Australian Critical Decisions

The 1980s was a time of significant social, political and cultural change. In Australia law was pivotal to these changes. The two High Court cases that this book explores- Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen in 1982 and the Tasmanian Dams case in 1983- are famous legally as they marked a decisive reckoning by the Court with both international law and federal constitutionalism. Yet these cases also offer a significant marker of Australia in the 1980s: a shift to a different form of political engagement, n