Peter Billings

Contemporary immigration and refugee policies globally often prioritize border control and national security over human rights and administrative justice. In Australia, prolonged immigration detention, mandatory visa cancellations, and welfare restrictions for asylum seekers have raised serious legal and ethical concerns. Professor Peter Billings identified and explored several critical gaps in legal and policy scholarship, including: the erosion of procedural fairness norms through “crimmigration”— the convergence of criminal and immigration law; the legal problems and systemic harms caused by prolonged and indefinite immigration detention; and the impacts of punitive welfare policies on asylum seekers, refugees and other non-citizens.

Billings employs both doctrinal and socio-legal approaches in his research, the latter integrating legal analysis with methodologies drawn from sociology, criminology and political science. His work spans administrative law, constitutional law, refugee law, and human rights, with a focus on how legal systems regulate and often exclude vulnerable groups. He edited Crimmigration in Australia: Law, Politics and Society (Springer, 2019), a landmark volume that brought together international scholars to examine the intersection of criminal and immigration law. His more recent book Regulating Refugee Protection Through Social Welfare (Routledge, 2023) explores how welfare policies are used as tools of border control, offering comparative insights from Europe and North America. Billings also contributes to public policy through parliamentary submissions and expert commentary, including on the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld).

Professor Billings’s research has significantly influenced legal scholarship and policy reform. His work on “crimmigration” is widely cited. His analyses of the Migration Act’s “character test” have exposed the adverse consequences of visa cancellations on individuals, on administrative justice and human rights. Equally, his recent critical examination of indefinite immigration detention (including the High Court’s landmark decision in NZYQ v Minister for Immigration (2023), which declared indefinite detention unconstitutional) is frequently cited. Billings’s publications are regularly cited in academic literature and used in legal education across Australia and internationally. His edited volumes and many peer reviewed journal articles have shaped discourse on crimmigration, welfare conditionality, and procedural safeguards for non-citizens facing deportation. His work has also informed submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission and several parliamentary inquiries.

The beneficiaries of Billings’s research include non-citizens, legal practitioners, policymakers, and civil society organizations. His work supports advocacy for humane and legally sound migration policies, benefiting individuals subject to detention and welfare restrictions. Internationally, his research has influenced scholars and policymakers in Europe, Canada, US and the UK, particularly through comparative studies on asylum adjudication, immigration detention, human rights and welfare policing. NGOs and human rights organizations use his findings to challenge unjust policies and promote legal reform. His interdisciplinary collaborations also benefit social scientists and public health researchers examining the broader impacts of immigration detention. Professor Billings’s research impact is reflected in nearly 500 citations and an h-index of 12. His work has been cited in parliamentary reports, law reform submissions, and judicial decisions. His books and edited volumes are used in law schools and referenced by international scholars. His leadership in projects, such as Crimmigration in Australia, has produced policy-relevant insights adopted by advocacy groups and legal reform bodies.