National Security Law in Australia

This new book, the first of its kind, is a curation of wide-ranging expertise on national security law in Australia at a time in history where polycrises are testing the very foundations of the state. National security goes to the heart of a state’s existence, citizens, and values. So it is that national security law is inherently interdisciplinary and those who make and administer national security law must navigate a complex array of competing interests and structures. To that end, this edited volume takes an interdisciplinary approach and includes chapters on national security in the context of judicial power, executive power, federalism, human rights, gender, citizenship, counter-terrorism, foreign interference, cyberspace, biosecurity, policing, law of the sea, space law, and international humanitarian law. Both scholars and practitioners are represented among the contributing authors. The chapters are written so as to be accessible to policymakers and those without legal training, as well as providing a useful resource to lawyers and law students. Each of them provides a pragmatic overview of the relevant frameworks, while highlighting key law and policy challenges.