The Law and Politics of Migration in Australia Conference
Migration has long played a defining role in shaping Australia’s social fabric, economic development, and political identity. Yet today, questions surrounding border governance, asylum policy, labour mobility, Indigenous sovereignty, and multiculturalism reveal an increasingly complex and contested landscape.
This interdisciplinary conference, jointly organised by Monash University’s Borders, Sovereignty and Justice Lab (Faculty of Law) and the Migration and Mobilities Research Hub (Faculty of Arts), with the support of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, brings together scholars from law, political science, and related fields - including sociology, geography, philosophy, history, and public policy.
Participants will engage in critical discussions on the evolving intersections of law, politics, and migration in Australia, exploring both contemporary challenges and future directions. The event offers a platform for rigorous academic exchange, cross-disciplinary dialogue, and fresh insights into one of Australia’s most pressing and debated issues.
Conference Program
The two days of presentations will bring together a collection of research examining how policy, sovereignty, and lived experience intersect.
Monash University’s
Research from Monash academics and PhD candidates will include
The keynote addresses will be from Associate Professor David Hundt (Deakin University) on Korean-Australian political engagement and Professor Emeritus Susan Kneebone (University of Melbourne), with a formal response by the Castan Centre's
Alongside researchers from UNSW, ANU, the University of Melbourne, James Cook University, and Western Sydney University, the conference offers a comprehensive look at refugee rights, settler-colonial sovereignty, and what it truly means to belong in Australia today.
Conference Details
The Law and Politics of Migration in Australia
Date: Thursday 3 - Friday 4 December 2026
Campus: Monash University Law Chambers
555 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
RSVP: By Sunday 1 November 2026.
Keynote Speakers
Professor Susan Kneebone
Professor Emeritus Susan Kneebone is a Professorial Fellow, and Senior Associate, Asian Law Centre, and Research Affiliate of Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. Susan supervises PhD students on refugee law, statelessness and forced migration and has written widely on law, governance, and forced migration. Previously Susan was a Professor at Monash University’s Faculty of Law where she developed and taught courses on International Refugee Law, Citizenship and Migration Law and Human Trafficking. Susan is currently completing an Australia Research Council (ARC) funded project on: ‘the role of community sponsorship for refugee resettlement in Australia’. Another recently completed ARC project on ‘Indonesia's refugee policies: responsibility, security and regionalism’ led to the publication of Susan Kneebone, Reyvi Mariñas, Antje Missbach and Max Walden, (eds) Refugee Protection in Southeast Asia: Between Humanitarianism and Sovereignty (Berghahn Books, January 2025).
Associate Professor David Hundt
Associate Professor David Hundt is an Associate Professor of International Relations (IR) in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University with expertise in the cognate fields of Asian/Korean Studies, migration studies, and comparative political economy. His research focuses on three broad aspects of contemporary Asia and the Pacific: political economy (the developmental state and varieties of capitalism in Asia), regional security (e.g., comparative responses to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and the Korean War as a shaper of regional memory), and the politics of citizenship in Asia (e.g., the lives of Korean migrants in Australia). He has attained competitive research funding to support these projects, including from the Academy of Korean Studies, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Australia–Korea Foundation (DFAT). David has held academic leadership roles in the Asian Studies Association of Australia (including as President and conference convenor), as an assessor for the ARC (2014-), as a member of the National Library of Australia’s Fellowships Advisory Committee, and as Editor-in-Chief of Asian Studies Review.
Enquiries
Associate Professor Samantha Currie (Monash Borders, Sovereignty and Justice Lab)
samantha.currie@monash.edu
Associate Professor Matteo Bonotti (Migration and Mobilities Research Hub)
matteo.bonotti@monash.edu