Part 1Parliamentary committees and their place within the Australian parliamentary landscape1. Introduction Chapter 1 introduces the key themes of the book and underscores its relevance for public law scholars and students, and those engaged in the parliamentary system, for example as public servants or parliamentary counsel. It introduces themes such as: the role of parliamentary committees in rights protection in Australia and addresses the conventional scepticism of the parliamentary model of rights protection. It also sets out the structure of the book.2. MethodologyChapter 2 sets out the unique methodology employed in this research, which seeks to measure three tiers of impact: legislative (whether the content of proposed laws changes as a result of parliamentary committee activity);public (whether the public and/or parliamentary debate on proposed laws is influenced by the work of parliamentary committees); and hidden (whether the work of parliamentary committees has an impact on how proposed laws are developed prior to introduction into Parliament). Chapter 2 also includes an overview of past evaluations of parliamentary committees and describes how the assessment framework used this research is designed to overcome weaknesses and challenges previously encountered. 3. Overview of the Australian Parliamentary Committee SystemChapter 3 provides an overview of the legal and political context in which parliamentary committees operate and introduces the particular committees studied. This chapter sets the foundations for measuring the type of impact these committees may be having on the development, debate and enactment of Australias counter-terrorism law.4. Counter-terrorism law making in AustraliaChapter 4 provides an overview of the international and domestic context in which Australias counter-terrorism laws and policies have been developed since September 2001, and introduces the separate Acts that make up the case study
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