Rebecca LaForgia

Secret 'Enhanced Screening' of Asylum Seekers: A Democratic Analysis Centring on the Humanity of the Commonwealth Officer

Recent developments in Refugee policy have seen a divesting of responsibility to other nations. This process of divestment occurred last year in an earlier incarnation of asylum seeker policy, when Sri Lankan asylum seekers were targeted for a secret pre-screening process conducted by a Commonwealth officer. In this article, we explain how it is possible that such a secret procedure can occur in our name, but without our knowledge. By divesting the responsibility to the Commonwealth Officer, we have no real understanding of the issues, and consequently no capacity to engage in meaningful debate, or to challenge our beliefs and actions. If we are not able to see or hear the asylum seekers’ circumstances clearly and publically then we lose the possibility of a democratic relationship among ourselves.

Listening to China’s Multilateral Voice for the First Time: Analysing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for Soft Power Opportunities and Risks in the Narrative of ‘Lean, Clean and Green’

Abstract The creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a seminal event in China’s recent history. The AIIB is the first multinational financial institution instigated by China. The broad opportunity for soft power influence for China is clear. Less clear are the specifics on how or what this soft power opportunity will mean and how it will be delivered. This article examines the core phrase/narrative developed by China to describe the AIIB, which is that this institution will be ‘lean, clean and green’. This narrative is explored using the framework developed by Miskimmon, O’Loughlin and Roselle. This article presumes that China’s expression that the AIIB is a ‘lean, clean and green’ institution is not simply a superficial phrase. Therefore the article holds China accountable for the policy contours and promises it has made in relation to the AIIB. However, this article’s aim is primarily to explore the hopeful and real opportunities for China to realise soft power and international leadership in this phrasing of ‘lean, clean and green’. This can be realised if this narrative, created by China, is used authentically to support the AIIB’s institutional operations and future projects. Conversely, if this phrase is superficially applied, there will be a risk of the loss of soft power through the international communities’ perception of inauthenticity.

'To Watch, To Never Look Away': The Public's Responsibility for Australia's Offshore Processing of Asylum Seekers

The article argues that the duty of the people extends beyond simply choosing their representatives at periodic elections. Individuals in a political community must be engaged with the decisions of their representatives between elections, scrutinising the creation, implementation and outcomes of the policies pursued in their names. The article posits a public ‘duty to watch’ that requires the provision of information by government institutions adequate for the public to assess and take responsibility for policy in its full complexity. The final part of the article then identifies how the duty to watch has a constitutional basis, requiring the disclosure of information about the actions of Australian Commonwealth officers, or those being funded by the Commonwealth in an official capacity.

Limitlessness in Australian Constitutional Legal Narrative: The memory of Black's Address in the Tasmanian Dam Case

Given that clashes of federalism and the interpretation of powers are often the predominant themes in Australian constitutional culture, an especially intriguing element in the address of Michael Black QC, representing the Tasmanian Wilderness Society, in the High Court Tasmanian Dam case is the idea that there was something evocative and poetic that was said in a constitutional setting. This article does not replicate Blacks legal argument directly or in its entirety, but instead gives a close examination of the text, with a view to engaging with the performance, or the spirit and the emotion, that pervades the address and evokes a concept of limitlessness in connections between self and nature. In reading Blacks address, the purpose of this article is to re-create and expand on three deliberate steps contained within the oratory, which lead to this experience of limitlessness.