Committees of Influence

Part 1Parliamentary committees and their place within the Australian parliamentary landscape
1. Introduction Chapter 1 introduces the key themes of the book and underscores its relevance for public law scholars and students, and those engaged in the parliamentary system, for example as public servants or parliamentary counsel. It introduces themes such as: the role of parliamentary committees in rights protection in Australia and addresses the conventional scepticism of the parliamentary model of rights protection. It also sets out the structure of the book.

2. MethodologyChapter 2 sets out the unique methodology employed in this research, which seeks to measure three ''tiers'' of impact: legislative (whether the content of proposed laws changes as a result of parliamentary committee activity);public (whether the public and/or parliamentary debate on proposed laws is influenced by the work of parliamentary committees); and hidden (whether the work of parliamentary committees has an impact on how proposed laws are developed prior to introduction into Parliament). Chapter 2 also includes an overview of past evaluations of parliamentary committees and describes how the assessment framework used this research is designed to overcome weaknesses and challenges previously encountered.

3. Overview of the Australian Parliamentary Committee SystemChapter 3 provides an overview of the legal and political context in which parliamentary committees operate and introduces the particular committees studied. This chapter sets the foundations for measuring the type of impact these committees may be having on the development, debate and enactment of Australia''s counter-terrorism law.

4. Counter-terrorism law making in AustraliaChapter 4 provides an overview of the international and domestic context in which Australia''s counter-terrorism laws and policies have been developed since September 2001, and introduces the separate Acts that make up the case study used in this research.

Part 2Measuring the rights impact of parliamentary committees on Australia''s counter-terrorism laws
5. Legitimacy and ParticipationChapter 5 identifies the key participants in the four committees studied, and investigates the ''legitimacy'' or ''political authority'' of each of these committees as seen by its key participants. Understanding the views and perspectives of key participants in the system helps provide a more holistic picture of the nature of the impact each committee has had on the case study Acts. It also helps to set the parameters of realistic options for improving the rights-enhancing impact of each committee, discussed in Part III.

6. Legislative ImpactChapter 6 sets out evidence of the legislative impact of the four parliamentary committees on the case study Acts, providing a powerful indicator of their overall influence.

7. Public Impact Chapter 7 sets out evidence of the public impact of the four parliamentary committees on the case study Acts, including evidence that committees influenced or were considered in public or parliamentary debate or post-enactment review.

8. Hidden ImpactChapter 8 considers evidence of the hidden or ''behind-the-scenes'' impact of the four parliamentary committees on the case study Acts, including whether or not the work of these committees influenced or was considered in the pre-introduction phase.

Part 3The rights enhancing impact of the system of parliamentary committees - implications and options for reform
9. Building upon the Complementary Strengths of Individual Committees within the systemPart III of this thesis uses the evidence presented in Part II to substantiate th