Dr Brendan Walker-Munro
Research Fellow
TC Beirne School of Law
Researcher biography
Dr Brendan Walker-Munro is a Senior Research Fellow with the University of Queensland's Law and the Future of War research group. Brendan's research focus is on aspects of national security law, particularly on the implications of national security risks on higher education research and teaching. He is also interested in the national security impacts of the law on topics such as privacy, identity crime and digital security.
Brendan has completed a number of appointments in investigation and law enforcement roles across diverse government agencies over ten years, including the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Fair Work Building & Construction, the NSW and Queensland Offices of Liquor and Gaming, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Prior to joining the University of Queensland, Brendan worked with the Australian Taxation Office to develop lawful uses of data and analytics for investigative and compliance programs. Brendan is admitted to practise law in the Supreme Court of Queensland and also holds an appointment as a Member to both the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal and the Disciplinary Panel of CPA Australia.
Brendan has been awarded a Bachelor of Biomedical Science and Molecular Biology from Murdoch University, a Bachelor of Neuroscience (Honours) from the University of Western Australia, a Juris Doctor with Distinction from the University of Southern Queensland and a PhD from Swinburne University.
Publications
Book Chapters
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022). Use of big data analytics by tax authorities. Research anthology on big data analytics, architectures, and applications. (pp. 1388-1412) edited by Mehdi Khosrow-Pour. Hershey, PA United States: IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-6684-3662-2.ch067
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2021). Tax enforcement in the black economy: tackling disruptive challenge. Handbook of research on theory and practice of financial crimes. (pp. 356-380) Hershey, PA, United States: IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-7998-5567-5.ch019
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2020). Use of big data analytics by tax authorities. Legal regulations, implications, and issues surrounding digital data. (pp. 86-110) Hershey, PA USA: IGI Global. doi: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3130-3.ch005
Journal Articles
Walker-Munro, Brendan, Ioannou, Ruby and Mount, David (2024). Privacy and hacking powers: is there an implied right to privacy in the use of computer surveillance powers in Australia?. Salus Journal, 12 (1) 1.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2024). Can autonomous weapon systems be seized? Interactions with the law of prize and war booty. Journal of Conflict and Security Law. doi: 10.1093/jcsl/krad016
Walker-Munro, Brendan and McFarland, Tim (2023). Splintering: A Fractured Internet and What it Means for the Rule of Law. Court of Conscience, 17 (1), 1-21.
Walker-Munro, Catherine and Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). Countering terror: terrorism laws, domestic violence & the Australian context. Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity, 11 (1), 1-38.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). A "duty to disclose" for service offences? Holcombe and its implications for military law. Australian Law Journal, 97 (7), 485-500.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). Hyper-collection: a possible new paradigm in modern surveillance. Surveillance & Society, 21 (2) 1, 120-138. doi: 10.24908/ss.v21i2.15770
Kendall, Sarah and Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). Environmental damage as a threat to national security: Australia's legal vulnerability to enviro-terrorism and enviro-sabotage. Public Law Review, 34 (1), 26-47.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). The Richardson review: reviving the ‘purpose’ of law enforcement and intelligence legislation. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 46 (1), 268-299. doi: 10.53637/deas8732
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). White hat, black hat, slouch hat: could Australia’s military cyber capability be deployed under Commonwealth call-out powers?. Federal Law Review, 51 (2), 0067205X2311666-204. doi: 10.1177/0067205x231166697
Walker-Munro, Brendan and Assaad, Zena (2023). The Guilty (Silicon) Mind: Blameworthiness and Liability in Human-Machine
Teaming. Cambridge Law Review, 8 (1), 1-24.
Walker-Munro, Brendan and Walker-Munro, Catherine (2023). Domestic violence as terrorism: can control orders succeed where DV orders have failed?. Alternative Law Journal, 48 (2), 1037969X2311588-126. doi: 10.1177/1037969X231158879
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). An examination of cyber-systemic regulation in criminology through the lens of “flows”. Critical Criminology, 31 (2), 507-524. doi: 10.1007/s10612-022-09680-7
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). Autonomous systems, superior orders and manifest unlawfulness: is there a duty to disobey?. Military Law and the Law of War Review, 61 (1), 59-85. doi: 10.4337/mllwr.2023.01.03
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022). Exploring manufacturer strict liability as regulation for autonomous military systems. Torts Law Journal, 27 (1), 182-209.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022). "You Don't Need to Know": The Australian experience of criminal intelligence as evidence. Criminal Law Journal, 45 (5), 316-332.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022). Do Androids Dream of a Duty of Care? Arguing for Civil Liability for Autonomous Military Systems in Australia. University of Western Australia Law Review, 50 (1), 239-272.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2020). A case for the use of cyber-systemics to combat financial crime in Australia. Kybernetes, 50 (11), 3082-3105. doi: 10.1108/k-09-2020-0581
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2020). Cyber-systemics, systemic governance and disruption of the criminal law. University of Queensland Law Journal, 39 (2), 225-252. doi: 10.38127/uqlj.v39i2.5023
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2019). A case for systemic design in criminal law techno-regulation. Criminal Law Journal, 43 (5), 306-324.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2019). Regulating disruption and development of the disruption calculus. University of Western Australia Law Review, 46 (1), 111-143.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2019). Disruption, regulatory theory and China: What surveillance and profiling can teach the modern regulator. Journal of Governance and Regulation, 8 (2), 23-40. doi: 10.22495/jgr_v8_i2_p3
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2019). A shot in the dark: Australia's proposed encryption laws and the 'disruption calculus'. Adelaide Law Review, 40 (3), 783-813.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2018). Tostee, criminal causation and provocation in domestic violence: a novel position. Australian Law Journal, 92 (11), 916-934.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2018). White roses red: the false dichotomy of GAAR determinations. Tax Specialist, 22 (2), 57-64. doi: 10.3316/ielapa.984335363197991
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2018). The sound of one hand shaking itself: inchoate cartel conduct under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law, 26 (1), 21-32.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2017). Correcting the record or blame game? Fox’s case and the governmental use of personal information in the media. Australian Media, Technology and Communications Law Bulletin, 4 (1), 8-16.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2016). Silence in the dock. Alternative Law Journal, 41 (4), 281-282. doi: 10.1177/1037969x1604100415
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2016). Criminal liability for workplace deaths in Queensland: a case against industrial manslaughter. Queensland Lawyer, 36 (4), 127-141.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2016). "Dealing with the drink": a case for reviewing gradual regulation of teenagers' access to alcohol. Journal of Law and Medicine, 24 (2), 419-432.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2015). Cattle v the Crown: is there a place for the Commonwealth as animal welfare guardian?. University of Queensland Law Journal, 34 (2), 363-391.
Conference Papers
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2024). On the (Academic) Horizon: Past, Present and Future Threats to Universities and their Research. Law Schools Global League Winter Conference, Kyushu, Japan, 7-8 February 2024.
Walker-Munro, Brendan, Ioannou, Ruby and Mount, David (2023). Are we training our potential adversaries? Australian Universities, National Security and challenges to cybersecurity education. Australian Cyber Conference 2023, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 17-19 October 2023.
Walker-Munro, Brendan and Hartridge, Sam (2023). Who Hunts the Hunters? Who is Liable when Military Artificial Intelligence Goes Wrong. DILEMA 2023 Conference, The Hague, Netherlands, 12-13 October 2023.
Walker-Munro, Brendan, Todd, Stephen and Ye, Ruiping (2023). Private law panel. Australasian Law Academics Association Conference 2023, Christchurch, New Zealand, 6 - 8 July 2023.
Walker-Munro, Brendan, Ireland-Piper, Danielle, Lo, Pui-Yin and Piotrowski, Ryszard (2023). Panel presentation: privacy and security in the Indo-Pacific. 9th Annual Conference of The International Society of Public Law – ICON•S Conference 2023, Wellington, New Zealand, 3 - 5 July 2023.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). “To lie convincingly”: legal challenges at the intersection of diplomatic immunity and foreign interference. Edinburgh Postgraduate Law Conference, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 30-31 May 2023.
Walker-Munro, Brendan, Sanders, Lauren , van Engeland, Anicee , Svendsen, Adam and Taborda, Joao Pedro (2023). Securing their swords: do states have an obligation to protect the cybersecurity of their autonomous weapons?. Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) Summit, The Hague, Netherlands, 15-16 February 2023.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022). Environmental harms: A matter of national security?. AELERT Conference 2022: Regulating Towards 2050 , Sydney, NSW, Australia, 29 November - 1 December 2022.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022). Just spying: defending the legitimacy of covert action as the third way of diplomacy. 9th Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 5-7 November 2022. Belgrade, Serbia: Tomorrow People Organization.
Walker-Munro, Brendan and Assaad, Zena (2022). Some Basic Principles of Liability in Human-Machine Teaming. AAUS Conference Autonomy in the Joint Military Battlespace, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 4-5 October 2022.
Preprint
Working Paper
Abeysooriya, Sasenka, Akhlaghpour, Saeed, Bongiovanni, Ivano, Dowsett, Dallas, Grotowski, Joseph, Holm, Mike, Kim, Dan, Ko, Ryan, Phillips, Andelka M., Slapnicar, Sergeja, Stockdale, David, Swinson, John, Thonon, Geoffroy, Utting, Mark, Walker-Munro, Brendan and Willoughby, Shannon (2023). Discussion Paper: 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. UQ CYBER and AUSCERT.
Audio Document
Thesis
Walker-Munro, Brendan William (2021). Australian criminal law regulators, disruptors and the need for cyber-systemics. PhD Thesis, Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of Technology.
Research Reports
Sanders, Lauren, Hartridge, Sam, Liivoja, Rain, Nunn, Natalie, Walker-Munro, Brendan and Wolf, Renato (2024). Law and the Future of War Research Group submission to the inquiry into the Department of Defence Annual Report 2022–2023. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). Submission to the Education, Employment and Training Committee (Queensland Parliament): Consultation on the Corrective Services (Emerging Technologies and Security) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 (Qld). Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland.
Newspaper Articles
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2024, 01 18). Why isn’t Australia securing its critical research? EduResearch Matters
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023, 10 25). What can Australia do to stem the rise of industrialised intellectual property theft? The Strategist
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023, 10 24). The dual-use conundrum The Interpreter
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023, 08 07). Why universities are still at risk for foreign interference The Interpreter
Walker-Munro, Brendan and Kendall, Sarah (2023, 08 07). Foreign interference through social media is an active threat. Here’s what Australia can do The Conversation
Walker-Munro, Brendan, Sanders, Lauren and Liivoja, Rain (2023, 08 07). Preparing Australian universities for AUKUS The Strategist
Walker-Munro, Brendan and Kendall, Sarah (2023, 05 04). Could using open-source information online get you arrested for foreign interference? The Conversation
Liivoja, Rain, Sanders, Lauren and Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023, 03 07). ANZSIL conversation post - law and the future of war update on the REAIM Summit ANZSIL Perspective 9-14.
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023, 02 06). Scams, deepfake porn and romance bots: advanced AI is exciting, but incredibly dangerous in criminals' hands The Conversation
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022, 10 06). Optus data breach: regulatory changes announced, but legislative reform still needed The Conversation
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022, 09 30). Optus says it needed to keep identity data for six years. But did it really? The Conversation
Walker-Munro,Brendan (2022, 08 11). Foreign spies and gangsters: why Australia needs a national security strategy The Strategist
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022, 07 21). What do TikTok, Bunnings, eBay and Netflix have in common? They’re all hyper-collectors The Conversation
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2022, 03 30). Drones over Ukraine: fears of Russian ‘killer robots’ have failed to materialise The Conversation
Generic Documents
Walker-Munro, Brendan (2023). Submission: Submission to the Universities Accord Taskforce Interim Report. Australian Government Department of Education.