Committees of Influence

Dr Sarah Moulds is a recognised leader in the area of law reform and parliamentary law making. For 15 years she has been committed to engaging with and improving Australia's parliamentary model of rights protection, and has observed the system in action from a number of unique perspectives.   Dr Moulds has been undertaking research in the area of parliamentary scrutiny and deliberative law making for 15 years, including in the form of a PhD Thesis entitled The Rights-Protecting Role and Impact of Commonwealth Parliamentary Committees: The Case of Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Laws which was awarded a University Medal for Doctoral Research by the University of Adelaide in 2018. Dr Moulds has also published in a number of national and international law journals on the topic of parliamentary law making and rights protection, with a particular focus on the role of parliamentary committees.  She recently presented at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy’s Asia Seminar held in Myanmar in June 2019, and was invited to present at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom’s workshop on Parliamentary Engagement in April 2020, and has reflected on the significance of parliamentary law making from a range of local and international perspectives. Before undertaking her PhD, Dr Moulds had an extensive career in law reform and legal policy, including seven years as a Director of Human Rights and Criminal Law Policy at the Law Council of Australia. Dr Moulds has also worked as a Senior Policy Officer at the South Australian Law Reform Institute and undertaken legal policy roles at the South Australian Attorney-General's Department and within the Commonwealth public service. Dr Moulds is currently lecturing at the University of South Australia, including in the area of public law, constitutional law and legislation, and is a member of the Law Society of South Australia's Administrative Law and HumanRights Committees.

Part I: Parliamentary Committees and Rights Protection in Australia.- Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Methodology.- Chapter 3. The Australian Landscape and the Making of Counter-Terrorism Laws.- Part II: Applying the Assessment Framework.- Chapter 4. Participation and Legitimacy.- Chapter 5. Legislative Impact.- Chapter 6. Public Impact.- Chapter 7.- Hidden Impact.- Part III: Improving the Rights-Protecting Capacity of the Parliamentary Committee System.- Chapter 8. Capitalising on the Rights-Protecting Potential of the System of Parliamentary Committees.- Chapter 9. Refining the Roles and Promoting the Strengths of Individual Committees within the System.- Chapter 10. Conclusion.