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...

Academic freedom is essential to the work of Australian universities. Their role in educating students and advancing human knowledge depends upon academics and students working and learning in an environment in which they can freely exchange ideas, challenge conventional wisdom and debate controversial issues. Indeed, it is hard to see how universities can achieve excellence...

Federal parliament will soon debate a law that conjures up modern-day images of Big Brother, according to George Williams and David Hume. The Bill will allow the government to read private emails, SMSs and other stored communications without the knowledge of the sender or receiver. The power will extend to innocent people if they have...

Striving for the illusory goal of full protection from terrorism creates the risk of bad laws that do even greater damage, writes George Williams. He argues that it is time to take a step back to assess the successes and failures of the new laws we have enacted in response.

A number of papers from the conference, held in February 2006, are available online. They include: • Alex Reilly, Macquarie University – Appropriations and Expenditures: Where do the Limits Lie? Combet v Commonwealth • David Bennett QC, Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth – The High Court on Constitutional Law: The 2005 Term • Dr Andrew Lynch...