making of policy and in the implementing of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a critical perspective on the Bush Doctrine's impact on the Asian, especially Southeast Asian, security order. It proceeds in four parts. The first examines the problematic nature of the Bush Doctrine, such as its deliberate conflation of preemptive and preventive war and its expansive scope as a "grand strategy of transformation." This is followed by an analysis of the responses of Southeast Asian states to the doctrine. The third part looks at the "imitation" effects of the Bush Doctrine in Asia-Pacific, where it may be reshaping, national security strategies of some states such as Australia and Japan. The last part of the paper evaluates how the Bush Doctrine, with its underlying, basis in U.S. power dominance in a unipolar global setting, affects the Asian security architecture, particularly the balance between bilateral and multilateral security approaches to regional order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential for criminals and terrorism financiers to secure lucrative government contracts poses a risk to Australia's anti-money laundering, anti-corruption and counter-terrorism financing objectives. This article compares the customer due diligence measures that banks are required to implement to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing with the general supplier due diligence practices and processes of key Australian government departments and agencies. It identifies various weaknesses in current procurement practices relating to standard contracts and argues that these render Australian public procurement vulnerable to criminal abuse, threaten compliance with its sanctions regime and potentially undermine the crime combating objectives of its money laundering and terrorism financing laws. The article recommends that the national interest calls for a whole-of-government approach to improve supplier due diligence in public procurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines recent shifts in Australia's strategic posture in the context of the war against terror in Southeast Asia. Australia's history, geography and ongoing definition of its national identity, relative to Asia and the West, are central to its future geopolitical disposition. How these dynamics are resolved will influence Australia's relationships with Southeast Asian states. The war against terror in Southeast Asia offers Australia the opportunity to add a new layer of substance to its relations with Asian states by offering meaningful counter terrorism assistance in a cooperative manner. Australian national interests would be best served by establishing an independent Pacific identity, that builds on its values, continues its close strategic relationship with the United States (U.S.) and recognizes the importance of constructive, and mutually beneficial, relations with Southeast Asia, as well as the value of close relations with Asia as a whole. Such a path will enable Australia to avoid having to choose between Asia and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the actual and potential effects that Australian counter-terrorism laws have on public discussion and access to information, exploring how democratic commitments to media freedom might best be balanced against contemporary demands of national security. It analyses how the laws affect the media's ability to investigate and report on matters of public interest. It explains how the research has been conducted; identifies some of the main elements of the legal framework and the way that those elements may affect, and sometimes have affected, the media; and offers some tentative conclusions about the ways that the media have been affected which are not directly, causally attributable to the suite of counter-terrorism laws but which are important to understanding the contemporary relationship between media freedom and public discussion of matters of public interest where national security is concerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]