Committees of Influence: Parliamentary Rights Scrutiny and Counter-Terrorism Lawmaking in Australia

ISBN-13: 9789811543524 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 294 str.

Sarah Moulds

Spis treści

Part 1 Parliamentary committees and their place within the Australian parliamentary landscape

1. Introduction Chapter 1 introduces the key themes of the book and underscores its relevance for public law scholars and students, and those engaged in the parliamentary system, for example as public servants or parliamentary counsel.  It introduces themes such as: the role of parliamentary committees in rights protection in Australia and addresses the conventional scepticism of the parliamentary model of rights protection.  It also sets out the structure of the book.

2. Methodology Chapter 2 sets out the unique methodology employed in this research, which seeks to measure three ‘tiers’ of impact: legislative (whether the content of proposed laws changes as a result of parliamentary committee activity);public (whether the public and/or parliamentary debate on proposed laws is influenced by the work of parliamentary committees); and hidden (whether the work of parliamentary committees has an impact on how proposed laws are developed prior to introduction into Parliament).   Chapter 2 also includes an overview of past evaluations of parliamentary committees and describes how the assessment framework used this research is designed to overcome weaknesses and challenges previously encountered. 

3. Overview of the Australian Parliamentary Committee System Chapter 3 provides an overview of the legal and political context in which parliamentary committees operate and introduces the particular committees studied.  This chapter sets the foundations for measuring the type of impact these committees may be having on the development, debate and enactment of Australia’s counter-terrorism law.

4. Counter-terrorism law making in Australia Chapter 4 provides an overview of the international and domestic context in which Australia’s counter-terrorism laws and policies have been developed since September 2001, and introduces the separate Acts that make up the case study used in this research. 

Part 2 Measuring the rights impact of parliamentary committees on Australia's counter-terrorism laws 

5. Legitimacy and Participation Chapter 5 identifies the key participants in the four committees studied, and investigates the ‘legitimacy’ or 'political authority' of each of these committees as seen by its key participants.  Understanding the views and perspectives of key participants in the system helps provide a more holistic picture of the nature of the impact each committee has had on the case study Acts. It also helps to set the parameters of realistic options for improving the rights-enhancing impact of each committee, discussed in Part III.

6.  Legislative Impact Chapter 6 sets out evidence of the legislative impact of the four parliamentary committees on the case study Acts, providing a powerful indicator of their overall influence. 

7.  Public Impact Chapter 7 sets out evidence of the public impact of the four parliamentary committees on the case study Acts, including evidence that committees influenced or were considered in public or parliamentary debate or post-enactment review.

8.  Hidden Impact Chapter 8 considers evidence of the hidden or ‘behind-the-scenes’ impact of the four parliamentary committees on the case study Acts, including whether or not the work of these committees influenced or was considered in the pre-introduction phase.  

Part 3 The rights enhancing impact of the system of parliamentary committees - implications and options for reform

9.  Building upon the Complementary Strengths of Individual Committees within the system Part III of this thesis uses the evidence presented in Part II to substantiate the central claim of this thesis.  Chapter 9 argues that only by considering parliamentary committees working together as a system can we propose realistic substantive improvements in the parliamentary model of rights protection. It demonstrates that making changes to the processes, mandates or powers of individual committees provides only limited scope to improve the committee’s rights-protecting capacity. Instead, it is the system of parliamentary committees that provides the most realistic and practical options for meaningful, short-term reform. 

10.  Reform Options for the System of Committees Chapter 10 sets out a range of practical options for improving the capacity of the parliamentary committee system to contribute to rights protection in Australia. These include strategies to address high workloads and ensure timely tabling of reports and  improve communication and collaboration between individual committees.  It also includes reforms designed to acknowledge and document parliamentary committees’ contribution to establishing a common rights-scrutiny culture within the Australian Parliament.

11.  Reform Options for Individual Committees Chapter 11 supports the reform options explored in Chapter 10 by specifying the changes needed with respect to individual committees, to enable them to better contribute to the rights protecting capacity of the system as a whole.

12.  Conclusion Chapter 12 concludes by emphasising the key theme of this book, namely that understanding parliamentary committees as a system is the key to improving their rights protecting capacity.  It also explains how this finding can provide new perspectives on rights protection in Australia, and new insights into balancing counter-terrorism law making with rights protection in Australian and in other jurisdictions.

O autorze

Dr Sarah Moulds is a recognised leader in the area of law reform and parliamentary law making. For 15 years she has been committed to engaging with and improving Australia's parliamentary model of rights protection, and has observed the system in action from a number of unique perspectives.  

Dr Moulds has been undertaking research in the area of parliamentary scrutiny and deliberative law making for 15 years, including in the form of a PhD Thesis entitled The Rights-Protecting Role and Impact of Commonwealth Parliamentary Committees: The Case of Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Laws which was awarded a University Medal for Doctoral Research by the University of Adelaide in 2018. Dr Moulds has also published in a number of national and international law journals on the topic of parliamentary law making and rights protection, with a particular focus on the role of parliamentary committees.  She recently presented at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy’s Asia Seminar held in Myanmar in June 2019, and was invited to present at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom’s workshop on Parliamentary Engagement in April 2020, and has reflected on the significance of parliamentary law making from a range of local and international perspectives.

Before undertaking her PhD, Dr Moulds had an extensive career in law reform and legal policy, including seven years as a Director of Human Rights and Criminal Law Policy at the Law Council of Australia. Dr Moulds has also worked as a Senior Policy Officer at the South Australian Law Reform Institute and undertaken legal policy roles at the South Australian Attorney-General's Department and within the Commonwealth public service. Dr Moulds is currently lecturing at the University of South Australia, including in the area of public law, constitutional law and legislation, and is a member of the Law Society of South Australia's Administrative Law and Human Rights Committees.

Blurb

This book includes original and ground breaking research into parliamentary law making and legislative responses to counter-terrorism in Australia. This book introduces new, holistic and evidenced-based methods of evaluating how parliaments deliberate on complex policy issues, and how they weigh up competing rights and interests. Although this book is focused on the Australian experience, it has relevance across all parliamentary democracies grappling with the challenges posed by ensuring robust rights protection whilst responding to the threat of terrorism. This book will be of relevance and interest to law makers, government administrators and public servants, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, political and legal scholars, law students and members of the legal profession.

This book is designed to provide a unique, evidence-based perspective on Australia's parliamentary model of rights protection and on the experience of counter-terrorism law making in Australia since 2011. By focusing on the role and impact of the federal parliamentary committee system, this book offers a fresh perspective on the contemporary legal and political debate on the best legal mechanism for rights protection in Australia. By using counter-terrorism laws as a detailed case study, this book also contributes in a timely, authoritative way to the debate on balancing individual liberties with national security.  

Using a contemporary case study of Australia's counter-terrorism, this book employs a unique, three tiered methodology to explore the impact of the system of parliamentary committees system on federal laws. The findings in this book give rise to practical recommendations for reform and provide a fresh new perspectives on Australia's parliamentary model of rights protection. This book has broad implications for rights scholars and rights advocates contemplating new models of rights protection in Australia. This book offers important practical insights to other jurisdictions grappling with the challenges posed by ensuring robust rights protection whilst responding to the threat of terrorism.