Articles for category: Australien

Rising Before Sinking

On 22 September 2022, just one day before global climate protests took place in around 450 locations, the UN Human Rights Committee (Committee) has published its landmark decision in the case Daniel Billy et al. v. Australia. In casu, the Committee found that Australia failed to adequately protect members of an indigenous community present in four small, low-lying islands in the Torres Strait region from adverse impacts of climate change, which resulted in the violation of the complainants’ rights to enjoy their culture (Art. 27 ICPPR) and to be free from arbitrary interferences with their private life, family and home (Art. 17 ICCPR). The Committee thereby issued the first decision at the international level to tackle substantive human rights questions in the context of climate change that relate to the current situation of small islands and their indigenous inhabitants.

3. Oktober 2022

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The Republic Debate in Australia

With the death of long reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II, and the ascension of King Charles III, a conversation has been reignited as to whether it is time for Australia to move to a republic. In Australia, this conversation is complicated by the failure of the republic referendum in 1999. The divisions over the model of selecting the Head of State that marred that vote remain unresolved, and there is a distinct lack of any urgency within the broader Australian public.

23. September 2022

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What Makes Responsible Government Responsible?

How important is it for a Parliament to know which Ministers are appointed to administer which departments? This odd question has been at the centre of a furore in Australia in recent weeks. It has focussed attention on the legal and political requirements for ‘responsible government’, to use the characterisation of the relationship between Crown, Ministers and Parliament that is in common use in parliamentary systems in the British tradition, including those in Australia. It raises some intriguing questions for the construction of the executive chapter of the Australian Constitution, which are all the more important in times of global concern about democratic decline.

31. August 2022

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Novak Djokovic and the Australian Migration System

The cancellation of tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa by the Australian government last week highlighted some of the legal contestations and confusion surrounding vaccination mandates, but also gave a glimpse of Australian migration and public law. There is hope that the proceeding will provide some momentum for the reform of its most controversial aspects.

21. Januar 2022

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Wie die Überwachung des öffentlichen Raums den politischen Protest in Australien aushöhlt

Während Protestbewegungen auf der ganzen Welt an Schwung gewinnen - von Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter bis hin zu starken Pro-Demokratie-Protesten in Chile und Hong Kong - bauen Regierungen auf der ganzen Welt ihre Überwachungskapazitäten im Namen des "Schutzes der Öffentlichkeit" und der "Bewältigung von Notfällen" aus. Australien ist keine Ausnahme von diesem Trend.

14. Dezember 2021

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How Public Space Surveillance is Eroding Political Protests in Australia

As protest movements are gaining momentum across the world, with Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter, and strong pro-democracy protests in Chile and Hong Kong are taking centre stage, governments around the world are increasing their surveillance capacities in the name of “protecting the public” and “addressing emergencies”. Australia is not an exception to this trend.

14. Dezember 2021

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Rhetorik der Terrorismusbekämpfung, das Abschreckungsparadigma und das Ende des Asyls

Obwohl der Zusammenhang zwischen Terrorismus und Asyl in Australien keine empirische Grundlage hat, haben bestimmte Gesetze, Maßnahmen und Praktiken, die im Jahr 2001 zur Terrorismusbekämpfung eingeführt wurden, bis heute Bestand - insbesondere die Offshore-Abfertigung von Asylbewerbern, die auf dem Seeweg ankommen. Ich behaupte, dass Australiens Abschreckungsmodell eine negative "Signalwirkung" auf die heutige Asylpolitik und -praxis einiger europäischer Staaten hatte.

16. November 2021

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Counterterrorism rhetoric, the deterrence paradigm, and the end of asylum: an antipodean viewpoint

The Australian government’s agenda of progressive border securitization was, initially, sustained by counter-terrorism rhetoric. However, the focus of concern has shifted away from the potential terrorist threat posed by asylum seekers towards deterring unauthorised maritime migration. Though the nexus between terrorism and asylum lacks an empirical basis in Australia, certain laws, policies and practices premised on counterterrorism in 2001 endure to this day – offshore processing of asylum seekers arriving by sea, notably. I argue that Australia’s deterrence model has had a negative ‘signalling effect’ on some European states’ contemporary asylum policies and practice.

16. November 2021

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