Browsing by Browse by SEO 2008 "810103 Command, Control and Communications"

The Australian Defence Force continues to remain engaged in a range of operations from the Middle East to the Pacific. This paper will give an overview of ADF operations for the period between July 2008 and October 2009 and mention some of the salient legal issues arising from these operations. At the time of writing there are approximately 3300 ADF personnel deployed overseas on operations with a further 500 involved in domestic maritime security operations. This represents a slight decrease from the 3850 deployed overseas at the time of writing the 2008 edition of the review of ADF operations. This is primarily due to the decrease in troop numbers in Iraq from 1575 to 823 following the expiry of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1790 on 31 December 2008 which authorised much of the operation.4 However, there are 1550 ADF personnel in Afghanistan; up from 1000 last year. Operation SLIPPER has expanded to incorporate anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia as well. There have also been a number of disaster relief operations in response to the Victorian bushfires and the earthquakes and tsunamis in Samoa and Indonesia. Some other operations have concluded since the last edition of this review. These are Operation TESTAMENT, in support of World Youth Day, and Operation OUTREACH, the Northern Territory Indigenous Intervention. Domestic security generally, and the ADF's own base security in particular, have increased in prominence following the disruption by police on 4 August 2009 of an alleged plot to attack Holsworthy Army Base.

The thought of a civilian passenger jet full of ordinary people flying over Australia being hijacked and then shot down is quite horrific. The shock and horror would most likely amplify if the missile that struck the aircraft launched from an Australian fighter jet or warship. So too, armed troops using lethal force to defend infrastructure such as a power station would be an alien experience for Australia. Amendments to part IIIAAA of the 'Defence Act 1903' (Cth) in 2006 provided these powers to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). There has been some academic debate about this, but not much. Furthermore, there is little to suggest any general public awareness that the Commonwealth Parliament has legislated for the significant destructive power now available to the ADF to be directed at non-military threats. This is the great value of Michael Head's book, 'Calling Out the Troops - The Australian Military and Civil Unrest: The Legal and Constitutional Issues' ('Calling Out the Troops'). Restraining the use of force by the state within its own borders has been a legal issue since the 'Magna Carta', and any development of the legal power for the state to use force should be the subject of debate and scrutiny. It is therefore timely and important that 'Calling Out the Troops' subjects the new statutory powers to critical scrutiny and opens the debate to a potentially wider audience than a journal article might reach. A particularly welcome aspect of 'Calling Out the Troops' is that public debate on military legal issues in Australia is quite limited and many, though not all, of the contributors to this debate have a background in the ADF. This institutional perspective does not appear at all in Head's work and this can only strengthen and deepen debate in this area. While the conclusions that Head draws do not entirely convince this author, the observations that he makes and the questions that he asks in response to them are compelling. This book review will first give a general description of 'Calling Out the Troops' and deal with some of the book's perceived limitations before addressing its conclusion and its main strengths.

WiFi is starting to be adopted in agricultural settings because of the increasing use of data-centric farming devices and applications. Some of these applications require high data rates that other radio standards cannot offer, for example, realtime yield mapping, drone-based image upload and viewing and video monitoring. It is therefore desirable for farming wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to also utilise available on-farm WiFi networks. However, little information is available on WiFi signal propagation in these environments, as agricultural WSNs have traditionally been based on other radio standards. Therefore, the 2.4GHz WiFi signal propagation characteristics in real outdoor agricultural cropping environments were investigated using infield data loggers. Three distinct farming environments were studied, (i) bare fields, (ii) cotton fields, and (iii) ponded-water rice fields. We studied the effects of (i) weather conditions, (ii) crop growth and (iii) water depth on signal strength across an entire growing season. We also studied the range of reliable data transfer in each environment as a function of height of the logger WiFi antenna above the crop. Crop growth status was found to be much more significant in determining signal strength than weather conditions, with signal strength declining by 8dB over the season in a cotton field, and by 20dB in a rice field. In rice and cotton crops, provided the radios remain 20cm above the crop canopy, ranges in excess of 1km were measured. Significantly greater ranges are predicted if the antenna is more than 40cm above the top of the crop. Regression models were fitted to the measurements to allow predictions and recommendations, with correlation coefficient of determination (R2) values of better than 0.9 in most cases. Radio path loss exponents depended on the environment, and were typically between 3 and 5.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has considerable power at its disposal. It is physically more powerful than any other organisation in Australia. This is hardly surprising when it has the task of defending the country, conducting warlike and peacebuilding operations overseas, enforcing maritime legislation, and providing a degree of internal security. Yet only a minor proportion of this activity is authorised by an Act of Parliament. In fact, some of the more extreme powers currently exercised by the ADF, such as the offensive use of lethal force, deliberate destruction of property, interception of shipping and detention of civilians, are actually contrary to some Acts of Parliament. The authority for such activity lies elsewhere. The scant literature on this topic in Australia would identify the executive power of the Commonwealth as the source of this extraordinary authority whether it is to invade Iraq in 2003, to conduct warlike operations in Afghanistan since 2001, to bomb Syria since 2015, to board shipping in the Arabian Gulf since 1990, to counter piracy off Somalia since 2009,to fly combat air patrols to protect visiting dignitaries in 2002 and 2003 or to occupy East Timor in 1999. In some senses, executive power as a source of authority for ADF operations is a new question.

The question of whether Principals in large schools require high level interpersonal and relational skills to succeed, and whether the majority of incumbents of these positions have these skills has been largely ignored in the research about Principal leadership. This study examines a sample of half of the most senior Principals in Queensland, those in schools of more than 1600 students who have had to re-apply for their positions under the title of Executive Principal. Data is collected from the Executive Principals; their supervisors; and officers within their schools who directly report to them. The research uses a mixed research approach using both qualitative and quantitative methodology and employs both interviews and questionnaires to affirm the conclusions from the literature study that these skills are vital to effective principalship in large and complex schools. The data collected in the research shows that interpersonal and relational skills are seen by all parties as vital to effective principalship, and suggests that these skills are not only important, but perhaps the most important. The conclusions of the research not only confirm the view that interpersonal and relational skills are vital to success as a principal, but also document some of the key skills in this area which are important – authenticity; collaboration and the ability to build partnerships; the ability to influence; concern for others; the ability to inspire and motivate; and the ability to deal with complex situations and people. The paper provides a platform for further research in this area across the full breadth of the principalship.

Introduction
The most powerful component of the executive government is the Australian Defence Force (ADF) because the executive ultimately relies upon military power to enforce its will. This has been the case since at least 1066: Moore C Crown and Sword: Executive Power and the Use of Force by the Australian Defence Force (Moore) 7-8. Much of the character of executive power in a military context derives from the tension between the military having sufficient power to execute the will of government but not too much, so that the military remains subordinate to the executive of civilian ministers drawn from the democratically elected civilian parliament. Executive power is the principal source of authority for the ADF to carry out the functions of commanding its forces, fighting wars, defending the realm and conducting peace operations. It is the only source of authority to kill or capture the enemy in war. Even in domestic operations such as maritime law enforcement, aid to the civil power and emergency assistance, where the use of force is regulated primarily by statute, executive power is a significant source of authority. Positioning of forces and even the use of force in situations which statute does not address may rely on executive power.
Executive power is actually a broad term for power exercised by the executive branch of government. It can range from the mundane, such as purchasing stationery, to the profound, such as invading another country. The actual authority for such executive action is to be found in the following sources most relevant to the ADF.

Charles Clode wrote the following words on the relationship between the Crown and the armed forces in Military Forces of the Crown: Their Administration and Government in 1869: In the first place, he is bound to obey and to give his personal service to the Crown under the punishments imposed upon him for disobedience by the Mutiny Act and Articles of War. No other obligation must be put in competition with this; neither parental authority nor religious scruples, nor personal safety, nor pecuniary advantages from other service. All the duties of his life are, according to the theory of Military obedience, absorbed in that one duty of obeying the command of the Officers set over him. Callinan J cited this passage with approval in X v Commonwealth in 1999. The High Court has consistently affirmed a view of the relationship between the Crown and members of the armed forces in Australia which is unique and Victorian. It appears in cases from Marks v Cth (1964) to Coutts v Cth (1985), X v Cth (1999) and Jarratt v Comm of Police for NSW (2005). Despite some dissent and caution as to the use of nineteenth century military texts, nonetheless the High Court has relied heavily on historical material and perceptions. Given this emphasis on history, this paper will examine the historical antecedents of the relationship between the Crown and the armed forces to which the High Court refers. It will consider the extent to which the legal principles governing that relationship were subject to change over time or in fact remained relatively unmodified. In doing so, this paper will consider the extent of divergence, if any, in the relationship of the Crown with British and Australian armed forces. In this way, the paper seeks to illuminate a connection between law and history, and see whether the relationship between the Crown and the armed forces is a fenceline through the past.

Injustice can have serious consequences for an individual. Ill-discipline in the military can have disastrous consequences for society. The Mutiny Act of 1689 immediately followed the Glorious Revolution because, despite the deep parliamentary mistrust of standing armies after the English Civil War, Jacobite forces threatened and a standing army seemed indispensable. This was the beginning of parliamentary discipline legislation in the common law world. The Preamble to the Act clearly stated the tensions at play . ... whereas no man may be forejudged of life or limb, or subjected to any kind of punishment by martial law, or in any other manner than by the judgment of his peers and according to the known and established laws of this realm; yet nevertheless, it being requisite for retaining such forces as are or shall be raised during this exigence of affairs in their duty [that] an exact discipline be observed, and that soldiers who shall mutiny or stir up sedition or shall desert their majesties' service be brought to a more exemplary and speedy punishment than the usual forms oflaw will allow.

This fine collection of descriptions of soldiers and other servicemen's travelling - and then of 'war tourism' in later times by survivors or the relatives and friends of the dead - is an unexpected yet remarkably satisfying collection of pieces which combine both the 'folklore of travel' and the distinctly personal tone of those recalling experiences truly memorable for them. Each extract from the original much longer works evokes compassion, laughter, memories and, above all - and especially for the older reader - the strongest emotions. This must be compassionate empathy and identification with one's own curiosity when first travelling overseas. This was/ is especially the case if much of that travel should have been made by sea, especially in the initial departure and first landfalls /visits to new and quite unfamiliar countries.

My intention here is to provide an overview of the methodology used in applying wavelet analysis techniques to undertake signal analysis combined with the application of geostatistical methods. After defining the problem and provision of the application of Wavelets to mismatch negativity trials, I provide a succinct walk through wavelet analysis and some applications, also introduce the possibility of spatial correlation and develop models to allow for such. Finally we construct methods enabling us to detect the latency of onset of mismatch negativity responses.

Introduction
Understanding military law in Australia requires an understanding of the structure of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). It is the structure of the ADF itself which actually vests and limits the scope of the authority of particular officers within the ADE In most cases the commanding officers of units, together with their subordinate and superior commanders, do not exercise authority by virtue of statutory delegations of power. More often, the authority to exercise command and administrative power arises by virtue of rank and appointment to a particular command or staff position. Command and administrative power in the ADF therefore follows from its structure; and it is through this structure that the executive power which authorises so many of the actions of the ADF can be understood. This chapter seeks to illustrate that structure and the key components and office holders within it.

Callinan J's view expressed in White raises some intriguing possibilities. It might provide a more satisfactory explanation for the exception of military justice from the requirements of Chapter III of the Constitution. This would be because it is an exception that requires less contortion to the text of the Constitution than the current reliance on s 51(vi). This raises two further questions though. The first is whether command inherently includes discipline. There is some authority for this, including in White itself. The second question is, assuming that command does include discipline, whether it follows that s 68 'vests a power of command which cannot be rejected or diminished'. That is to say, can military disciplinary jurisdiction be exercised by a Chapter III court or only militarily? Further, could it be the case that 'it may not be subject judicial supervision under Ch III of the Constitution' mean there is not even room for judicial review by the High Court? This paper will attempt to address each of these questions in turn.