Overview
Background
Dr Peter Billings is a Professor at the School of Law, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His research interests are in particular areas of public law: administrative law, immigration and refugee law, social welfare law and human rights law. In 2016 he received an Australian Award for University Teaching - Award for Programs that Enhance Learning (Pro Bono Centre). Since 2010 he has received five teaching excellence awards within the School of Law for outstanding course/teacher evaluations, and in 2011 was awarded the Vice Chancellor's Equity and Diversity Award (UQ) for the Asylum and Refugee Law Project.
Recently, he has published several papers on 'crImmigration' law, policy and practice in Australia, including a chapter, "International crimes, refugee 'prisoner' swaps and duplicity in Australia's refugee admissions", in J Simeon (ed) Serious International Crimes, Human Rights and Forced Migration (Routledge, 2022). And he authored chapter one in his own edited collection, Regulating Refugee Protection through Social Welfare: Law, Policy and Praxis (Routledge, 2023). Most recently, he has authored a chapter on the corrosive effect of immigration detention laws on officialdom, in M Peterie, Immigration Detention and Social Harm: The Collateral Impacts of Migrant Incarceration (Routledge) forthcoming.
Availability
- Professor Peter Billings is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Law, University of Southampton
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southampton
Research interests
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Refugee Law
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Crimmigration
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Administrative Law
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Administrative Justice
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Social Welfare Law
Research impacts
Peter's submission, on migration law reform, to the Australian Law Reform Commission for its project, Where next for law reform?, was cited in the final report: The Future of Law Reform: A Suggesdted Program of Work 2020-25, published on 2 December 2019. His submission to the Inquiry into a Possible Human Rights Act for Queensland: written submission no 468, Report No. 30, 55th Parliament, Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (June 2016). was cited on several occasions in the final parliamentary committee report. His written submission (with A/Prof Cassimatis) to the Administrative Review Council: Judicial Review in Australia, Administrative Review Council (Consultation Paper - Administrative Review Council, Canberra, ARC 2011) was cited throughout the ARC Report (No.50), Federal Judicial Review in Australia Sept. 2012. His research into crimmigration law and policy informed an expert panel discussion held at the Queensland Supreme Court (Banco Court) - "Unlawful Non-citizens: the Rise in Character Visa Cancellations" (Oct 5, 2017) chaired by Paul Barclay for ABC Radio National. The discussion was aired on on 8 December 2017. He regularly provides expert legal commentary on radio and features in print and online media; most recently in The Guardian (Australia) in May and September 2019.
Works
Search Professor Peter Billings’s works on UQ eSpace
Featured
2024
Book Chapter
Immunised and Indifferent to Indefinite Incarceration
Billings, Peter (2024). Immunised and Indifferent to Indefinite Incarceration. Immigration Detention and Social Harm. (pp. 175-195) New York: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003370727-13
Featured
2023
Book Chapter
Regulating refugees through welfare: Australia's hostile response to unauthorised maritime arrivals
Billings, Peter (2023). Regulating refugees through welfare: Australia's hostile response to unauthorised maritime arrivals. Regulating refugee protection through social welfare: law, policy and praxis. (pp. 20-46) edited by Peter Billings. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003298595-4
Featured
2022
Book Chapter
International crimes, refugee 'prisoner' swaps and duplicity in Australia's refugee admissions
Billings, Peter (2022). International crimes, refugee 'prisoner' swaps and duplicity in Australia's refugee admissions. Serious International Crimes, Human Rights and Forced Migration. (pp. 179-201) edited by James C. Simeon. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003094388-11
Featured
2021
Book Chapter
Tickner v Chapman (1995) 57 FCR 451
Bedford, Narelle and Billings, Peter (2021). Tickner v Chapman (1995) 57 FCR 451. Indigenous legal judgments: bringing indigenous voices into judicial decision making. (pp. 73-91) edited by Nicole Watson and Heather Douglas. Abingdon, Oxon United Kingdom: Routledge.
Featured
2019
Journal Article
Getting rid of risky foreigners: promoting community protection at the expense of administrative justice?
Billings, Peter (2019). Getting rid of risky foreigners: promoting community protection at the expense of administrative justice?. Federal Law Review, 47 (2), 231-260. doi: 10.1177/0067205X19831818
Featured
2019
Journal Article
Regulating crimmigrants through the 'character test': exploring the consequences of mandatory visa cancellation for the fundamental rights of non-citizens in Australia
Billings, Peter (2019). Regulating crimmigrants through the 'character test': exploring the consequences of mandatory visa cancellation for the fundamental rights of non-citizens in Australia. Crime, Law and Social Change, 71 (1), 1-23. doi: 10.1007/s10611-018-9786-7
Featured
2017
Book Chapter
Protection seekers and preventive justice: immigration detention in Australia and the United Kingdom
Billings, Peter and Stevens, Dallal (2017). Protection seekers and preventive justice: immigration detention in Australia and the United Kingdom. Regulating preventive justice: principle, policy and paradox. (pp. 95-116) edited by Tamara Tullich, Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, Simon Bronitt and Sarah Murray. New York, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315620978
Featured
2015
Journal Article
Whither indefinite immigration detention: re-thinking legal constraints on the detention of non-citizens
Billings, Peter (2015). Whither indefinite immigration detention: re-thinking legal constraints on the detention of non-citizens. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 38 (4), 1386-1420.
2024
Journal Article
Not all conservation “policy” is created equally: When does a policy give rise to legally binding obligations?
Bell‐James, Justine, Foster, Rose, Frohlich, Miguel, Archibald, Carla, Benham, Claudia, Evans, Megan, Fidelman, Pedro, Morrison, Tiffany, Rolim Baggio, Liza, Billings, Peter and Shumway, Nicole (2024). Not all conservation “policy” is created equally: When does a policy give rise to legally binding obligations?. Conservation Letters. doi: 10.1111/conl.13054
2023
Book Chapter
Introduction
Billings, Peter (2023). Introduction. Regulating refugee protection through social welfare: law, policy and praxis. (pp. 1-9) edited by Peter Billings. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
2023
Book
An annotated guide to the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld)
Jones, Nicky and Billings, Peter (2023). An annotated guide to the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld). Chatswood, NSW Australia: LexisNexis.
2023
Other Outputs
Submission on the Constitutional Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023
Ananian-Walsh, Rebecca, Billings, Peter, Cassimatis Am, Anthony, Larkin, Dani and Lino, Dylan (2023). Submission on the Constitutional Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 . Submission Number 77. Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum .
2021
Other Outputs
Counterterrorism rhetoric, the deterrence paradigm, and the end of asylum: an antipodean viewpoint
Billings, Peter (2021). Counterterrorism rhetoric, the deterrence paradigm, and the end of asylum: an antipodean viewpoint. Berlin, Germany: Verfassungsblog.
2020
Book Chapter
Counter-terrorism and the exclusion of refugees and refugee-citizens from Australia
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
2020
Book Chapter
Governing felonious foreigners through crimmigration controls in Australia: administering additional punishments?
Billings, Peter (2020). Governing felonious foreigners through crimmigration controls in Australia: administering additional punishments?. Causes and consequences of migrant criminalization. (pp. 43-68) edited by Neža Kogovšek Šalamon. Cham, Switzerland: Springer . doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-43732-9_3
2020
Conference Publication
Softer sentences for CrImmigrants? Examining whether and how prospective deportation can mitigate a sentence
Billings, Peter (2020). Softer sentences for CrImmigrants? Examining whether and how prospective deportation can mitigate a sentence. National Judicial College of Australia - 2020 Sentencing Conference, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 29 February-1 March 2020.
2019
Other Outputs
The future of law reform: simplification of the Migration Act 1958 - submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission
Billings, Peter (2019). The future of law reform: simplification of the Migration Act 1958 - submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia.
2019
Other Outputs
Minister's 'God-like' powers can be put to better use in Biloela Tamil family's case
Billings, Peter and Lelliott, Joseph (2019, 09 06). Minister's 'God-like' powers can be put to better use in Biloela Tamil family's case The Guardian
2019
Other Outputs
Refugee swap Rwandans: how did they pass Australia's character test?
Knaus, Christopher and Billings, Peter (2019, 05 30). Refugee swap Rwandans: how did they pass Australia's character test? The guardian: Australia
2019
Book Chapter
Characters of concern, or concerning character tests?: regulating risk through visa cancellation, containment and removal from Australia
Billings, Peter and Hoang, Khanh (2019). Characters of concern, or concerning character tests?: regulating risk through visa cancellation, containment and removal from Australia. Crimmigration in Australia: law, politics and society. (pp. 119-148) edited by Peter Billings. Singapore, Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-13-9093-7_6
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Peter Billings is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Available projects
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Crimmigration
- Topics that explore socio-legal issues related to the intersection or intermingling of immigration/refugee law/policy with criminal law/policy
- Topics that explore the socio-legal issues relating to the criminalisation of asylum seekers
- Topics that related to the detention or containment of asylum seekers and refugees
- Topics that relate to refugee protection and regulation of risks to national/border security
For further information contact Professor Peter Billings, e: p.billings@law.uq.edu.au
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
A labour market regulatory approach to employment integration for refugees and asylum seekers in Australia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Rose Stambe
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Doctor Philosophy
Sustainable protection of fish biodiversity in the Mekong River: the role of international environmental law and lessons from Australia
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Justine Bell-James
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Doctor Philosophy
Children as Facilitators of Migrant Smuggling: International Law and Domestic Contexts
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Joseph Lelliott
Completed supervision
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2018
Doctor Philosophy
The Smuggling of Unaccompanied Minors: International Law and Domestic Contexts
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Andreas Schloenhardt
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2016
Doctor Philosophy
Securing Freedom of Information in Vietnamese Government and Law
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Graeme Orr
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Peter Billings directly for media enquiries about:
- Administrative Justice
- Administrative law
- Crimmigration
- Government legal decision making
- Human rights law
- Immigration law
- Judicial Review
- Operation sovereign borders
- Refugee law
- Social welfare law
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