Treaties

Treaties are agreements entered into between States, either bilaterally or multilaterally. The Commonwealth, and not the States, is Australia’s international representative. It is within executive power to negotiate and execute such treaties but international treaties are not self-executing, requiring incorporation by legislation into domestic law (Australian encyclopaedic legal dictionary).

Australian Treaties Library home page (AustLII)
The Australian Treaties Library disseminates treaty information to the public in a freely accessible form through the Internet. It is a fully searchable, hypertext-linked resource that includes treaty texts (Australian Treaty Series), indexes, status lists, and explanatory material. It was developed and is maintained by the Australasian Legal Information Institute with funding and material provided by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade. The site includes a list of Bilateral Treaties by country and Status lists for multilateral treaties.

Australian Treaties Database (DFAT)
The Australian Treaties Database (ATD) is an on-line resource for researching treaties to which Australia is a signatory, or where Australia has taken other treaty action.

Australia and International Treaty Making Information Kit
Answers to a number of frequently asked questions about the nature of treaties and why it is important for Australia to be involved in their negotiation; information about the constitutional arrangements which underpin treaty making and about how you can have an input into the process.

Trick or Treaty? Commonwealth Power to Make and Implement Treaties (November 1995)
This report by the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee, to which the Government has since responded, looks at the power of the Commonwealth in relation to the making of treaties and the external affairs power.

Federal Parliament's Changing Role in Treaty Making and External Affairs (Parliamentary Library Research Paper 15 1999-2000)

Review of the Treaty Making Process (August 1999) (Commonwealth of Australia)

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