An ‘In Conversation’: what are the contemporary constitutional challenges facing Australia and Indonesia?

This event has been postponed due to unexpected events in the Indonesian Constitutional Court which requires all members of the Court to remain in Indonesia. 

The Centre of Public International and Comparative Law of UQ’s TC Beirne Law School will host a conversation between two foremost constitutional law scholars, Justice Professor Dr Saldi Isra, Deputy Chief Justice of the Indonesian Constitutional Court and Professor Dr Nicholas Aroney from the TC Beirne School of Law. Together they will compare and discuss issues such as:

• The different approaches to constitutional amendment in Indonesia and Australia (noting Australia’s recent referendum on the Indigenous Voice) and whether these approaches make it more or less difficult to undertake constitutional change;
• The advantages and disadvantages of a specialist Constitutional Court (as in Indonesia) and a Supreme or High Court exercising broad appellate jurisdiction (as in Australia);
• The role for courts in strengthening democracy and human rights protection (Indonesia is marking the 20^th year of the establishment of its Constitutional Court, while Australia has recently celebrated the 120^th anniversary of the establishment of the High Court);
• Contemporary challenges facing courts of ultimate jurisdiction, particularly in very large or highly populous and diverse countries, including the advantages and disadvantages of unitary and federal systems in these contexts.

The conversation between Justice Isra and Professor Aroney will shed light on the particular paths taken by the Constitutional Court of Indonesia and the High Court of Australia as they both strive to protect the rule of law, democracy and human rights in the modern world.

There will be two esteemed constitutional law scholars who will open the discussion before questions from the audience.

They are Dr Charles Simabura, Director of the Constitutional Law Study Center, Faculty of Law, Universitas Andalas and Assoc Professor Dr Nadirsayh Hosen, Monash University and (External) Fellow, CPICL’s Indonesian Law Program.

About the speakers

Justice Professor Dr Saldi Isra

Justice Professor Dr Saldi Isra is a Constitutional Law Professor at the Faculty of Law of Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra, and the Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. Prior to his appointment to the Constitutional Court in 2017, he was Director of the Center for Constitutional Studies (PUSaKO) at the Faculty of Law of Andalas University from 2005–2017. Professor Saldi is the author of over 20 books and some 50 articles published in national and international scientific journals. His recent book on 'Court and Diversity: Twenty Years of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia' will be published by Brill (Leiden) in early 2024 as co-editor.

Professor Nicholas Aroney

Professor Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland, the Director of Public Law for the Centre of Public International and Comparative Law, and an External Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University. He has secured three large Australian Research Council grants to study issues related to federalism, multi-jurisdictional governance and the role of religious courts in modern societies. Professor Aroney has published over 150 journal articles, book chapters and books in the fields of constitutional law, comparative constitutional law and legal theory and has led several international research projects in comparative federalism, bicameralism, legal pluralism, and law & religion. In 2017 he was appointed by the Australian Prime Minister to an Expert Panel to advise on whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion.