Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh

Associate Professor

TC Beirne School of Law

+61 7 336 52218

rebecca.aw@law.uq.edu.au

W472 Forgan Smith Building, St Lucia campus. Availability by appointment (Monday only).

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Current project

Press Freedom

Researcher biography

Associate Professor Rebecca Ananian-Welsh is a constitutional law scholar at the TC Beirne School of Law, where her research focuses on courts, national security and press freedom. She has published widely in these fields, including more than 25 journal articles and two edited collections.

Rebecca's research in national security, press freedom and fair trial rights has been recognised in an Academy of Social Sciences in Australia's Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research and a UQ BEL Faculty award. Her book 'The Tim Carmody Affair: Australia's Greatest Judicial Crisis' (co-authored with Profs Gabrielle Appleby and Andrew Lynch), was shortlisted for a Queensland Literary Award and her Sydney Law Review article 'The Inherent Jurisdiction of Courts and the Fair Trial' has been shortlisted for the 2020 Article of the Year in the Australian Legal Research Awards.

Rebecca sits on a number of committees and organisations, including: the Australian Judicial Officers Association Inaugural Standing Committee Judicial Independence; the Centre for Public Integrity, Accountability Institutions Committee; and the Executive Committee of the SHAPE Futures Network (a joint initiative of the Australian Academies of the Humanities and Social Sciences to support early and mid-career researchers).

Rebecca writes regularly for The Conversation, has given evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and has contributed to numerous submissions to government with respect to national security, human rights and constitutional issues. Prior to joining UQ Law, Rebecca held positions with the Laureate Fellowship Project 'Anti-Terror Laws and the Democratic Challenge' and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law's Terrorism & Law Project at UNSW, as a litigation solicitor at DLA Piper, and as a legal officer with the Federal Attorney-General's Department.

Featured projects	Duration
Judicial independence The University of Queensland	2016–2017
A fair go: Achieving fair process in Australian courts UQ Early Career Researcher Grant	2017
Journalistic Freedom in Australia	2019–2021

Publications

Book (1)

Book Chapters (12)

Journal Articles (22)

Conference Papers (10)

Research Report (1)

Audio Document (1)

Thesis (1)

Seminar Papers (8)

Newspaper Articles (6)

Book

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca, Appleby, Gabrielle and Lynch, Andrew (2016). The Tim Carmody affair: Australia's greatest judicial crisis. Sydney, New South Wales: NewSouth.

Book Chapters

Murray, Richard, Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Greste, Peter (2021). Journalism on Ice - National Security Laws and The Chilling Effect in Australian Journalism. Counter-Terrorism Laws and Freedom of Expression: Global Perspectives. (pp. 295-317) edited by Workneh, Tewodros and Haridakis, Paul. Lanham, MD United States: Lexington Books.

Billings, Peter and Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2020). Counter-terrorism and the exclusion of refugees and refugee-citizens from Australia. Terrorism and asylum. (pp. 175-214) edited by James C. Simeon. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Nijhoff. doi: 10.1163/9789004295995_008

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). A fair trial for accused terrorists. The legal protection of rights in Australia. (pp. 313-333) edited by Matthew Groves, Janina Boughey and Dan Meagher. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781509919857.ch-016

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). Crimmigration-counterterrorism in the war on foreign terrorist fighters. Crimmigration in Australia: law, politics and society. (pp. 173-195) edited by Peter Billings. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-9093-7_8

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and McGarrity, Nicola (2018). National security: a hegemonic constitutional value?. Australian constitutional values. (pp. 267-286) edited by Rosalind Dixon. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2017). If at first you don't succeed...: effectiveness and the evolution of preventive organised crime measures. Regulating preventive justice: principle, policy and paradox. (pp. 177-194) edited by Tamara Tulich, Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, Simon Bronitt and Sarah Murray. New York, NY United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315620978-10

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2016). Introduction. Judicial independence in Australia: contemporary challenges, future directions. (pp. 1-6) edited by Crowe, Jonathan and Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca. New South Wales: Federation Press.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2016). Judicial independence in an age of terror. Judicial independence in Australia: contemporary challenges, future directions. (pp. 241-254) edited by Rebecca Ananian-Welsh and Jonathan Crowe. Annandale, Australia: Federation Press.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Williams, George (2016). State judges as lieutenant-governors. Judicial independence in Australia: contemporary challenges, future directions. (pp. 194-207) edited by Rebecca Ananian-Welsh and Jonathan Crowe. Annandale, Australia: Federation Press.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2015). Secrecy, procedural fairness and state courts. Secrecy, law and society. (pp. 120-135) edited by Greg Martin, Rebecca Scott Bray and Miiko Kumar. Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Welsh, Rebecca (2013). Anti-terror preventive detention and the independent judiciary. Preventive detention: asking the fundamental questions. (pp. 137-158) edited by Patrick Keyzer. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Intersentia.

Lynch, Andrew, Tulich, Tamara and Welsh, Rebecca (2013). Secrecy and control orders: the role and vulnerability of constitutional values in Australia and the United Kingdom. Secrecy, national security, and the vindication of constitutional law. (pp. 154-172) edited by David Cole, Federico Fabbrini and Arianna Vedaschi. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781781953860.00018

Journal Articles

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2022). Who is a Journalist? A Critical Analysis of Australian Statutory Definitions. Federal Law Review, 50 (4), 0067205X2211265-478. doi: 10.1177/0067205x221126583

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Kendall, Sarah (2022). Crimes of communication: the implications of Australian espionage law for global media. Communication Law and Policy, 27 (1), 1-27. doi: 10.1080/10811680.2021.2014293

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca, Cronin, Rose and Greste, Peter (2021). In the public interest: protections and risks in whistleblowing to the media. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 44 (4), 1242-1280. doi: 10.53637/WMZR2175

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca, Kendall, Sarah and Murray, Richard (2021). Risk and uncertainty in public interest journalism: the impact of espionage law on press freedom. Melbourne University Law Review, 44 (3), 764-811.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2020). Smethurst v Commissioner of Police and the Unlawful Seizure of Journalists’ Private Information. Media and Arts Law Review, 24 (1), 60-71.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Orange, Joseph (2020). The confidentiality of journalists' sources in police investigations: privacy, privilege and the freedom of political communication. Australian Law Journal, 94, 777-790.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). The Inherent Jurisdiction of Courts and the Fair Trial. Sydney Law Review, 41 (4), 423-454.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). Journalistic confidentiality in an age of data surveillance. Australian Journalism Review, 41 (2), 225-239. doi: 10.1386/ajr_00008_1

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). CATs, courts and the constitution: the place of super-tribunals in the National Judicial System. Melbourne University Law Review, 43 (3), 852-902.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2016). Extraordinary powers without judicial oversight: a separation of powers dilemma. Public Law Review, 27 (4), 249-254.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2016). Criminal Due Process and Chapter III of the Australian Constitution by Anthony Gray. Australian Law Journal, 1-1.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Gover, Kate (2015). Commonwealth v Director, Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate: The End of Penalty Agreements in Civil Pecuniary Penalty Schemes?. The Sydney Law Review, 37 (3), 417-435.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2015). Preventative detention orders and the separation of judicial power. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 38 (2), 756-791.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Williams, George (2015). Judges in vice-regal roles. Federal Law Review, 43 (1), 119-146. doi: 10.1177/0067205x1504300105

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2015). Kuczborski v Queensland and the Scope of the Kable Doctrine. University of Queensland Law Journal, 34 (1), 47-71.

Hoole, Grant and Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2015). Judicialization or renunciation? Judges in today's landscape of anti-terror laws. Constitutional Forum, 24 (1), 7-14.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Williams, George (2014). The new terrorists: The normalisation and spread of anti-terror laws in Australia. Melbourne University Law Review, 38 (2), 362-408.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Williams, George (2014). Judicial Independence from the Executive: A First-Principles Review of the Australian Cases. Monash University Law Review, 40 (3), 593-638.

Welsh, Rebecca (2013). Understood but undefined: why do Argentina and Brazil resist criminalising terrorism?. Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law, 7 (3), 327-348.

Welsh, Rebecca (2012). A path to purposive formalism: interpreting Chapter III for judicial independence and impartiality. Monash University Law Review, 39 (1), 66-105.

Welsh, Rebecca (2011). A question of integrity: the role of judges in counter-terrorism questioning and detention by ASIO. Public Law Review, 22 (2), 138-152.

Welsh, Rebecca (2011). "Incompatibility" rising? Some potential consequences of Wainohu v New South Wales. Public Law Review, 22 (4), 259-265.

Conference Papers

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca, Midford, Sarah, Barnett, Tully and Stannard, Georgia (2022). The most pressing issues facing Australian early and mid-career academics in the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts and how to solve them. Congress of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 25 November-2 December 2022.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2022). Minister for Home Affairs v Benbrika [2021] HCA 4. Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law Annual Conference, Sydney, NSW Australia, 11 February 2022.

Murray, Richard, Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Greste, Peter (2021). Journalism on Ice: National Security Laws and the Chilling Effect in Australian Journalism. International Communication Association Conference: Engaging the Essential Work of Care: Communication, Connectedness, and Social Justice, Denver, CO United States, 27-31 May 2021.

Breitwieser-Faria, Yvonne, Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Lelliot, Joseph (2021). Careers in academia. UQ Legal Researchers Panel, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 26 October 2021.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). Is QCAT (still) a Court? Super-tribunals and Ch III of the Constitution. Current Constitutional Controversies: Occasional Colloquium Series, Queensland Bar Association, Brisbane, 28 March 2019.

Murray, Richard , Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Greste, Peter (2019). The law or the lawyers: understanding the of legal counsel and advisors in Australian editorial processes. The Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia: Plurality, Precarity and Possibilities, Sydney, NSW Australia, 3-6 December 2019.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). The Queensland Human Rights Act. Forensic Mental Health and Human Rights Workshop, Supreme Court Library, Brisbane, 21-22 March 2019.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). Implied freedom and other constitutional law 'Hot Topics'. 2019 Crown Law Legal Conference, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 6 June 2019.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2019). Decision-Making and the New Human Rights Act: Why, What and How?. Queensland Forensic Psychiatry Meeting, Brisbane, Australia, 7 May 2019.

Rebecca Ananian-Welsh (2018). National security and human rights in the courtroom. ICON-S Conference: Identity, Security, Democracy: Challenges for Public Law, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 25-27 June 2018.

Research Report

Hardy, Keiran , Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and McGarrity, Nicola (2021). Open democracy dossier: secrecy and power in Australia’s national security state. Sydney, Australia: GetUp!.

Audio Document

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2016). The Tim Carmody Affair: Australia's Greatest Judicial Crisis. Australian Broadcasting Commission.

Thesis

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2014). A Purposive Formalist Interpretation of Chapter III of the Australian Constitution. PhD Thesis, University of New South Wales, University of New South Wales.

Seminar Papers

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Bosland, Jason (2022). Search and seizure warrants and press freedom. Minter Ellison.

Kirby, Michael, Williams, George, Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Hardy, Keiran (2022). Public law values, accountability and national security. Gilbert + Tobin Centre for Public Law, University of New South Wales.

Ludlam, Scott, Hardy, Keiran, Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca, McGarrity, Nicola and Edries, Zahir (2021). State of secrecy: unpacking the world’s most secretive democracy.

Oakes, Dan, Pender, Kieran, McLeod, Fiona and Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2021). Whistleblowers, war crimes and press freedom: David McBride on trial. TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Hume, David (2021). Secret Trials and Constitutional issues in the Collaery Case’, Australian Association of Constitutional Law ‘Secret Hearings and the Constitution: SDCV v D-G of Security [2021] FCAFC 51 and the Collaery Case. Australian Association of Constitutional Law, NSW Chapter.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Nagorcka, Felicity (2021). Minister for Home Affairs v Benbrika: terrorism, preventive detention and the separation of powers. Australian Association of Constitutional Law, Queensland Chapter.

Cowdery, Nicholas, Pender, Kieran, Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca, Wright, Pauline and Rubenstein, Kim (2021). Secrecy and spying: the trials of Bernard Collaery and Witness K. ANU Law School.

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Greste, Peter (2020). Paul Bourke Lecture: National Security and Press Freedom: Rebecca Ananian-Welsh in Conversation with Peter Greste.