Australia's systems for disease surveillance, detection and reporting have recently been reinvigorated, as has planning for mass casualty and outbreak preparedness. However, existing research and comments from the Australian experts in public health policy and practice interviewed by Nigel Brew and Kate Burton for this paper highlight major deficiencies in the emergency health response to...

Janet Phillips looks at some of the issues associated with people trafficking, outline Australia's responses to date, and discuss how effective those measures are likely to be in combating trafficking.

In August 2004 Australia's High Court declared by 4:3 that failed asylum seekers who have nowhere to go can be kept in immigration detention indefinitely. In the Al-Khateb and Al Khafaji cases, the majority said that provided the Immigration Minister retained the intention of eventually deporting such people, detention would remain valid. These cases will...

Morag Donaldson explains the welfare jurisdiction of the Family Court by highlighting its historic roots and noting some of the cases in which it has been applied.

The legality of different forms of detention continues to be a prominent national issue. In August 2004, the High Court of Australia said the continued and potentially indefinite detention of failed asylum seekers who had asked to leave but had nowhere to go was constitutionally valid. A related issue is the constitutional validity of the...