Maria O'Sullivan

Dr. Maria O’Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and an Associate of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, Australia. She teaches Administrative Law, Public Law and International Refugee Law. Her research focuses on a comparative analysis of Australian and European refugee law and practice. In 2012 she completed her doctoral thesis on Article 1C(5) of the Refugees Convention, dealing with cessation of refugee status. Maria’s recent publications include: ‘Rethinking Asylum-Seeker Detention At Sea: The Power to Detain Asylum-Seekers at Sea under the Maritime Powers Act 2013’ (2015) 38(2) UNSW Law Journal 687 and a forthcoming book: States, the Law and Access to Refugee Protection – Fortresses and Fairness (Hart, 2016). She has made a number of submissions to Parliamentary inquiries on refugee law issues and is a regular contributor to media commentary on asylum in Australia.

Maria O’Sullivan reviews 'The Wealth of Refugees: How displaced people can build economies' by Alexander Betts

July 2021, no. 433 • 22 June 2021

Refugee policies around the globe are under strain. As Alexander Betts recognises in the opening pages of The Wealth of Refugees, refugee numbers are increasing due to conflict and political instability in many countries, a situation that will be exacerbated in the future by climate change and the impact of Covid-19. Betts, a political scientist at Oxford University, also notes that populist natio ... (read more)

Maria O’Sullivan reviews 'Not Quite Australian: How temporary migration is changing the nation' by Peter Mares

November 2016, no. 386 • 24 October 2016

Migration is widely regarded as one of the most important policy issues on the global agenda. Not only does it have economic implications for states, it also poses certain challenges for the political and social fabric of countries. In particular, what does the act of migration say about the continuing social bond between migrants and their countries of origin, and that between the migrant and the ... (read more)