The constitutional power to make war: domestic legal issues raised by Australia's action in Iraq

The legal power to declare war has traditionally been a part of a prerogative to be exercised solely on advice that passed from the King to the Governor-General no later than 1942. In 2003, the Governor- General was not involved in the decision by the Prime Minister and Cabinet to commit Australian troops to the invasion of Iraq. The authors explore the alternative legal means by which Australia can go to war - means the government in fact used in 2003 - and the constitutional basis of those means. While the prerogative power can be regulated and/or devolved by legislation, and just possibly by practice, there does not seem to be a sound legal basis to assert that the power has been devolved to any other person. It appears that in 2003 the Defence Minister used his legal powers under the Defence Act 1903 (Cth) (as amended in 1975) to give instructions to the service head(s). A powerful argument could be made that the relevant sections of the Defence Act were not intended to be used for the decision to go to war, and that such instructions are for peacetime or in bello decisions. If so, the power to make war remains within the prerogative to be exercised on advice. Interviews with the then Governor-General indicate that Prime Minister Howard had planned to take the matter to the Federal Executive Council 'for noting', but did not do so after the Governor-General sought the views of the then Attorney-General about relevant issues of international law. The exchange raises many issues, but those of interest concern the kinds of questions the Governor-General could and should ask about proposed international action and whether they in any way mirror the assurances that are uncontroversially required for domestic action. In 2003, the Governor-General's scrutiny was the only independent scrutiny available because the legality of the decision to go to war was not a matter that could be determined in the High Court, and the federal government had taken action in March 2002 that effectively prevented the matter coming before the International Court of Justice

UK Design as a global industry : international trade and intellectual property Executive Summary

This is an independent report comissioned by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and supported by the Design Council.

Injury prevention in Queensland : report to Queensland Injury Prevention Council

Injury is the fourth leading cause of death in Australia. Injury rates in Queensland are amongst the highest in Australia and 21.5% of people surveyed for this research reported that their lifestyle or that of an immediate family member had been permanently affected by injury. Injury results in over 40,000 hospital admissions and 200,000 attendances at hospital Emergency Departments in Queensland each year. Queensland's death rate from injuries is higher than the national average, with consistently higher rates of deaths related to transport injuries. Queensland statistics also show higher than national average rates of injuries due to falls, homicide and accidental drowning. (Pike, Muller, Baade & Ward, 2000) In 2000-01 injuries represented over $4 billion (or 8%) of total health system expenditure, and 185,000 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), or 7% of the total morbidity burden of disease and injury in Australia in 2003. (Begg, Vos, Barker, Stevenson, Stanley & Lopez, 2007). Injury is one of seven key health areas identified by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments for priority attention as National Health Priority Areas

Brite innovation survey : executive summary

This report summarises the fi ndings of an innovation survey of the Australian construction industry undertaken by the BRITE Project of the CRC for Construction Innovation in 2004. The BRITE Innovation Survey can be viewed in full at www.brite.crcci.info.The objective of the BRITE project is to improve the incidence and quality of innovation in the Australian construction industry. Many stakeholders in the industry are sceptical about the potential for innovation and its likely benefi ts. Many also lack the linkages and capabilities required for successful innovation. The BRITE Project is redressing this situation through demonstration and benchmarking activities. The term ‘innovation’ is defi ned as a new or signifi cantly improved technology or advanced business practice. Innovation may be technological or organisational, and it may be new to the world, or just new to the industry or business concerned. The defi nition includes the adoption of existing advancements developed outside a particular business. The survey sample was drawn from 3,500 businesses in the road/bridge and commercial building sectors in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, covering main contractors, trade contractors, consultants, suppliers and clients. Onethird of this population was sampled and a response rate of almost 30% was achieved. The survey collected information about respondents’ perceptions of innovation determinants in the industry, comprising various aspects of business strategy and business environment.

Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation : Submission to the Productivity Commission

The need to “reduce red tape” and regulatory inconsistencies is a desirable outcome (OECD 1997) for developed countries. The costs normally associated with regulatory regimes are compliance costs and direct charges. Geiger and Hoffman (1998) have noted that the extent of regulation in an industry tends to be negatively associated with firm performance. Typically, approaches to estimation of the cost of regulations examine direct costs, such as fees and charges, together with indirect costs, such as compliance costs. However, in a fragmented system, such as Australia, costs can also be incurred due to procedural delays, either by government, or by industry having to adapt documentation for different spheres of government; lack of predictable outcomes, with variations occurring between spheres of government and sometimes within the same government agency; and lost business opportunities, with delays and red tape preventing realisation of business opportunities (OECD 1997). In this submission these costs are termed adaptation costs. The adaptation costs of complying with variations in regulations between the states has been estimated by the Building Product Innovation Council (2003) as being up to $600 million per annum for building product manufacturers alone. Productivity gains from increased harmonisation of the regulatory system have been estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars (ABCB 2003). This argument is supported by international research which found that increasing the harmonisation of legislation in a federal system of government reduces what we have termed adaptation costs (OECD 2001). Research reports into the construction industry in Australia have likewise argued that improved consistency in the regulatory environment could lead to improvements in innovation (PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2002), and that research into this area should be given high priority (Hampson & Brandon 2004). The opinion of industry in Australia has consistently held that the current regulatory environment inhibits innovation (Manley 2004). As a first step in advancing improvements to the current situation, a summary of the current costs experienced by industry needs to be articulated. This executive summary seeks to outline these costs in the hope that the Productivity Commission would be able to identify the best tools to quantify the actual costs to industry.

Submission to Brisbane City Council : Draft Brisbane Economic Development Plan

As with any strategic planning process, evidence-based estimates are needed to plan effectively for the future. Comments below are based upon data drawn from the Brisbane Long Term Infrastructure Plan (Department of Local Government, Planning, Sport and Recreation, 2005) and the Brisbane Long Term Planning Economic Indicators (National Institute of Economic and Industry Research, 2005), as these are cited as the underpinning research for the economic plan. This submission focuses on one critical aspect of the strategic plan — the relationship between population growth, employment growth, and infrastructure provision. While the focus of the strategic plan is on the changes which would occur within Brisbane, it is important that consideration of predicted changes in surrounding local government areas be also carried out.

Executive control of working memory in schizophrenia

There is considerable evidence that working memory impairment is a common feature of schizophrenia. The present study assessed working memory and executive function in 54 participants with schizophrenia, and a group of 54 normal controls matched to the patients on age, gender and estimated premorbid IQ, using traditional and newer measures of executive function and two dual tasks—Telephone Search with Counting and the Memory Span and Tracking Task. Results indicated that participants with schizophrenia were significantly impaired on all standardised measures of executive function with the exception of a composite measure of the Trail Making Test. Results for the dual task measures demonstrated that while the participants with schizophrenia were unimpaired on immediate digit span recall over a 2-min period, they recalled fewer digit strings and performed more poorly on a tracking task (box-crossing task) compared with controls. In addition, participants with schizophrenia performed more poorly on the tracking task when they were required to simultaneously recall digits strings than when they performed this task alone. Contrary to expectation, results of the telephone search task under dual conditions were not significantly different between groups. These results may reflect the insufficient complexity of the tone-counting task as an interference task. Overall, the present study showed that participants with schizophrenia appear to have a restricted impairment of their working memory system that is evident in tasks in which the visuospatial sketchpad slave system requires central executive control.

Practising inspired leadership : the use of applied theatre 'prophetical' in the Executive Leadership Development Program for Queensland Health

The Executive Leadership Development Program embarked upon by Queensland Health as a part of the major reform program is discussed. The second stage of the program has begun and the main aim is to ensure leadership development across the organization.