George Williams

The time has come for a reckoning in the Australian higher education. Decades of policy decisions have made access to higher education harder for those who need it most. Public trust and community confidence in universities in Australia and overseas are at all-time lows. Political sentiment has shifted. Our centres of higher learning have leapfrogged big business to become easy...

Australians will soon be faced with an important choice. Will they vote Yes to change our nation's Constitution to introduce an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice? Or will they vote No and bring the recognition process to a halt and, along with it, the aspirations of an overwhelming number of Australia's first peoples? The stakes could not be higher....

Many people think they can do a better job running a country than politicians, but few actually give it a go. What happens when political disagreement pushes to the point of no return? When a person has a dream of what their ideal country would be, and then tries to create it? A place where there is no monarchy, or...

Why has success been so rare in Australian referendums? From the failed attempt to ban communism in 1951 to the unsuccessful Voice referendum in 2023, Australians have been cautious about constitutional change, voting 'Yes' to only eight out of 45 referendum proposals. In People Power, the only full history of constitutional change in Australia, constitutional experts George Williams and David...

We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. On 26 May 2017, after a historic process of consultation, the Uluru Statement from the Heart was read out. This clear and urgent call for reform to the community from...

Over ten years after Australia's first national laws were enacted to combat the threat of terrorism, yet more anti-terrorism laws were passed in the Australian Parliament in late 2014. The first laws were often introduced in great haste and were stunning in scope and number. The latest laws are similarly extensive and controversial. Yet again, powers and sanctions once thought...

Australia does not have a bill or charter of rights, which means there is no comprehensive law that enshrines human rights in Australia even though these laws are standard in the rest of the developed world. So what does this mean for the rights of Australian citizens? In this fully revised fourth edition of A Charter of Rights for Australia,...

International law does not seem immediately relevant to domestic Australian politics and law, let alone to our everyday lives. Yet, as this essential book shows, international law has a growing significance for trade, human rights, crime, terrorism and climate change. This is a highly readable, timely and important book that shows that while international law can seem remote, there is...