The Defence Power under the Constitution

This chapter considers the High Court’s approach to the interpretation of the defence power, one of the most important but least predictable legislative powers. The defence power ‘fluctuates’: its scope rises and falls depending on the security environment. It is at its widest during world war and most limited in peacetime, but also has an expanded scope in a period of growing international tension, where the possibility of conflict justifies pre-war preparations, and following the conclusion of hostilities, where post-war measures may persist
for a time to effect the transition from war to peace (that is, to unwind wartime controls and stabilise the economy). The defence power has appropriately been described as ‘elastic’: its adaptability allows it to respond accordingly to the nature of the threat facing the nation. The extent of the defence power therefore varies according to the scale of the danger of external aggression or internal threats at a given period of time.

© 2017 Reed International Books Australia Pty Limited trading as LexisNexis.

This book is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owner. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission.