September/October 2011

Why is it that the most interesting developments in refugee law and policy always seem to happen at the same time as university assessment? We hope you enjoy the newest contributions by our contributors:

• Danielle McKeen examines refugee flows from Afghanistan.
• Rutaban Yameen & Sarah Brown explore the High Court’s reasoning in Plaintiffs M70/M106′s case.
• Marissa Dooris muses on the consequences of the High Court’s decision to invalidate the Minister’s declaration with respect to Malaysia.
• Dr Peter Billings has kindly made available an article published in a recent volume of the Griffith Law Review on the ethical, political and political rationales for policies of exclusion towards asylum seekers who arrive by boat and Indigenous Australians.

Juridical exceptionalism in Australia: Law, Nostalgia and the Exclusion of ‘Others’

By Peter W Billings. Published in full in the Griffith Law Review.

Abstract
Federal government interventions designed to address irregular maritime arrivals and living conditions in particular Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory (NT), have been characterised by juridical exceptionalism – the partial suspension of the juridical order. Perceived emergencies, broadly border (in)security and physical (in)security, have resulted in the creation of legal spaces in which ‘Others’ are constitute within and without the juridical order by the sovereign. This article critically explores these exceptional spaces – ‘offshore excised places’, immigration detention centres and ‘prescribed’ parts of the NT – and examines the ethical, political and historical rationalities underpinning them.