Brennan, Frank 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born March 6, 1954. Education: University of Queensland, B.A. and L.L.B. (honors); University of Melbourne, B.D. (honors), M.C.D., and L.L.M.; Queensland University of Technology, D.Univ.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Australian Catholic University, 40 Edward St., North Sydney, New South Wales 2060, Australia; fax: 613-9739-2455. E-mail—frank.brennan@acu.edu.au.

CAREER:

Lawyer, academic, and Jesuit priest. Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, professor of law; University of Notre Dame, Sydney, professor of human rights and social justice; Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre, Sydney, founding director, served as director until 2004. Australian National University, adjunct fellow at the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies; Fulbright scholar, Georgetown University; visiting fellow, Australia and New Zealand Studies Center; Jesuit Refugee Service, East Timor, director, 2001-02; Boston College, Jesuit Institution fellow, 2004-05.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Officer of the Order of Australia, 1995, for services to aboriginal Australians; Human Rights Award, Australian Council for Overseas Aid, 1996; named a living national treasure, National Trust (Australia), 1998; received honorary L.L.D. from the University of New South Wales; Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal, 2002, for work in East Timor; Australian Centenary Medal, for refugee and human rights work in the Asia Pacific region.

WRITINGS:

Too Much Order with Too Little Law, University of Queensland Press (New York, NY), 1983.

Queensland Aboriginal Land Tenure Becomes a Reality, Nungalinya College (Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia), 1984.

To Act Justly: Three Papers Delivered at the 1984 Annual Conference of Religious Education, Catholic Education Office (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1984.

(With John Egan and John Honner) Finding Common Ground: An Assessment of the Bases of Aboriginal Land Rights, Dove Communications (Blackburn, Victoria, Australia), 1984.

(With Roger Scruton and John Hyde) Land Rights and Legitimacy: Three Views, Australian Institute for Public Policy (Perth, Western Australia, Australia), 1985.

Aboriginal Aspirations to Land, Nungalinya College (Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia), 1986.

(With James Crawford) Aboriginality, Recognition, and Australian Law: Where To from Here, 26th Australian Legal Convention, 1989.

Looking for the Moonlight on the Land: Land Issues in Palau, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1989.

Rights and Duties, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1990.

The Rights to Protest and the Law: An Australian Perspective: The Role of the Peaceful Protest in the Democratic Process: An Address to the EARC Seminar, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1990.

Aboriginal Customary Law and Community Justice: Mechanisms in Light of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Criminal Justice: A Christian Perspective: Address to the "Prison—The Last Option" Conference 1991, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Land Law: Current Legislative Provisions in Queensland, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Opting to Take a Stand: The Preferential Option for the Poor in Catholic Social Teaching, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Reconciling the Unreconciled: Accommodating the Irreconcilable: Public Issue Dispute Resolution, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Self-Determination for Aborigines: Limits and Possibilities, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

"We Know What You Want—but Tell Us What You'll Accept": Address to Yalga-Binbi Institute, Queensland Land Rights Workshop, Cairns, May 1991, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1991.

Sharing the Country, Penguin Books (New York, NY), 1991, 2nd edition, Penguin (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia), 1994.

The Mabo Case and Terra Nullius, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

Social Justice—From Rhetoric to Action, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

The 1988 Referendum: A Lost Opportunity for an Australian Declaration on Religious Freedom, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

The Church's Mission and Social Justice, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

The Ethics of Sustainable Development: Coronation Hill, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

The Growth Points and Pre-Determined Limits of Aboriginal Self-Determination under the "New Partnership" of the 1990s, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

How Best to Promote Civil and Political Rights in Queensland, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1992.

Land Rights Queensland Style: The Struggle for Aboriginal Self-Management, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1992.

The Law, Politics, and Religion of Land Rights in the Post-Mabo Era, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

Mabo and the Racial Discrimination Act 1975: The Limit of Native Title and Fiduciary Duty under Australia's Sovereign Parliaments, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

PRC Nationals: Some Problems and Responsibilities, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

Putting Mabo in Perspective, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

Self-Determination: The Limits of Allowing Aboriginal Communities to Be a Law unto Themselves, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

Sharing the Country, the Real Truth about Mabo Catholic Commission for Justice, Development, and Peace (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1993.

The Vocation of Careers: A Talk to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

(Preparer) CLE/ICAA: Mabo—The Facts Explained! Papers Presented at the Seminar Held on Friday, 3 September 1993, Queensland Law Society (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1993.

(Presenter, with others) Symposium 1993: General Papers Presented at the 33rd Legal Symposium Held on 5-7 March 1993, Queensland Law Society (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia), 1993.

Catholic Social Teaching and Bills of Rights, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

The Ethics of Migration, Asylum, and Refuge, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

The Implications for Australia of Mabo v. Queensland, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1993.

Land Rights: The Religious Factor, Charles Strong Memorial Trust (Adelaide, South Australia, Australia), 1993.

Controlling Destinies: Greater Opportunities for Indigenous Australians to Control Their Destinies, Australian Government Publication Service (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia), 1994.

(With the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation) Agreeing on a Document: Will the Process of Reconciliation Be Advanced by a Document or Documents of Reconciliation?, Australian Government Publication Service (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia), 1994.

Pastoral Leases, Mabo, and the Native Title Act 1993, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Native Titles Research Unit (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia), 1994.

The Position of Indigenous People in National Constitutions, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1994.

Securing a Bountiful Place for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in a Modern, Free, and Tolerant Australia, Constitutional Centenary Foundation (Carlton, Victoria, Australia), 1994.

One Land, One Nation: Mabo, towards 2001, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1995.

The Pulpit, the Parliament, and the Public Domain, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1996.

A Critique of the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

Indigenous People and Constitutional Recognition in Australia, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

Submission and Evidence to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Native Title Amendment Bill 1997, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

Uniya Position Paper: A Critique of the Ten Point Plan, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

Wik and Beyond: The Coming Debate, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1997.

The 1998 Revisiting of Wik and the Ten Point Plan, Queensland Law Society Symposium, 7 March 1998, Uniya (Kings Cross, New South Wales, Australia), 1998.

The Wik Debate: Its Impact on Aborigines, Pastoralists, and Miners, University of New South Wales Press (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 1998.

Legislating Liberty: A Bill of Rights for Australia? A Provocative and Timely Proposal to Balance the Public Good with Individual Freedom, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 1998.

(With others) Refugees, Morality, and Public Policy: The Jesuit Lenten Seminars 2002 & 2000, David Lovell (Ringwood, Victoria, Australia), 2002.

Tampering with Asylum: A Universal Humanitarian Problem, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2003, revised edition, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2007.

The Timor Sea's Oil and Gas: What's Fair?, Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), 2004.

Acting on Conscience: How Can We Responsibly Mix Law, Religion, and Politics?, University of Queensland Press (St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Frank Brennan is an Australian academic, lawyer, and Jesuit priest. A longtime critic of the Australian government on a number of human rights issues with Aboriginal Australians and immigrants, Brennan is the 1996 recipient of the Human Rights Award from the Australian Council for Overseas Aid, a 2002 Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal, and an Australian Centenary Medal. He was made an officer of the Order of Australia in 1995 and was declared a living national treasure by Australia's National Trust in 1998.

Brennan has worked in academia for decades. He has held positions with the Australian Catholic University, the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, Georgetown University in Washington, DC, Boston College in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Australian National University. Brennan was the founding director of the Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre in Sydney and served as its director until 2004.

In 2003, Brennan published Tampering with Asylum: A Universal Humanitarian Problem, which was later revised in 2007. The book explains that the common Australian fear of immigrants arriving illegally by boat, a fear that was fanned by the Howard government, is overstated. Brennan explains that the wave of illegal immigration is not the first such occurrence and will not be the last. Brennan gives a modernist interpretation of the 1951 Convention on Refugees and relates it to Australia, pointing out that both Labor and Liberal governments have historically had poor ratings in dealing with immigration in a humane way. Brennan also gives a comparative approach of Australia's policies with those of the United States and various European countries.

Tony Smith, writing in the Journal of Australian Studies, commented that "Brennan's book is a valuable contribution to the assessment of our treatment of asylum seekers." Smith concluded that "Brennan's clear and logical case should work in two ways. On the one hand is an irresistible argument from expedience and self interest. On the other is the appeal to compassion. Together, these approaches show that we should take advantage of a temporary lull in direct arrivals to drastically amend our policy on asylum seekers, so that no one could doubt that Australia is a ‘warm-hearted, decent international citizen.’" A contributor to the Adelaide Review observed that "one couldn't say Brennan is impartial but he is passionate in his convictions and cogent in his arguments for reform," adding that "at the same time, he's a realist." The same contributor summarized that "this is far from light reading; more a comprehensive historical assessment and critical analysis, culminating in his blueprint for a better, fairer system. It won't be read nearly enough by the bulk of Australians who deserve to be better informed on this issue. However, this is the sort of book destined to be an oft-quoted and valuable reference; it should stand as a yardstick against which future policies will be judged by rational-thinking Australians."

Brennan published Acting on Conscience: How Can We Responsibly Mix Law, Religion, and Politics? in 2007. Responding to the convergent paths of the state and religion in Australia, Brennan wrote about the ways in which it should ultimately be incorporated together, moving beyond the rhetoric of if it should. Brennan also includes his views on the role of religion and politics in the United States, offering a parallel in many cases for Australia, including the topics of war, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Annie Davis, writing in Arena magazine, noted that Acting on Conscience spans a wide range of topics in discussing both "possibilities and pitfalls of combining religious beliefs with public life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Adelaide Review, January, 2004, review of Tampering with Asylum: A Universal Humanitarian Problem.

Arena, October 1, 2006, Annie Davis, review of Acting on Conscience: How Can We Responsibly Mix Law, Religion, and Politics?, p. 51.

Australian Journal of Political Science, July, 2000, Christine Fletcher, review of The Wik Debate: Its Impact on Aborigines, Pastoralists, and Miners, p. 331.

Human Rights Review, April 1, 2006, Rosalind Dixon, review of Tampering with Asylum, p. 112.

Journal of Australian Studies, March, 2004, Tony Smith, review of Tampering with Asylum, p. 162.

Law Institute Journal, May, 2007, Alan Ray, review of Acting on Conscience, p. 73.

Law Society Journal, March, 2004, Kirsty Ruddock, review of Tampering with Asylum, p. 98.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2004, review of Tampering with Asylum, p. 146.

ONLINE

Australia Broadcasting Corporation Web site,http://www.abc.net/ (December 1, 2003), Peter Gooch, author profile.

Australian Catholic University, Institute of Legal Studies Web site,http://www.acu.edu.au/facultiesschools/Schools/ils/ (March 10, 2008), author profile.

Manning Clark House, Inc. Web site,http://www.manningclark.org.au/ (March 10, 2008), author profile.

Queensland Association of State School Principals Web site,http://www.qassp.org.au/ (March 10, 2008), author profile.

Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre Web site,http://www.uniya.org/ (March 10, 2008), author profile.