This working paper compiles a number of pieces by participants from a seminar to discuss the federal government’s recently announced intentions to enact new voter ID requirements for federal elections—a proposal that raises questions of constitutionality and broader democratic policy.

INTRODUCTION: Proposals for the establishment of an Indigenous advisory body within the Australian Constitution are genuinely innovative and exciting. Designing such a body is a challenge. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have long sought better political representation. Indigenous Australians constitute approximately 3 per cent of the population, therefore—even with proportionate reserved seats—such a micro-minority...

The ability of dissents to pave the way for change in the law is regularly cited as one of their virtues. But this examination of a period of the court’s recent history shows that the direct reversal of a precedent in favour of the minority opinion which accompanied it is actually very rare.

Sean Brennan reviews two key sets of changes contained in the 2006 Amendment Act. It does so against the backdrop of the Land Rights Act’s chequered political history, in which bipartisan endorsement and ideological antagonism have jostled for priority.

Until September 11, Australia had no national laws on terrorism. Political violence was dealt with by the ordinary criminal law. Since then we have passed a litany of new anti-terror statutes. In an era punctuated by terrorist attacks starting with New York and Washington and followed by those in Bali, Madrid, London, Mumbai and elsewhere...